1999 La Tâche, Grand Cru, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Burgundy

The 1999 La Tâche Grand Cru can be a perfect wine. This was very similar to the bottle opened in 2015. The bouquet sends you straight to heaven with so much purity and detail that, frankly, it is difficult to put into words. Fleeting glimpses of redcurrant, then pomegranate, broom and wilted rose petals, later more earthy scents, autumnal. The palate is perfectly balanced with filigree tannin, an utterly entrancing symmetry and precision second to none. Hints of black plum and blood orange, that mineralité returning towards a finish so tensile you risk cutting yourself. I would have given this my second score had the 1999 Romanée-Conti been in the next glass.

Drink 2020 - 2065

Very deep blackish ruby – much deeper than most red burgundies. Actually overnight dregs in an open bottle did not hold up in terms of freshness as well as those of the Mugnier Amoureuses 2001 tasted alongside. Very massive wine that's still brooding and probably needs a few more years to show its best but it's certainly impressive!  Great throat warming stuff with real structure and vibrato fruit in the middle. Not to be ignored!

Drink 2015 - 2035

Good dark red, not crystal-clear. The ripe, musky, multidimensional nose combines blackberry, raspberry, violet, earth, game, black pepper, herbs, and a positive vegetal nuance. Plush, silky and very ripe but not particularly sweet, with concentrated dark fruit, spice and pepper flavours complicated by a hint of prune. "More fruit ripeness than the '15," noted Aubert de Villaine just moments after we had tasted the '15 La Tâche) Finishes with substantial dusty tannins and a note of liquorice. This extremely complex wine is not particularly high in acidity, but it is still short of its peak drinking window.

Drink 2020 -2039

Integrated, layered and complex, this wine is incredibly structured yet still fresh and lively. It’s inky black and exotic, with a waft of baking spices and cedar, plus rounded chocolatey tones that drive long but without any unnecessary force. DRC harvest notes say: '1999 marked the first year we couldn’t have done anything better... The grapes of 1999 were perhaps the most perfect we had ever seen.’ That poise and purpose hasn’t faltered in two decades.

Drink 2024 - 2038

A dark, exotic beauty, the 1999 La Tâche hits the palate with soy, blackberry, liquorice, grilled herbs, smoke, graphite, and lavender scents. It is a distinctly brooding, dark La Tâche that speaks with a real sense of gravitas. Just at the very early part of its drinking window, the 1999 will offer profound drinking over the next several decades.

Drink 2019 - 2049

This is almost certainly destined to become one of the all-time great vintages of La Tâche.

Words remain inadequate to describe just how good this wine is as the '99 is a classic La Tâche in every respect with its incredibly pure, marvellously intense Asian spice box nose. There is terrific size, weight, and richness to the enveloping flavours of hoisin and pure pinot extract that deliver indescribable complexity at the hugely long finish. The big tannins are completely wrapped in velvet, and while they are by no means invisible, they are beautifully well-integrated.

Indeed, the word seamless comes to mind. Moreover, among the many bottles I have been blessed to have tried, I have never had one that was anything less than sensational. However, note that the '99 LT will be a long-distance runner, so a cellar-and-forget strategy is strongly advised, at least for the next decade or so—multiple and consistent notes.

Drink from 2024 onward