2022 DRC Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru

An electric magenta colour. The bouquet can only be La Tâche with the freshly dried rose petals and the tell-tale stems completely surrounded by the perfume of the fruit. This meant several minutes of smelling before I felt ready to allow my glass of La Tâche to approach the mouth. So many wavelets of fruit that the preceding wines seem simple (which of course they aren’t) in comparison. As fine a young La Tâche as I have tasted. Effortless, endless.

The 2022 La Tâche Grand Cru was picked 4 to 6 September at 37.6 hL/ha. It is a vintage that demands time in the glass. Occasionally, La Tâche gives immediate pleasure, but the 2022 is more contained and reserved—it hides its secrets well. Eventually, the 2022 offers a mélange of red and black fruit, Earl Grey and undergrowth. Interestingly, there remains a patina of whole-cluster herbal notes that will be subsumed with time, though obviously that indicates this is not a La Tâche primed for early drinking. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled tannins and a killer spine of acidity that lends a frisson of tension from start to finish. here is a linearity about this La Tâche allied with sapidity, extremely complex with ineffable precision. This is a brilliant La Tâche that flirts with perfection. (NM)