Tasted at the La Romanée vertical at Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair. The 2011 La Romanée Grand Cru has a fragrant and expressive nose, much more outgoing than the 2010 at this early juncture, beautifully defined and more floral. Hints of dried violets and rose petals are generously sprinkled over the candied red fruit intermingling with orange blossom. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, nigh on perfect acidity and a silky texture that will disarm from several paces. It feels long and tender, not unlike the 2007 but with a little more class. This is an impressive follow-up to the 2010 La Romanée and will drink earlier. Tasted June 2015. - Neal Martin

A monopoly of the domaine, La Romanée lies just up the slope from Romanée-Conti. It’s already a beautiful wine, with its velvet tannins well integrated with the ripe berry fruits. Its core is dry and structured, with the fruits cushioning around it.

An ultra-fresh, restrained, cool and superbly elegant nose features a wonderful array of spices along with the distilled essence of red cherry liqueur violet, plum and rose petals along with the hallmark wet stone nuances. There is equally superb focus to the refined, delineated and powerful medium-bodied flavors that are shaped by exceptionally fine tannins that are perfectly well-integrated on the energetic and explosively persistent and mildly austere finish that quickly tightens up. This doesn’t have the mid-palate density of its 2010 and 2012 counterparts but I very much admire the seamless delivery. 2026+