On Sunday 18th of April 2021, Baghera/wines will hold  the "La Romanée Memories" auction at the Beau-Rivage Genève. 150 years of this prestigious nectar, with a total of 1,926  bottles, magnums and a jeroboam of La Romanée Grand Cru will be presented at this historic sale. 

The bottles, testimony to a state of preservation close to perfection, come from the time-honoured cellars of Bouchard Père & Fils, one of the most distinguished houses in Burgundy, in continuous activity for nearly three centuries.

“ La Romanée Memories 1862 – 2005 ” is a once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire one of the majestic bottles of this sensational collection, bottles with perfect provenance and impeccable state of preservation.

Burgundy illustrates, even in its tiniest plots, the immemorial and sacred pact between man and nature. Its climates, a mosaic of precisely delineated and identified terroirs from the depths of history, have distinguished Burgundy’s vineyards from all others since the early Middle Ages.

With its 85 ares, La Romanée is the smallest of the Burgundy climats. It is one of the incarnations of this Burgundian genius, these isolated postage stamp- sized plots, delimited by a path, a low wall or a simple geological fault hidden from the eye by the soil but which the monks, the winegrowers and the eminent Burgundian families have identified and preserved since time immemorial. La Romanée is one of those names that evoke, inspire and embody Burgundy. Along with La Romanée-Conti, La Romanée-Saint- Vivant and others, it is the beating heart of the Côte de Nuits and is one of the great mythical names of Burgundy, in the same way as Volnay or Montrachet on the Côte de Beaune. Powerful by the dreams they arouse, these terroirs are also powerful by the historical depth they awaken. To pronounce this name is to plunge into the depths of time and Burgundy’s identity. To taste this wine is to share in the mystery of Burgundy.

Benefitting from strong recognition since the ancient era and even more so from the 15th century onwards, La Romanée is one of those terroirs which were immediately distinguished for their typicity as well as for the particular emotion they arouse in those who taste the wines. The very great terroirs make very great wines whose personality is such that, over time, it transcends the tonalities specific to the vintages as well as the notes inherited from the choices of vinification.

The wines of Burgundy are a tribute to the profusion offered by creation: profusion of soils, rocks, their exposures, water, underground or surface, and the plant and animal species that inhabit them. A profusion of intelligence too, of sensitivity, intuition and creativity of those who, for thousands of years, have been striving to reveal all the diversity of these wines in order to better express their substance. In this, the culture of wine is one of the most beautiful expressions of civilisation. 

Michael Ganne: Tell us about this event «La Romanée Memories»: how did this project come about ?

Thomas Seiter: The project for this event focusing on La Romanée was born from the observation that the Maison Bouchard Père & Fils was home to a unique heritage, which these bottles of La Romanée represent! Indeed, the establishment has real treasures in its collection, one of them being these wines from La Romanée, which now belong more to the past than to the future of Bouchard Père & Fils. As prestigious and gratifying as the association between La Romanée and Bouchard Père & Fils has been, this event with Baghera/wines represents an oppor-tunity to close this chapter in the most wonderful way, by offering an exceptional showcase to this heritage, the memory of the imprint of La Romanée’s ‘climat’ on the Maison, which dates back to the middle of the 19th Century. By parting ways with its final bottles of La Romanée, Bouchard Père & Fils is refocusing and fully committed to what represents its future, namely the historic ‘climats’ of its 130-hectare estate, particularly its Grands Crus and Premiers Crus.

These wines from La Romanée are kept at Château de Beaune, under our feet, in the historic cellars of the ‘Maison’, some of them for over 140years! 

Yes absolutely. These wines from La Romanée are stored in the cellars of the Château where Bouchard Père & Fils has been established for 200 years, offering them perfect storage conditions, in the heart of the historic ramparts of the Château de Beaune. Bouchard Père & Fils has preserved and pampered these wines from La Romanée with the same care it takes of all its wines, in the tradition of the most precise control possible, with tastings and regular cork changes to guarantee optimal conservation of the wines. Bouchard Père & Fils has taken this care with the wines of La Romanée — from the oldest, 1862 to the most recent, 2005 — as well as with all the wines of its collection and its domain.

Bottles that have thus regained a new longevity. 40, 50 years, even for the oldest... 

Yes, bottles for which we have optimised the « life expectancy » in our cellars, thus offering them an exceptional ageing potential, validated by tastings of the oldest bottles, and which everyone will be able to discover thanks to this upcoming event. Our most fervent wish is that this heritage remains alive, that these wines, magnificent vectors of emotion, will be drunk and shared, and not kept as trophies.

Beaune, December 18, 2020

Baghera / wines : Christophe, you do us the honour of being our guide among the countless archives of Bouchard Père & Fils, collated and preserved by your ancestors here at Rue du Château in Beaune. There are many testimonials of the relationship between the Maison Bouchard and the grand cru, La Romanée.

Christophe Bouchard, Archives Consultant, Bouchard Père & Fils : Among the many testimonials kept here in the company archives, I will first show you a label of this famed bottle of Romanée. Bouchard Père & Fils had an establishment in Bordeaux and that’s why we see the mention “same establishment in Bordeaux” : it was in fact a shipping counter that was used for exports to the United States, England, Norway and Russia. Here are some other labels from La Romanée with the mention “same establishment in Bordeaux”. These labels were in use until about 1910.

I have found circulars that give an overview of the vintages from 1900 to 1932. The 1906 vintage: “average harvest – so when we say average, it is a harvest of average volume – excellent quality – robust and full-bodied wine – very generous – when we say very generous, these are wines that generally have a high alcoholic potential – robust and full-bodied ”. The 1911 vintage     “an excessively small quantity – either due to a spring frost or to weather conditions – the quantity was very small but the quality was exceptional”. The 1915 vintage “average harvest – still in terms of volume – very generous, full-bodied wines that will have to be awaited for some time”. This implies that these are wines which were certainly very tannic and which took some time to improve in the bottle.

All these documents that have been collated were written by my ancestors. Each year after the harvest, a letter was sent to customers and suppliers to give them an overview of the harvest. I’ll read this, “Beaune November 1906. In Burgundy, the vine adapts wonderfully to the scorching seasons. The year 1906 from beginning to end was therefore particularly favourable to our vineyard and produced wines with a promising future. Quality: colourful wine, spirited, the wines of the lastest harvest have an absolute clarity of taste and great finesse.

Their firmness also predicts a long life – therefore certainly a little tannin – which guarantees them a bright future. Quantity: on the other hand, the quantity is very small in proportions varying from a quarter to a third of the production of an average year. A small quantity of excellent quality. This is the summary of the situation. Furthermore the estate is not willing to accept the low prices which have too often been the result of disastrous circumstances – implying too large volumes in previous years – for the moment the prices of 1906 are at the price of the beginning of the excellent 1904 and we can deduce with certainty that they will rise in the future”. And as always a little reminder of the previous vintage: “the pleasant but light 1905 wines have found their use in everyday consumption”.

Baghera/wines:  Tell us about the plot of La Romanée...

Philippe Prost, Ambassador, Bouchard Père & Fils : To be able to talk about this plot, you have to have been there, you really have to have seen it. It’s truly something remarkable, completely different from Romanée-Conti. We are above la Romanée-Conti on a very interesting south-north orientation. There is a certain gradient, 10 to 12%. We are at the foot of the Vosne-Romanée les Reignots and the very fact of having invested this orientation, a rein against erosion, allows us to preserve the soil. The originality of the soil lies in a small limestone pebble which comes down from the Reignots and has settled there, and this forms a deeper, more temperate soil. In my opinion, this is a truly wonderful orientation, which can also be found on the Côte de Beaune and on some of the grands crus of the Côte de Nuits. It is also a way of protecting the fruit under the leaves at the hottest moments of the day. You know what we are going through today with climate change, well in the nineteenth century also, there were years with extreme heat and drought, such as 1865. So, protecting the fruit under the foliage is a way to avoid the plant experiencing water stress.

This plot has lived through different eras with different share-cropping domains in charge of its cultivation. When you are a sharecropper, you vinify the fruit of the work of a whole year, it’s a way of understanding what happens throughout the year! That’s what it means to listen to the plants. I think that being a sharecropper and taking charge of the vinification is a powerful symbol. The fact that a sharecropper does take charge of the vinification is truly the continuity of the whole year’s work. We have a treasure: it’s the terroir. Here we’re talking about an appellation — La Romanée — where the terroir is so expressive. There is a transferral in which we all have a common role to play: that of passing on the “ message of the terroir ”. That above all else.

To know the vintages, to know the plant, it’s a wonderful thing because it allows you to respond to them in a way which is completely in tune with what is happening. Working to fine-tune the “ vintage character ” a little, but also trying to develop the unique message of the terroir: that’s something tremendous. You have to understand the notion of Grand Cru: there is an entity that comes from the soil, a signature note, a message that is so strong that the influence of the vintage can be crushed. Each time there are the same signature notes, the same messages and the same aromatic reminder: it is the signature of the terroir, it is something unique. It is essential to avoid any crushing of these signature notes, by a winemaker’s ego, and to respect the balance. You always have to work on balance and texture, that’s important.

The gourmet dinner & tasting, under the guidance of Mr. Francesco Lee (Baghera/wines, Director Asia), will be composed of  a 10 vintages vertical of the illustrious "La Romanée" (from 1998 to 1906), commented by Philippe Prost, ambassador for Bouchard Père & Fils.

To mark the occasion, a stared Michelin's menu paired with the tasting notes of the vintages will be concocted by Chef Nicolas Boutin (Epure) and his team. 

Nestled in the heart of the Vosne-Romanée vineyard between Romanée-Conti, Richebourg and La Tâche, throughout recent memory La Romanée has been one of the brightest jewels in Burgundy’s wine landscape. Its name alone evokes its mastery of space and time, rising to a place of distinction in a time-honoured craft that remains one of the most authentic on Earth. For decades, La Romanée’s vintages have blossomed, all the while respecting the vineyard’s background and the Grand Cru rank it has held since its creation.

As such, we are honoured to have been entrusted with the last 1,926 bottles of Maison Bouchard Père & Fils, dating from 1862 to 2005. There are 33 vintages that have never left this historic cellar. These bottles are more than just an extraordinary tribute to an exceptional plot of land. They represent almost 150 years of the history of La Romanée, the smallest of the “Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée”.

This catalogue explores a slice of this history, taking us on a journey through time and memory meant to be transcribed, preserved and shared. The Maison Bouchard’s impressive archives are our eyes into this part of Burgundy’s wine tradition, which its majestic cellar holding the wines gives us a chance to experience first-hand. These magnificent bottles from 1862 carry particular emotional weight as a piece of wine history.