Recommended wines: Romanée Conti Grand Cru red, Latashi Grand Cru red, Richburg Grand Cru red wine
 
Parker perfect years: 1985, 2005 (Romanée-Conti Grand Cru), 1990, 1999 (Latahi Grand Cru), 1929 (Fort Ridgeburg Grand Cru)
 
In 2017, the global consumption of wine reached 3,541.8 million cases, second only to cheap and easy-to-drink beer, and is one of the most consumed alcoholic beverages in the world today. According to the Wine Market Council's 2017 Wine Consumption Handbook, 42% of all wine drinkers surveyed consume red wine, much higher than other categories such as white, rosé and sparkling wines.
 
France is a major wine producer, and Bordeaux and Burgundy are two of the most respected wine regions in France, among which many wine consumers know a lot about Bordeaux and little about Burgundy. In fact, Burgundy is definitely the top region to be reckoned with – if Bordeaux is the best wine in France, then Burgundy is the best wine at the top of the pyramid.
 
When it comes to Burgundy, Romanée Conti is an unavoidable topic. Romanée-Conti is the most prestigious winery in Burgundy today, the undisputed king of France, and its exorbitant price has even earned it the title of the world's king of wine - among the 50 most expensive wines in the world according to Wine Searcher, Romanée-Conti is the undisputed leader.
 
Compared to Bordeaux's more than 120,000 hectares, Burgundy, with only 25,000 hectares, is very small, and even a large vineyard like Romanée Conti has a total vineyard area of only 27.8 hectares, which is not comparable to the scale of the Left Bank vines. Château Romanée-Conti currently has a total of 8 vineyards, all of which are Grand Cru of Burgundy, namely Cru Latachy, Cru Saint-Vivence, Cru Ethiso, Château Grande Ethisso, Chorg Lichburg, Claude Coton, Chorg Romanée-Conti and Chlau Monthachet. With the exception of the Monthacher Cru, all Grand Cru Cru Cru produces Pinot Noir dry red wines.
 
Pinot Noir is the most dominant grape variety in Burgundy, with its early-ripening, thin-skinned and perishable characteristics, and is considered to be the most difficult wine grape to grow and maintain. Pinot Noir has a sensitive personality and a knack for capturing the characteristics of the terroir, resulting in wines that are very delicate, elegant and delicate, with conservative tannins, even when they are young, and are suitable for drinking at any stage.
 
The importance of the Romanée-Conti Garden can be appreciated from the name. It is the exclusive property of Château Romanée Conti, covering an area of 1.8 hectares, which currently produces an average of only 450 cases of wine per year, and on Wine Searcher, a bottle of Romanée Conti Grand Cru sold for nearly $20,000 before tax, and at Sotheby's on October 21, 2018, a bottle of 1945 Romanée Conti Grand Cru sold for $558,000, making it the most expensive wine in the world.
 
The Lautris de la Tachy, also the exclusive estate of Château Romanée-Conti, is also one of the most revered Grand Cru in Burgundy. The 6.06-hectare vineyard has a complex soil with a hard limestone base layer on which rocks, granite, red clay, stones and pebbles of various sizes, as well as fossilized oysters, form the topsoil. Today, the Latash vineyard produces about 1,870 cases of wine per year, the highest of any Romanée-Conti vineyard, so it is easy to find on the market.
 
Romanée Conti has the temperament of small-scale and refined production in Burgundy, and minimizes manual intervention in grape planting and harvesting, such as using only grape skins, grape roots and fermentation residues as fertilizer; the introduction of horses instead of machines for ploughing work; Small baskets are harvested and strictly screened before they can be entered into oak fermentation vats to start fermentation.
 
For Romanée Conti Grand Cru red wine, everyone wants to kiss the fragrance, but due to the limited production, the supply often exceeds demand, so Romanée Conti adopts a tying model, a bottle of Romanée Conti Grand Cru is combined with other wines, a total of 12 bottles are sold in a full case. However, this kind of direct wine purchase method is very accessible, usually as soon as it is released, it is given priority to well-known restaurants, celebrity drinkers, etc., and then to wine merchants from all over the world.
 
At present, Chinese consumers can buy some vintages of Romanée Conti red wine on e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and JD.com, and the price varies greatly depending on the type and year of the wine, with the price of Romanée Conti Grand Cru red wine usually exceeding 100,000 yuan, while the price of parity such as Eserso Garden and Ketong Garden is about 1 or 20,000 yuan.