FLOAT 100 · Wine · No. 7
Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache Grand Cru 2018
La Tache first won its fame because a prince kept the vineyard next door for his own table, and in the hot, early 2018 vintage one veteran taster called it among the greatest young wines he had ever tried at the domaine.
- Maker
- Domaine de la Romanee-Conti
- By price in wine
- 17 of 100
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Create a free account- Producer
- Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Vosne-Romanee, Burgundy
- Vineyard
- La Tache, a grand cru monopole owned entirely by the domaine
- Vineyard size
- About 6 hectares by the domaine's holding; 5.03 ha were in production in 2008
- Grape
- Pinot Noir
- Vintage
- 2018; the domaine began picking on August 31
- Alcohol
- 13% on the label
- Typical production
- About 1,800 to 1,870 cases a year
- Grand cru since
- 1936
- Format
- 750 ml bottle
- Leading critic score
- Burghound 99 (January 2021)
The vineyard called 'the task'
La Tache is a grand cru vineyard for red wine in the commune of Vosne-Romanee, in the Cote de Nuits of Burgundy. It is a monopole: Domaine de la Romanee-Conti owns all of it, so every bottle labeled La Tache comes from the same cellar. It borders La Grande Rue to the north and is otherwise surrounded mostly by Vosne-Romanee premier cru vineyards. The appellation was created in 1936.
The vineyard took its present name, which means 'task,' when the de Croonembourg family bought it from the Abbey of Saint-Vivant in 1631, at the same time as they bought the neighboring plot then called La Romanee. In 1760 Andre de Croonembourg sold both, and they went to different buyers. Louis Francois de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, bought and renamed Romanee-Conti and kept its wine for his own table. That left La Tache as the finest Vosne-Romanee that could actually be bought, and its reputation dates from that moment.
In 1791 La Tache was bought by the Marey family. After the French Revolution it was sequestered by the state in 1793 and sold in 1794, at the same time as Romanee-Conti. When Dr. Jules Lavalle published his classification of Burgundy's vineyards in 1855, he put La Tache in the highest of five ranks, tete de cuvee.
How La Tache became one estate's monopole
In 1815 Louis Liger-Belair, one of Napoleon's generals, assembled about 40 hectares of prime Burgundy land with his son, including all of La Tache. Meanwhile Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, built up after Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet bought Romanee-Conti in 1869, owned about 4 hectares of the adjoining Les Gaudichots vineyard.
Until 1932, wine from Les Gaudichots could be sold either under its own name or as La Tache. That year the domaine applied to have its Gaudichots land merged into La Tache, over the objection of the Liger-Belair family, which owned the smaller, original La Tache. The Liger-Belairs lost. Most of Les Gaudichots was absorbed into La Tache, and a few parts judged premier cru rather than grand cru quality stayed outside as Vosne-Romanee Les Gaudichots.
The Liger-Belair holdings shrank to about 24 hectares, and after the death of the Comtesse Liger-Belair in 1931 and family disputes over the inheritance, their vineyards were auctioned in 1933. Their La Tache went to Domaine de la Romanee-Conti. With the old La Tache and the Gaudichots land in one owner's hands, the combined vineyard became the grand cru monopole of La Tache in 1936.
Old bottles from before the merger are collected in their own right. A case of 1929 Les Gaudichots sold at auction in 2004 for $88,125.
2018: a hot, fast, generous year
The 2018 growing season in the Cote d'Or began with an unusually wet winter and spring. Rainfall in January and March was more than twice the average, over 120 mm in each month, which filled the soil's water reserves. January was the mildest since 1945, April brought 30-degree days that pushed the vines forward, and the rest of spring and summer ran 1.5 to 2 degrees above average. May was almost tropical in the Cote d'Or, with warm temperatures and daily showers that brought heavy mildew pressure. August was dry and warm, but without the heat spikes of 2003 or 2019, and frost barely featured.
At the domaine, Bertrand de Villaine said picking began on August 31, 2018, against September 4 the year before. 'We had an attack of mildew in the bottom of La Tache in 2018,' he said, 'the first big attack of something since we were hit by botrytis in 2008.' The vines grew so fast and the grapes carried so much sugar that some wines finished fermenting in barrel, and in a few limited areas the domaine even made modest green harvests. He described 2018 as chaotic, but close to 2017 in maturity and volume, with 'some degree of concentration in the grapes rather than overt maturity.'
The finished La Tache 2018 is labeled at 13% alcohol. Across Burgundy, 2018 was one of the rare vintages that delivered both quality and quantity, and growers faced a new problem: picking early enough to keep acidity rather than waiting for ripeness.
What the critics found
The writer of the Burgundy Report, who has tasted every new vintage at the domaine since 2000, called the 2018 lineup the single greatest tasting of 2018s he made, and wrote of the La Tache from barrel: 'one of the greatest wines I ever tasted young at the domaine.' For the first time in a few years at that stage, he found La Tache more impressive than Romanee-Conti, though he noted the Romanee-Conti had been racked a week earlier and the others had not.
Allen Meadows of Burghound scored the wine 95-98 from barrel in January 2020 and 99 in January 2021. Neal Martin gave it 95-97 in January 2020, noting a strong whole-bunch influence on the nose, scents of black truffle, pressed rose petal and autumn undergrowth, filigreed tannins and a silky, saline finish, and predicting 'an awesome yet quite cerebral La Tache' once the aromatics opened.
A US retailer describes the 2018 as a big, muscular wine with explosive fruit depth and layered florals, built for long aging.
Rarity and price
La Tache is the domaine's largest red grand cru, at roughly 6 hectares against about 1.8 for Romanee-Conti. Average production is reported at about 1,800 to 1,870 cases a year. In 2008, 95 hectoliters were produced from 5.03 hectares in production, just under 12,700 bottles, while the 2003-2007 average was about 151 hectoliters, just over 20,000 bottles.
The domaine farms with very low yields, averaging about 25 hectoliters per hectare against a grand cru limit of 35, and has farmed La Tache organically since 1985. About 5 hectares in La Tache and Grands-Echezeaux are farmed biodynamically.
Single bottles of the 2018 have sold in online auctions in the United States for $4,000 in June 2024 and for $5,000 in May 2026. A six-bottle lot was offered at auction in June 2023 with an estimate of $28,000 to $38,000. In October 2026 a San Francisco retailer listed the 2018 at $5,299.99 a bottle, sold out.
The numbers
- Vineyard
- About 6 ha (6.06 ha by one count); 5.03 ha in production in 2008
- Typical production
- About 1,800 to 1,870 cases a year
- Average vine age
- About 47 years
- 2018 harvest start
- August 31, 2018 (domaine)
- Alcohol
- 13%
- Burghound
- 99 (January 2021); 95-98 from barrel (January 2020)
- Neal Martin
- 95-97 (January 2020)
Timeline
The de Croonembourg family buys La Tache, named 'the task,' from the Abbey of Saint-Vivant, along with the future Romanee-Conti.
Andre de Croonembourg sells both vineyards; the Prince of Conti keeps Romanee-Conti for himself, leaving La Tache the best Vosne wine on the market.
The Marey family buys La Tache.
Sequestered after the Revolution, La Tache is sold by the state.
General Louis Liger-Belair and his son assemble about 40 ha of vineyards, including all of La Tache.
Jules Lavalle ranks La Tache tete de cuvee, the highest of five categories.
Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet buys Romanee-Conti and builds the domaine, which comes to own about 4 ha of Les Gaudichots.
The domaine applies to merge its Gaudichots land into La Tache, over Liger-Belair objections.
The Liger-Belair vineyards are auctioned and their La Tache goes to the domaine.
La Tache becomes a grand cru appellation and the domaine's monopole.
The domaine begins organic farming in La Tache.
The domaine begins its 2018 harvest; mildew had struck the bottom of La Tache earlier in the season.
Burghound scores the 2018 La Tache 95-98 and Neal Martin 95-97 from barrel.
Burghound scores the 2018 La Tache 99.
A six-bottle lot of the 2018 is offered at auction, estimated at $28,000 to $38,000.
A single bottle sells in an online auction in the United States for $4,000.
A single bottle sells in an online auction in the United States for $5,000.
The world in 2018
SpaceX flies its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time, with Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload.
The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation takes effect.
Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un meet in Singapore, the first summit between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.
Twelve boys and their soccer coach are rescued from the flooded Tham Luang cave in Thailand.
France beats Croatia 4-2 to win the World Cup in Russia, the same day a hailstorm hits vineyards in southern Nuits-Saint-Georges.
NASA launches the Parker Solar Probe to study the Sun at close range.
Yellow vest protests spread across France over rising fuel prices.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 12, 2024 | $4,000 | Sold at auctionSingle 750 ml bottle sold in an online auction in the United States. |
| May 14, 2026 | $5,000 | Sold at auctionSingle 750 ml bottle sold in an online auction in the United States. |
| Oct 2026 | $5,300 | Asking price, not a saleSan Francisco retailer list price of $5,299.99 per bottle, shown sold out. Not a sale. |
A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.
By reference price, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache Grand Cru 2018 is number 17 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (7 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- La Tache's name means 'the task.'
- La Tache first became famous after 1760, when the Prince of Conti kept the wine of the vineyard next door for his own table and La Tache became the best Vosne-Romanee on the market.
- Until 1932, wine from the neighboring Les Gaudichots vineyard could legally be sold as La Tache.
- The domaine won La Tache's merger fight against the Liger-Belair family, then bought the Liger-Belairs' La Tache at auction in 1933.
- In 2018 the domaine started picking on August 31, four days earlier than in 2017.
- Mildew struck the bottom of La Tache in 2018, the domaine's first big disease attack since botrytis in 2008.
- A case of 1929 Les Gaudichots, from before the vineyard was folded into La Tache, sold for $88,125 in 2004.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026