FLOAT 100 · Wine · No. 4
Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Montrachet Grand Cru 2018
A red-wine domaine bought two-thirds of a hectare of Burgundy's most famous white vineyard in three pieces between 1963 and 1980, and from it makes about 3,000 bottles a year; the 2018 came from a scorching summer that started the domaine's harvest on the last day of August.
- Maker
- Domaine de la Romanee-Conti
- By price in wine
- 8 of 100
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Create a free account- Producer
- Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, Vosne-Romanee, Burgundy
- Vineyard
- Montrachet grand cru, about 8 hectares straddling Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet
- The domaine's holding
- Three plots totaling 0.6759 hectares, all on the Chassagne side (other sources round to 0.67 or 0.68)
- Acquired
- 1963, 1965 and 1980
- Grape
- Chardonnay
- Grand cru since
- 1937
- Typical production
- About 250 cases (around 3,000 bottles) a year; one source gives 2,400 to 4,000 bottles
- Vine age
- About 60 years on average (one source says 62)
- 2018 harvest
- The domaine began picking on August 31, 2018, four days earlier than in 2017
The great white hillside
Montrachet is a single grand cru vineyard of about 8 hectares (7.99 hectares were in production in 2008) on the border between two villages of the Cote de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet and Chassagne-Montrachet, divided almost equally between them. It is planted almost entirely to Chardonnay. On the Chassagne side, growers may put a 'Le' in front of the name, as in Le Montrachet.
The vineyard has been worked since the Middle Ages: a gift of wines from 'Mont Rachaz' is documented in 1252. In the 19th century it was devastated first by oidium and then by phylloxera. In 1855 Dr. Jules Lavalle called its wine 'incontestably of the first order of white wines from the Cote d'Or and probably of all the white wines of the world.' It became an appellation grand cru in 1937, together with its neighbor Batard-Montrachet.
Ownership is famously fragmented. In October 2007 the vineyard had 18 owners and 26 producers; a more recent retail description puts the number of producers at 16. The largest owner is the de Laguiche family, which leases its vines to Joseph Drouhin. Among the names on the Chassagne side are Lafon, Leflaive and the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti.
How a red-wine domaine came to make a white
The Domaine de la Romanee-Conti made only red wine until 1963. Its modern shape dates from 1869, when Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet bought Romanee-Conti and began assembling the estate. In 1942, when one of his descendants, Jacques Chambon, wanted to sell his half, the other co-owner, Edmond Gaudin de Villaine, turned the domaine into a company so that Henri Leroy could buy 50 percent. One account credits Henri Leroy with bringing Montrachet to the domaine.
The first plot, 0.3419 hectares, was bought in 1963 from the Comte de Moucheron; it traces to the holdings of the Serre family, documented since at least 1892, and sits on the Puligny border. The second, 0.167 hectares, came in 1965 from a Monsieur Roizot. The third, another 0.167 hectares and the other half of the original Roizot plot, followed in 1980. The Roizot land traces to an 1892 holding of Charles Drapier that was split at auction around 1918. Together the three plots total 0.6759 hectares, roughly a tenth of the vineyard.
The 2018 was made while Aubert de Villaine was co-director, a post he held from 1974 to the end of 2021, when his nephew Bertrand de Villaine succeeded him. In the cellar, one account says the Noblet family made the domaine's wines through 2018, when Alexandre Bernier took over and brought a newer, leaner style.
2018: a hot year, an early start
A wet winter filled Burgundy's soil reserves, and a particularly dry, hot summer followed. One critic placed the heat right behind 2003, though with only one heat spike; alcohol levels commonly ran above 14 degrees. Burgundy as a whole picked from the last ten days of August to the end of September and harvested 1.8 million hectoliters, with Chardonnay yields often above 50 hectoliters per hectare. Critics judged the year's reds stronger than its whites.
At the domaine, Bertrand de Villaine said: 'We began our harvest on the 31 August in 2018 versus the 04 September in 2017.' He called the year 'complicated, chaotic even,' with an attack of mildew in the bottom of La Tache, the first big disease attack since botrytis in 2008. Sugar levels were high enough that some wines finished fermenting in barrel, though he said maturity and production were similar to 2017.
Critics divided on the Montrachet. Burghound scored it 97, describing exuberantly spicy and markedly exotic aromas of passion fruit, dried peach, apricot, fennel, jasmine tea and clove, and a texture 'thick and textured, indeed almost chewy.' At a vertical tasting in New York, one taster gave it 96 but called it 'another heavy and cloying wine,' and another guest at the table pointed to the 2018 heat wave.
The world in 2018
The vintage ripened through a year of spectacle. In May, Prince Harry married Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle, and in June the leaders of the United States and North Korea met in Singapore. In July, rescuers brought a youth soccer team out of the flooded Tham Luang cave in Thailand, and France beat Croatia on July 15 to win the World Cup in Russia.
By late in the year, with the new wine in barrel, the yellow vests protests over fuel prices had spread across France, and on November 26 NASA's InSight probe landed on Mars.
Rarity and price
At about 250 cases in a typical year, the Montrachet is one of the smallest wines the domaine makes and its only commercial white. Bottles are allocated, and the secondary market sets the price.
In 2026, US retailers listed single bottles of the 2018 at about $9,500 and $13,000, and one fine-wine trading desk showed a market value of $90,110 for a 12-bottle case. None of those figures is a sale.
The domaine's red wines set the ceiling for the whole market. On March 18, 2026, a bottle of 1945 Romanee-Conti sold at auction in the United States for $812,500, beating the $558,000 the same bottle had made at auction in 2018.
The numbers
- Domaine's holding
- 0.6759 ha in three plots (rounded to 0.67 or 0.68 elsewhere)
- Whole vineyard
- 7.99 ha in production (2008)
- Typical production
- About 250 cases, around 3,000 bottles (one source: 2,400 to 4,000)
- Average vine age
- About 60 years (one source: 62)
- 2018 harvest start
- August 31, 2018
- Burghound
- 97
Timeline
A gift of wines from 'Mont Rachaz' is recorded, the earliest documented mention of the vineyard.
Dr. Jules Lavalle ranks Montrachet first among the white wines of the Cote d'Or.
Jacques-Marie Duvault-Blochet buys Romanee-Conti and begins building the domaine.
Montrachet becomes an appellation grand cru.
Henri Leroy buys a 50 percent share of the Domaine de la Romanee-Conti.
The domaine buys its first Montrachet plot, 0.3419 ha, from the Comte de Moucheron; until then it had made only red wine.
A second plot of 0.167 ha is bought from M. Roizot.
Aubert de Villaine becomes co-director of the domaine.
The domaine buys the other half of the Roizot plot, bringing its holding to 0.6759 ha.
The domaine starts its 2018 harvest, four days earlier than in 2017.
The domaine's 2018s are shown to visiting tasters; Bertrand de Villaine calls the year 'complicated, chaotic even.'
Aubert de Villaine steps down; his nephew Bertrand de Villaine succeeds him.
A bottle of the domaine's 1945 Romanee-Conti sells for $812,500, a record for a single bottle of wine at auction.
The world in 2018
SpaceX flies its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time.
Prince Harry marries Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle.
The leaders of the United States and North Korea meet in Singapore.
A youth soccer team is rescued from the flooded Tham Luang cave in Thailand.
France beats Croatia to win the FIFA World Cup in Russia.
An earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi, Indonesia, kill 4,340 people.
NASA's InSight probe lands on Mars.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $9,500 | Asking price, not a saleUS retailer asking price for one 750 ml bottle ($9,499.99). Not a sale. |
| 2026 | $13,000 | Asking price, not a saleUS retailer asking price for one 750 ml bottle ($12,999.97). Not a sale. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Montrachet Grand Cru 2018 is number 8 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 (4 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The Domaine de la Romanee-Conti made only red wine until it bought its first Montrachet plot in 1963.
- The domaine owns about a tenth of Montrachet, in three plots bought over 17 years.
- Two of the domaine's three plots are the two halves of the original Roizot plot, bought 15 years apart, in 1965 and 1980.
- On the Chassagne side of the vineyard, where all the domaine's plots lie, growers may label the wine 'Le Montrachet.'
- In 2018 the domaine began picking on August 31; in 2017 it started on September 4.
- The vineyard's name appears as 'Mont Rachaz' in a record from 1252.
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