200 - Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, La Tâche Grand Cru, 1945 (1 x 750 ml)

Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, La Tâche Grand Cru, 1945 (1 x 750 ml) Region: Burgundy Fill Level: 5.5 cm below the base of the capsule Capsule: slightly nicked and soiled from storage Cork: OK Label: slightly damp and slightly scratched and marked in the top right corner Packaging: plain cardboard box Notes: The 1945 La Tâche holds a remarkable place in the history of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, arriving at the very moment the Domaine was undergoing a transformation. Although the vineyard’s origins are ancient, the modern La Tâche took shape in 1933, when the Domaine acquired the original parcel. In 1936, the expanded vineyard was granted its own appellation as Grand Cru La Tâche, a monopole of the Domaine. 1945 brought the first peacetime harvest after World War II, and one of the smallest Burgundy had ever seen. Spring frost and violent summer storms drastically reduced yields, yet the grapes that survived reached exceptional ripeness and concentration, producing wines of rare intensity in tiny quantities. The vintage also marked a turning point for the Domaine. After the 1945 harvest, the ancient, ungrafted vines of Romanée-Conti were finally uprooted, bringing the last great pre-phylloxera vineyard of the Domaine to an end. La Tâche then assumed a central role. Cuttings from its vines were used to replant Romanée-Conti in 1947 and 1948, and from 1946 to 1951, while Romanée-Conti produced no wine, La Tâche stood as the Domaine’s flagship. The replanted vineyard yielded its first vintage in 1952. The 1945 La Tâche is therefore far more than just an old vintage from the Domaine. It marks the very beginning of the monopole’s modern history, produced just as the Domaine’s old vines were disappearing and the vineyards that would define it for generations to come were being reborn. Provenance and Authenticity This bottle has had only two owners and was given to its current owner in 1974. It has remained in the same cellar ever since, resting undisturbed for more than fifty years in the cellars of a wine estate in France. Its authenticity has been verified by both Bonhams specialists and independent authentication expert Mads Duus Pedersen of Enoauthentica, and the full report of the analysis conducted on the bottle is available upon request. For further information on this lot, please visit Bonhams.com