DRC winemaker Bernard Noblet to retire
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s long-standing winemaker and cellarmaster, Bernard Noblet, is to retire at the end of this month.
Bernard Noblet has been winemaker and cellarmaster at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti since the 1986 vintage, having joined the world-renowned Burgundy wine producer in 1978.
Noblet will retire at the end of this month, confirmed DRC’s exclusive importer in the UK, Corney & Barrow – after the news was first reported in French publication Bourgogne Aujourd’hui
He will be replaced by Alexandre Bernier, who has shadowed Noblet in the past few years.
‘It has been planned these last three or four years, with Alexandre Bernier working very closely alongside Bernard Noblet as part of a seamless evolution,’ said Corney & Barrow in a statement.
Coming up: Look out for our tasting notes on DRC 2015 vintage wines next month – to be published on Decanter Premium
Noblet took over from his father, André Noblet, who had been head winemaker at DRC since 1946.
Together, they have overseen the rise of DRC as producer of some of the most in-demand wines around the world.
Bernard Noblet, in particular, has witnessed meteoric rises in the price of DRC wines, alongside a broader expansion of the fine wine market to include collectors all over the globe.
For example, DRC Romanée-Conti 1990 has risen in price by around three thousand percent in the past two decades, according to Liv-ex data.
