Never failing to attract the big spenders, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti has once again brought a record-breaking result for iDealwine, with a 1990 Romanée-Conti cuvée going under the hammer for a grand total of €20,999.

To make a more representative top table, only one bottle per domain is featured in the ranking (of course, the most expensive one).

Highest bid on record

In recent years, we’ve seen a few little shake-ups among Burgundy’s top bottles, and so far in 2021, the top trio is made up of a 1990 Romanée-Conti from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a 1985 Echézeaux Grand Cru from Henri Jayer, and a 1989 Musigny from Georges Roumier. In 2020, we saw the inscrutable DRC get overtaken by a top bid of €17,499 on a Musigny cuvée from Domaine Leroy, but it looks like the legendary estate has taken back the crown for now. The new record figure of €20,999 for the 1990 DRC is thus a 20% increase on last year’s top bid. This isn’t only the biggest sum of 2021, but the most expensive wine that has ever been sold at an iDealwine auction.

Lalou Bize-Leroy’s estate still has the rest of the year to catch up, but for now has settled in 6^th place with a 1991 Richebourg auctioned for €7,000.

Côte de Nuits reds and Côte de Beaune whites

Unsurprisingly, Burgundy’s top wines so far this year are reds from the Côte de Nuits and whites from the Côte de Beaune. After the iconic red trio topping the table follow two white cuvées, a 2012 Montrachet from Domaine Leflaive and a 2011 Chevalier-Montrachet from Domaine d’Auvenay. 14 of the 20 top bottles are red cuvées, and the remaining six lots are white wines, all from the Côte de Beaune. The most notable villages featured among these lighter stars are Puligny and Chassagne, placenames that feature time and time again when it comes to Burgundy’s most prestigious signatures. For now, there are no Mâconnais, Chalonnais, or Chablis bottles in the top 20, although there is still time for the tables to turn. It is also worth mentioning that the region’s big vintages, especially those gaining in maturity, are still highly coveted, most notably the 2010 and 1990.

Climbing the ranks

We already know that Burgundy is home to many of the finest wine estates, a region with no shortage of well-established names. Still, even these top domains have to perform exceptionally well in order to make it to our top 20, a sign that their bottles are in great demand from bidders across the world. Three of these estates have been working their way up the ranking compared to their position last year: Domaine Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier with a 2010 Musigny, Sylvain Cathiard et fils with a 2010 Romanée-Saint-Vivant, and Prieuré Roch with a 1999 Vosne-Romanée Le Clos Goillotte. We’ll see if their performances are still holding strong at the end of the year.

Burgundy’s highest hammer prices for the first half of 2021

See our full selection of Burgundy bottles here