Kevin Shaun Jirasinghe
10/02/2026
Romanée-Conti acts as a cornerstone holding
If there’s one question I’m asked more than any other by clients exploring fine wine investment, it’s this: what really protects long-term value?
Scores matter. Scarcity matters. Brand absolutely matters. But above all, value in fine wine is protected by intent, the decisions producers make in the vineyard when nobody is watching and when shortcuts would be far easier.
That’s why recent commentary around vineyard practices at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is so interesting from an investment perspective. Not because it’s new or flashy, but because it reinforces something long-term collectors already understand. Romanée-Conti’s value is built deliberately, year after year, through uncompromising quality control.
Romanée-Conti isn’t just another blue-chip Burgundy. It sits in a category of its own. Production is tiny, global demand is relentless and supply shrinks every single year as bottles are consumed. But scarcity alone doesn’t explain why Romanée-Conti has become one of the most dependable pillars of wine investment portfolios. Plenty of wines are scarce. Very few are scarce by choice.
The estate’s philosophy has always been clear: quality comes first, even if it means producing less wine, taking financial pain in the short term or leaving money on the table. That mindset is exactly what long-term investors want to see.
In simple terms, crop thinning means reducing the amount of fruit on the vine so the remaining grapes ripen more evenly and with greater concentration. From a commercial point of view, this is a hard sell. Less fruit means less wine to sell.
From a fine wine investment point of view, it’s a very strong signal.
Romanée-Conti has never chased volume. In challenging growing seasons, the estate has repeatedly chosen to sacrifice yield to protect quality. That decision directly influences how the wine ages, how it’s perceived by collectors and how it performs on the secondary market over decades.
As an investor, you want producers who behave like stewards, not manufacturers. Romanée-Conti has been doing exactly that for generations.
Most investors never see the vineyard. They see prices, indices and auction results. But the best investment outcomes usually trace back to decisions made years earlier at ground level.
When an estate prioritises vine health, balance and long-term sustainability, several things tend to follow:
Romanée-Conti ticks every one of those boxes, which is why it continues to sit at the very top of the fine wine investment pyramid.
One of the reasons Romanée-Conti performs so well in secondary markets is that it doesn’t rely on hype cycles. Prices don’t surge because of a single score or trend. They rise because demand remains constant while supply declines. During broader market corrections, this matters enormously. Wines backed by genuine quality tend to see shallower pullbacks and faster recoveries. Investors are reluctant sellers because they trust the underlying asset.
Romanée-Conti’s track record reflects this. Even in softer markets, liquidity remains strong and interest remains global. That resilience doesn’t happen by accident.
When clients ask me whether Romanée-Conti still makes sense for wine investment, my answer is usually the same: it depends on your objectives.
Romanée-Conti is not a short-term trade. It’s not about flipping bottles or chasing quick percentage gains. It’s about holding one of the most culturally significant wines in the world and allowing scarcity and reputation to do the heavy lifting over time.
For the right investor, Romanée-Conti acts as a cornerstone holding. It brings prestige, stability and long-term confidence to a portfolio, even if it represents a relatively small allocation by volume.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that the best fine wine investment stories are rarely the loudest. They’re the quiet, consistent ones.
Romanée-Conti doesn’t issue bold marketing claims. It doesn’t chase trends. It simply continues to farm carefully, produce less when necessary and prioritise quality above all else. From an investment standpoint, that behaviour is gold dust. It reduces uncertainty, supports long-term pricing and reinforces the wine’s position as a global benchmark.
For investors looking at Romanée-Conti now, the message isn’t about timing the next release or predicting the next price jump. It’s about understanding why the wine continues to perform so reliably. The estate’s approach to vineyard management tells us that future supply will remain tight, quality will remain high and collector confidence will remain strong. Those three factors underpin every successful wine investment.
Even as market cycles come and go, Romanée-Conti’s fundamentals remain unchanged. That’s a rare position to occupy in any asset class.
Romanée-Conti’s willingness to sacrifice volume for quality is more than a winemaking philosophy. It’s an investment signal.
It tells us that this is an estate playing the long game, the same mindset required for successful fine wine investment. In a world where many producers feel pressure to maximise output, Romanée-Conti continues to do the opposite and collectors continue to reward that discipline.
For investors who value patience, provenance and long-term thinking, Romanée-Conti remains one of the clearest examples of why quality always wins in the end.
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05 Feb 2026
