Hubert Lignier, Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru 2012

robert_parker97

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2012 Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru has a very complex, quite beguiling bouquet with raspberry preserve, sous-bois, rose petals and orange zest all emerging from the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with razor-sharp tannins and superb delineation. This actually reminds me of one of Denis Bachelet’s Charmes-Chambertin and the finish has an awesome amount of tension that leaves the mouth tingling long afterward.

robert_parker92

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

Still, this is a very fine Nuits. Moving on to the two grand crus, there are four barrels of 2012 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, Lignier’s 0.15-hectare parcel supplemented by out-sourced fruit. It has quite a strict, inexpressive bouquet despite encouragement, and the palate follows suit: quite rigid for a Charmes-Chambertin with strict tannins and a brusque but intriguing finish. Very fine – but serious, perhaps destined to be eclipsed by the Clos de la Roche. If I have to recycle my declaration of adoration with respect to this domaine, then so be it. In recent vintages the ever-congenial Hubert and his son Laurent have furnished each vintage with exemplary, occasionally heavenly wines that rank amongst the finest in Burgundy. If God made wine for a reason, then it was for wines like these. Hubert Lignier himself began bottling a tiny amount of wine around the early 1970s, but it was really during the following decade that his wines achieved acclaim beyond the confines of the region. There is a lifetime of labor that goes into them. You can feel it on the hard calloused skin of Hubert’s hands when you shake them, toughened into leather by countless hours amongst in the vineyard. When his son Romain took the reins, there was a subtle shift in style, the wines becoming a little glossier and modern, then after his untimely passing, they seem to have reverted back to his father’s style, an approach that is instilled in his son Laurent. The good news is that the imbroglio between Hubert and his daughter-in-law Kellen has reached its conclusion and from next year, Laurent told me that from 2014 those vines will revert back to Hubert. As usual, I tasted the 2012s in prepared samples that had been extracted the same morning in the gites that stands behind the imposing cedar guarding in the courtyard. The blends were as close to the final proportions of used and new oak as Laurent could make them. “We were 30% down in production for the grand crus around Morey, but normal around Gevrey,” Laurent told me. “However, we lost half the crop of our Burgundy Rouge because of humidity and mildew. The harvest started on 23 September until the 29 September. The malo-lactics were late, especially for the Clos de la Roche. We’ll keep the wines on their lees until the following May. Everything was de-stemmed except for the Vieilles Vignes, Gevrey Combottes, Charmes-Chambertin and the Clos de la Roche, which all had 20% whole cluster.” After a somewhat tumultuous few years, at least on the family side, I really felt that for the first time during many years of visiting, those dark clouds are now well and truly behind them. And the future looks bright. Notwithstanding the reacquisition of vines that had been farmed by Kellen, Laurent informed me that with the backing of investors they had recently acquired a new parcel in Pommard “Les Bresculs”. With respect to their 2012s – quite simply this constituted one of the best of my 120+ tastings. These astonishing wines over-deliver in almost every department: elegant, refined, classic, vivacious, poised and intense, these wines were suffused with personality and charisma. (And just to reassert my appreciation, I ordered a “lowly” Bourgogne Rouge 2011 off the list that same evening – a wine that I swear you could mistake for a premier cru from another grower.) Marry Hubert or Laurent Lignier with a prime piece of vineyard such as Gevrey Aux Combottes or Clos de la Roche and just sit back and watch the magic happen. These are very special wines, some of the best you will find in Burgundy. Importer: Neil Rosenthal (US) and also Robert Rolls and Marc Fine Wines (UK).