Wine Advisor
Hubert Lignier, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2011
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2011 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru really puts the Charmes-Chambertin "11" in its place. Raised in 50% new oak, it offers much more complex, quite entrancing bouquet with perfumed red currant and wild strawberry scents laced with wilted rose petals and wet limestone. The palate is medium-bodied with an expressive, very well-defined entry and certainly impressive structure that exerts a gentle but insistent grip. There is a lovely silkiness here, the finish very composed and refined. Superb. Drink 2014-2028. Domaine Hubert Lignier is another Morey-St-Denis estate that I have followed and visited for a number of years, a period that has been turbulent to say the least. I have always appreciated Hubert's classic style of wine and his tenets have been instilled in his son, Laurent. It was he who led me through the tasting of impressive 2011s at their cellar under a magnificent cedar overlooking the Route Nationale, though Hubert popped in to say, "Bonjour." Laurent explained that the vineyards are now in their third year of organic viticulture although he has no intention of seeking certification. This was a strong set of pure, sensual, quite intellectual wines that I feel deserve more recognition, exhibiting prudent use of oak, ample freshness and wonderful expression of their terroirs not dissimilar to Lalou Bize-Leroy. Quantities are often very small as they home in on individual lieux-dits, though prices remain reasonable. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990
About the Producer
For vinifications and ageing, our methods are little interventionist.The fruit’s quality is essential to craft 24 great wines. We make fresh, fine and elegant wines which are also full bodied with a long lasting and mouth-watering finish. Each of our terroirs (Clos de la Roche, Morey, Gevrey-Chambertin, …) expresses itself through our wines. Our ageing in barrels (20 to 30% new oak) is rather long (20 or 22 months), on lees and without racking after malolactic fermentation. The wines are bottled using gravity, without fining in order to keep the wine’s freshness and its ageing potential.
