Hubert Lignier, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2015

robert_parker98

Reviewed by: Neal Martin

The 2015 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru comes from 0.65-hectare in Montluisants and 0.25-hectare in Les Fremières; it matured entirely in new oak, including 25% whole bunch fruit. It has a very succinct and harmonious bouquet with layers of ripe red berries, cold limestone, a touch of violet and orange blossom. So pure and refined. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp acidity, very harmonious in the mouth, quite linear compared to recent vintages, but exuding precision and intensity on the finish that lingers long in the mouth. It leaves a saline residue that urges you back for another sip. This is an outstanding Clos de la Roche that will give 25+ years of pleasure. Chapeau Laurent et Hubert.

robert_parker96

Reviewed by: William Kelley

The 2015 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru from Domaine Hubert Lignier is one of the high points of the vintage, wafting from the glass with aromas of red and black fruits, pencil lead, cinnamon, cedar, blood orange, dark chocolate and violets. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, sappy and stunningly complete, its formidable chassis of tannin entirely cloaked in a bottomless core of fruit, striking for its mouth-filling amplitude and magical alliance of richness and energy. This will require a decade of bottle age, and ideally more, to realize all its immense potential. Ten-and-a-half barrels were produced.

robert_parker96

Reviewed by: William Kelley

While it has lost none of its striking elegance, the 2015 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru has shut down a bit since I last tasted it, unfurling with coaxing to reveal aromas of ripe cherries, raw cocoa, dried flowers, cinnamon and grilled squab. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied, layered and satiny, with unusual suppleness and charm for a young Clos de la Roche, but with considerable depth and concentration behind its deceptively charming facade. Bright and precise, it's a fabulous wine with a long and brilliant future ahead of it.

vinous96

Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer

(mostly from Mont Luisants, the rest from Les Fremières, next to Clos Saint-Denis): Healthy deep red. Compelling high-pitched perfume of pomegranate, cranberry, minerals, spices and orange zest. Suave and utterly fine-grained on the palate, with its red berry and spice flavors lifted by a rose petal quality that I normally associate with Clos Saint-Denis. Most impressive today on the outstanding slowly building finish, which saturates the palate with sweet red and purple berries and spices and seamless, noble tannins. Not a black-fruit style of Clos de la Roche and not a bit hard. This wonderfully juicy, precise wine leaves the palate vibrating.