Wine Advisor
Lignier Michelot, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2016
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2016 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru includes 70% whole-bunch fruit with 30% new oak. It has a very exuberant, typical bouquet for this vineyard that goes out of its way to please: copious black cherries, griottes and crushed violet aromas all demanding attention. The palate is sweet and supple on the entry with saturated tannin counterbalanced by a fine bead of acidity, harmonious and linear at first, then fanning out on the second half with lightly peppered black fruit. There is a very long aftertaste here and you can sense the presence of this wine 45 to 60 seconds after it has departed.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(30% new oak, or roughly the same percentage as all of the 2015 crus here): Bright dark red. Very sexy, subtly complex scents of dark raspberry, black cherry, licorice, coffee and mocha, with suggestions of liqueur-like ripeness. Densely packed and thick, with subtle sweetness supported by ripe acidity. Quite juicy and savory in the mouth, then firmly tannic but not dry on the very long, rising back end. The yield here was a normal 42 hectoliters per hectare. This wine struck me as a bit New World in character when I first tasted it from barrel, but today it's clearly communicating its Morey terroir. (Lignier did not open a bottle of his Clos Saint-Denis, as he has just 140 bottles--plus another 140 for the owner of the vineyard.)
About the Producer
Domaine Lignier-Michelot is a boutique winery in Morey-Saint-Denis, in the Cote de Nuits region of Burgundy, France. Founded by the ancestors of Virgile Lignier, the winery was founded in 1988 when Virgile Lignier began to learn about farming and winemaking from his father. At that time, the winery only produced wines in large oak barrels which were then sold to other wine merchants. In 1992, after gaining experience in winemaking, he persuaded his father to gradually start bottling and selling the wines at the winery, and in 2002, after his father had officially retired, he began to run and manage the winery on his own. The vineyards of Château Rigne-Micheloux cover a total area of approximately 8.5 hectares in the wine producing villages of Moray-Saint-Denis and Gevrey Chambertin. The majority of the vineyards in the village of Moray-Saint-Denis are old vines, most of which are 50-60 years old. The vines have strong roots and are deep in the soil, allowing them to absorb the minerals from the deeper layers of the soil. Château Rigne-Micheloux has 2 Grand Cru vineyards, 3 Premier Cru vineyards and a number of village and regional vineyards. These vineyards are planted mainly with Pinot Noir. In addition, a small amount of Chardonnay is planted in some of the regional vineyards. The winemaker at Château Rigne-Micheloux is currently Vergil Rigne. Virgil has been learning about winemaking from his father since 1988 and has gained a great deal of experience. Now retired, Virgil's father still follows the family's traditional philosophy of winemaking. The grapes are hand-selected, then destemmed, broken, pressed, cold macerated, and fermented naturally for 5-6 days before being transferred to oak barrels for maturation, which can take anywhere from 12-15 months. In general, the estate uses 20% new oak barrels for its village wines, 33% new oak barrels for its Premier Cru wines and 80% to 100% new oak barrels for its Grand Cru wines, depending on the vintage. Vergil also prefers natural winemaking processes, for example, the wines are neither filtered nor clarified, but are racked to settle impurities naturally. Although this process is slow and costly, he believes that it is the only way to produce the best wines. Currently, Château Rigne-Micheloux produces an annual average of around 2,300 cases of Pinot Noir, Chambolle-Musigny, Morey-Saint-Denis, Gevrey-Chambertin and three Pinot Noirs from the village of Morey-Saint-Denis. Pinot Noir from the First Growth and 2 Pinot Noirs from the Grand Cru of Moret-Saint-Denis. Although the production of Château Rigne-Micheloux is not very high, the wines are very fruity, concentrated and balanced.
