Lignier-Michelot - Bourgogne Rouge 2018

Price: $49.99

Producer	Lignier-Michelot
Country	France
Region	Burgundy
Subregion	Morey St. Denis
Varietal	Pinot Noir
Vintage	2018
Sku	P-29106

About the Winery:

Domaine Lignier-Michelot has been part of the landscape of Morey St. Denis since early in the twentieth century, but like so many of its neighbors throughout the Côte d’Or, during most of that time the domaine was content to sell off its entire production to négociants. The current head of this fine eight hectare domaine, Virgile Lignier, who joined his father Maurice at the domaine in 1992, is the fourth generation to run the family property, and was instrumental in the family beginning to offer their wines for sale in bottles. Not coincidentally, 1992 was the first year that Domaine Lignier-Michelot began to estate bottle their wines and sell them directly. In the late 1990s Virgile succeeded his father as head of the domaine, with 2000 being the first vintage that he vinified completely on his own. Lignier-Michelot has holdings in Chambolle-Musigny and Gevrey-Chambertin at the villages level, a Morey St. Denis “Rue de Vergy” (also AC) and a bevy of top-notch Morey premier crus including parcels in the vineyards of Aux Charmes, Chenevery and Façonnières. Their fine lineup is rounded out by a parcel of vines in the grand cru of Clos de la Roche, bringing the domaine’s production to approximately one thousand cases per year.

Virgile Lignier is meticulous in the vineyards, where he routinely prunes aggressively to limit yields, and seeks to be as natural as possible when confronting viticultural challenges in the vineyard. His goal is that which was often stated by Henri Jayer: to produce the finest fruit possible from which to work with so that the wine can make itself as much as possible. He completely de-stems the grapes and allows the cool must to macerate for five or six days prior to the onset of fermentation (again, à la Monsieur Jayer). The wines are then aged in varying percentages of new oak for a year to fifteen months (village wines see about twenty percent new wood, premier crus about one-third, and the Clos de la Roche is raised in anywhere from eighty to one hundred percent new oak, depending on the quality of the vintage), racked into tank for another three months to allow the wines to fall brilliant, and are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

About the Wine:

A miniscule site of only 1.1 ha (2.72 acres), the vines for this wine were planted in the 1960s. Situated on deeper clay soils typical of the Chambolle-Musigny Village appellation, the vines are harvested with organic practices. After harvest, about 50% of the grapes remain whole-cluster; followed by a cold maceration and an indigenous yeast fermentation. Aged for 12 months in barrel (20-30% new), unfiltered.The style of the Lignier-Michelot wines is dramatic and opulent, with sappy cores of fruit, excellent expressions of terroir, and the balance and structure to allow graceful aging in the cellar. The relatively recent history of selling all their production in bottles has kept the domaine’s profile relatively low key at the present time, which translates into outstanding opportunities for good value. This wine offers dark fruits such as dark cherries and blackberry on the nose, with layers leading into crushed iris petals. The palate is sweet and candied on the entry, quite plush and forward, leading to a slightly saccharine finish.

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