This is the second Wine Spectator Insider in the last few weeks featuring 2009 Burgundies, and the second time Lucien Le Moine gets into the “Hot Wines” section! The Insider scores Le Moine’s 2009 Mazis-Chambertin with 95 points. The other Le Moine that was featured a little while back was the 2009 Charmes-Chambertin scoring 94 points. Check out the reviews below!
A little video of Mounir Saouma on his walk from Gevrey over to Chambertin. On a cold morning in November 2011, Mounir discusses the difference between Clos de la Roche and Clos Saint Denis, topographically and geologically, and then how those factors affect the wines – as he states, in his cellars the Clos Saint Denis takes an entire year to go through alcoholic fermentation, making it a “difficult” wine.
This little walk we took explains his whole “operation” – in quotes because in the video you see his wife Rotem (pouring) and it is just the two of them. One to two barrels of wine from who he thinks are the most interesting growers in his favorite vineyards. Then….nothing…for a long time…his fermentations are typically the longest in Burgundy as is his maturation. He does little lees stirring, and only sulfurs once, a few months before bottling (his wines typically have ¼ the average sulfur levels in Burgundy, but they are protected because he prefers traditional, coarser pressings which leave more lees in the wine).
What’s better than seeing the first bottles of the 2009 Burgundies from Lucien Le Moine arrive? Seeing the first magnums! From the barrel of Pommard Billardet Michael purchased two years ago at the Hospices de Beaune, and which Mounir Saouma raised.
About a month ago Executive Wine Seminars held a blind tasting of 2008 white Burgundies, and they have just posted the results on the Wine Advocate site. They note that all 14 wines showed well, and we list the ratings they note just below, including the #2 wine, Lucien Le Moine Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatieres. A great showing amongst some of the best white producers in Burgundy, as well as several Grand Crus. For full notes, subscription to erobertparker.com is required.
Click on the chart below to download and look at the full results.
The Hospices de Beaune is a wonderful event for a wonderful cause – you can read the background here on the auction and the Hospices itself. Mounir Saouma, owner/oenologist of Lucien Le Moine, has become one of the largest buyers at the Hospices the last several years, as he uses it as an opportunity to bring his importers and friends together and celebrate and promote all the wonderful things about Burgundy. Below you can see a few videos, of the Hospices itself, the tasting in the Hospices cellars, and finally a picture of the auction.
Lucien Le Moine 2008 whites show unbelievably in the August 31 issue of the Wine Spectator. Reviews are below, and you can find a listing here of the rarefied company that Le Moine keeps.
Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet 2008 :
“A white of terrific power and density, yet stays graceful and harmonious. The honey-suckle, lemon cake, peach and mineral flavors are accented by spice, all driven by the vivid structure. The aftertaste is long and expansive, featuring citrus,spice and mineral notes. Very complex and refined. 8 cases imported ” 97 points Wine Spectator
Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatieres 2008:
“ An extrovert, this white is powerful and complex, offering lemon, apple tart, toasted hazelnut and oak spice aromas and flavors. Turns more elegant as it crosses the finish line, lingering with spice and mineral notes. 24 cases imported.” 93 points Wine Spectator
Meursault Perrieres 2008 :
“A smoky white, yet full of floral, juniper, lime, toasted hazelnut and mineral aromas and flavors. Lean, toned and very complex, with a long aftertaste of lime, smoke and jasmine tea. There’s lovely harmony, though this needs time. 20 cases imported ” 94 points Wine Spectator
Antonio Galloni blogged about an interesting blind tasting at Lucien Le Moine on the Wine Advocate’s Web site today:
“My day wrapped up with a 2+ hour tasting a Lucien Le Moine. We started with the 2009 grand crus from Vosne, which I missed last time. Richebourg was probably my favorite. Then we tasted all of the 2009 whites. As far as I know, Le Moine is the only winery where the 2009 whites are still in barrel. The wines went into barrel with their lees and have not been moved, racked or sulfured since harvest. The best of the 2009 whites are gorgeous.
At the end of the tasting proprietor Mounir Saouma served two wines, blind from bottle.
Wine #1 had a golden color. It also showed a grainy green streak I associate with some 2004s. I thought it was a good, but not great wine that had aged OK at best.
Wine #2 had a very similar color as #1, so I thought it was probably the same year. The nose was pure Meursault Perrieres in my mind. Wine #2 showed incredible class, with layers of fruit, persistent minerality and a gorgeous finish. It was clearly more complex and pedigreed than Wine #1.
It turns out both wines were 2004 Meursault villages from the same vineyard. Wine #1 was made with a pneumatic press, Wine #2 was made with a mechanic press. Wine #1 went into barrel with 4 liters of lees, Wine #2 went into barrel with 8 liters of lees. Both wines were aged on their lees for 18 months with no rackings until they were bottled straight from barrel with no SO2. According to Saouma at bottling Wine #1 had eaten through all of its lees, while Wine #2 had about 2 liters remaining in the barrel.
I was amazed at how different these wines showed today.”
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Antonio Galloni
In his preview of 2009 Red and White Burgundy, Wine Spectator’s Bruce Sanderson found that a near-perfect summer resulted in ripe, charming Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti codirector Aubert de Villaine likened 2009 to 1959, one of Burgundy’s notable older vintages, while Lucien Le Moine’s Mounir Saouma said the 2009s tended to have two distinct personalities:
“The first went through malolactic conversion by Christmas 2009 and were racked early. These are gentle wines that will be pleasant to drink over the next 10 years. Indeed, I have already tasted some 2009s in bottle here in the United States.
The second are wines with density and purity that are capable of long aging. In the cellars at Le Moine, the malolactic occurred from June to July 2010, and when I visited at the end of January 2011, the wines had not yet been racked. Most of the growers I visited in late January were just beginning to bottle, or will bottle over the next few months.
Saouma described 2009 as “a vintage of details, with a lot of small pieces to put together.” The vintage is very transparent, he added, but doesn’t favor any specific terroir.”
According to Bruce Sanderson, “the style of 2009 will have broad appeal for wine lovers because of their ripe, pure fruit flavors and fleshy textures. Unfortunately, they will be expensive because of the exchange rate and strong worldwide demand. Importers I contacted quoted price increases of 5 to 20 percent over the 2008s. The good news is that I tasted several excellent ripe, fruit-filled bottlings at the basic Bourgogne level, which will provide some value and relief from the sticker shock of the ’09 crus. Burgundy lovers should also buy some 2008s, which in retrospect, will look like bargains compared to 2009.”
Can wines made to be approachable soon after release actually reward extended cellaring, or is this simply a case of trying to have it all?
This was the subject of a recent winemaker roundtable discussion on Stephen Tankzer’s blog, Winophilia.com. Several different winemakers, ranging from Rupert Symington to Olivier Humbrecht, weighted in on the debate. Here is Lucien Le Moine’s take on the subject:
“I feel that there are two categories of consumers today: people who want everything NOW and people who would like to play the game and wait.
After 20 years of winemaking and 11 years of making the Lucien Le Moine wines, I can say that Burgundy and specifically our style here at Le Moine is enjoyable in the first two years in bottle and then the wines need five or six years of rest before we can enjoy them again. In other words, the wines provide two different experiences—fresh and fruity early, more soft and spicy later.
I am against making wine to satisfy a certain category of wine drinker. We do it our own way and with our own convictions, and then we help people to understand these crus of Burgundy that are made in this way. We know that we can never satisfy everyone; that’s why we make 30,000 bottles a year and not more.
Normally Burgundy is a place where great wines are great from the beginning. I never buy a Burgundy that’s not enjoyable during the two years after the bottling. Ageability is another matter. If we let our wines deal with oxygen early on, and during long barrel aging, they will be more fine and elegant and they will age better. I don’t believe that tannic wines age better than elegant wines. To us, classic Burgundy means light extraction, fine vinification, and more than 18 months of aging on the lees, with a late malolactic fermentation, no early sulfuring and gentle bottling without fining or filtration. All of these techniques produce wines that can be very sexy young and will sometimes age forever. Our 2002, 2006 and now the 2009 vintage are perfect examples of this style.”
Read the rest of the roundtable discussion here
The Wine Spectator’s Insider Report features top scores for two recent Lucien Le Moine releases:
Lucien Le Moine Nuits-St.-Georges Les Vaucrains 2008
93 points | $110 | 20 cases imported | Red
Exuding ripe, effusive cherry, raspberry and boysenberry aromas and flavors, this is underscored by a vein of mineral. There’s great tension, balance and structure, so give this time to show all its facets. Terrific length. Best from 2013 through 2025. —B.S.
Lucien Le Moine Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 2008
92 points | $135 | 33 cases imported | Red
A sleek red, full of sweet red cherry, floral and spice aromas and flavors. Firm but bright, this is well-balanced, with a lingering aftertaste of fruit and mineral. Decant if you must drink now. Best from 2014 through 2027. —B.S.
Wine Spectator critic Bruce Sanderson notes that 2008 was a challenging year, marred by a triple threat of mildew, oidium and botrtytis, as well as rain just before harvest. Those producers that harvested carefully still managed to produce excellent wines.