Vintus

Clos Saint Denis, Grand Cru

The soils of Clos Saint Denis are very drained, and the fruit achieves a lot of ripeness and flavor  Mounir calls this a humiliating wine, because your first impression is of a wine that is full of earthy, dirty notes, but when it emerges after time to breathe, or with age, it displays sweet red fruits and a sweet finish.  The soil here is rich in iron and phosphorous, giving this wine a contrast between dirty and sweet.

• 2009 Vintage

   There is more talk and interest about 2009 in Burgundy than in any vintage since 2005.  Mounir Saouma has warned us to be careful, however.  He loves this vintage, and in fact believes it is the greatest he has seen in his two decades in Burgundy.   He believes the fruit had everything from the start, and the wines from the beginning were healthy and beautifully balanced.  The major issue was to understand and respect the wines, and avoid working them, since they already had everything they needed in superb balance.  Overly working the wines, he believes, resulted in a loss of freshness and delicacy.

    2009 is the first vintage at Lucien Le Moine that Mounir did not do any lees stirring whatsoever, and as usual he never racked the wines in their nearly two years in barrel.  He didn’t add sulfur until a few months before bottling, and yet his wines are still completely fresh; some whites he describes as even having a tint of green.  The Lucien Le Moine 2009s across the board are beautifully pure and focused, with the exquisite harmony of truly great wines.

  •  "The 2009 Clos St. Denis is a wine of great personality and pure breed. Dark berries, black pepper, blueberries and violets are some of the nuances that emerge as this vibrant, fresh wine shows off its pedigree. The aromas and flavors build impressively towards the impressive, sensual finish. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2034." 93-96 Points Wine Advocate

  •  "Reduction cannot totally hide the class of this extract-rich offering that completely buffers the firm structure that surfaces on the dazzlingly complex and persistent finish. This stylish effort is impeccably well-balanced and should amply reward 15 to 20 years of cellar time." 92-94 Points Burghound

  •  "Good deep red. Captivating aromas of raspberry, strawberry, gibier, dried flowers and spices. Silky-smooth and suave if a bit youthfully closed, with compelling soil-driven perfume and lovely freshness. This coats the palate while leaving a weightless impression. Finishes with noble tannins and kaleidoscopic soil tones. A beauty." 93-96 Points International Wine Cellar

• 2008 Vintage

  There is a big difference in how most people in Burgundy see 2008 and how Lucien Le Moine sees its 2008s.  In a typically unique perspective, Mounir Saouma believes 2008 is a great vintage in Burgundy, one of the greatest of the decade.  2008 was the third in a series of historically normal vintage conditions.  Over the last hundred years, on average the rainiest month in Burgundy has been June and the driest month has been September; rain in the summer is common, occurring more than half the time.  The light, fine skin of Pinot Noir benefits from the freshness in the summer, needs it, and it helps the fat Chardonnay on its way to maturity as well.  The idea that only the “modern” vintage – hot and dry – can be great is a big issue for Mounir.

  In June 2008, within a given week rain always alternated with hot sunny periods.  The results were small bunches of grapes that were getting mature while keeping acidity, and slowly ripening.  Ultimately, there was a naturally low yield, an excellent sign, with 20% fewer grapes than a normal year, providing sweet fruit and high levels of tannin.  Very importantly, Mounir believes that in recent times Burgundy has lost its simplicity to some extent – when you tasted the grapes in 2008, there was no issue with rot.  Most people looked at their vineyards, were terrified of the rot and pressed very lightly to get clean juice, only did short macerations with not a lot of lees, didn’t stir, and then fined or filtered to bottle clean wines. 

  Lucien Le Moine did the opposite.  They pressed hard, bringing a lot of lees into the wine.  To balance the high acidity and some of the unripe bunch areas due to the cool weather, they topped with fine lees every ten days instead of topping with wine.  They did not stir, and so the lees would take a full week to fall to the bottom of the barrel, slowly imparting complexity and richness.  For about five years, Lucien Le Moine has been the last producer in Burgundy to bottle, and they were again with the 2008 vintage.  Malolactic Fermentation was not as late as usual because of the lees that was added, and finished in April/May instead of June/July.  Lucien Le Moine has never never acidified or de-acidified, so while some people de-acidified 2008, they didn’t touch the wines, and watched them over the summer become sweeter, fatter and more balanced, more attractive.  They started bottling around May 2010, and finished beginning of October 2010, after the harvest of 2010. 

  Looking at surrounding vintages, the 2005 is ageable, full of body, massive, tannic, with high acidity.  2006 has almost late harvest flavor, very deep, beautiful maturity, and nice acidity.   2007 is transparent, the perfect example of terroir in Burgundy, but will not age perhaps as long as 2006.  The 2008s are going to be the year for people who care about Burgundy.  They will be appreciated the next two-three years, for their very fresh fruit and balanced bodies.  Then they will sleep for a few years, but not like 2005s which are so big they will need a long time to awaken.  The 2008s will come back as classic wines of Burgundy, but not in a spicy, sous-bois manner; they will be traditional, but have a little bit of flashy fruit.  A very particular combination. 

  Lastly, the particularity of the Lucien Le Moine 2008s – a lot of wines are cloudy due to the lees; make sure to stand them up before decanting. 
   

  • "Saouma and Brakir report that their two barrel lot of 2008 Clos St.-Denis was on very bad behavior throughout its first winter. But that certainly wasn’t the case when I tasted it in March! Nutmeg, iris, rare beef juices, blackberry, and red currant inform a memorable nose and silken-textured, sweetly- yet brightly-fruited, deeply carnal and savory palate. Suggestions of toasted pecan and of crushed stone add complexity to the resonant finish. And given how far this has evidently come and how quickly, who knows whether I am understating its claim to greatness and to a quarter century of cellar potential?" 94-95+ Points Wine Advocate

  • "Barrel #1: Good medium red. Knockout nose combines raspberry, rose petal, crushed stone, game, smoke and flint; an essence of this grand cru. Wonderfully silky on entry, then moderately sweet and very fine-grained, with considerable complexity to the flavors of briary berries, pepper, smoke and earth. Barrel #2: Bright, deep red. Very ripe, more liqueur-like aromas of raspberry and spices; more fruits and less earth here. Then hugely concentrated and sweet; at once more tactile and less noble than the last sample but with more obvious red fruit flavors and plenty of underlying stone. Similarly peppery on the long aftertaste. This is aging in a barrel that received a longer toasting." 93-96 Points International Wine Cellar

• 2007 Vintage

  As Mounir Saouma says, “2007 saw a fresh summer – when we say fresh summer, we mean well-balanced rain and sunny days.   There were cool but not cold days, days with some rain and sun, but not exaggerated either way.  And you see in the wines there is beautiful acidity, but not as much as 2008, and nice sweetness, but not as much as 2006.” 

   

  This character of mid-way but not extreme in many areas resulted in wines that took a long time to reveal their nature.  “The wines started fruity and the tannins were firm, and slowly we started seeing a kind of melding between sweetness and acidity after the malolactic a year later; we started seeing the real character of the wines after 14 months.  

   

  This development of the vintage is the reason that 2007 was the latest bottling Lucien Le Moine has ever done, and why they were the last producer in all of Burgundy to bottle.  Typically Lucien Le Moine starts bottling in January or February; in 2007 they started in February, but the majority of bottling took place from May to September.  Mounir aged all his 2007 wines on their lees, without sulfur, and never racked.   

   

  Mounir compares 2007 and 2006 a lot; they will both be vintages that are approachable and will last, and their technical numbers are similar, but they are physically and aromatically in completely different worlds.  “2006 is more about sweetness and for some people a heavier character; 2007 is more about freshness.  We will enjoy 2007, but it doesn’t take anything from the aging. 

   

  Some general commentaries on the Crus in 2007:  for people who love freshness and silkiness, with tannins that melt away, the Vosne-Romanées, Volnays, Chambolle-Musignys, and Morey-Saint-Denis show ethereal balance and almost transparent tannins.  For those that think 2007 is a light and easy year, the Gevrey-Chambertins, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Pommards and Cortons will show them depth and power.  

  • "Good bright red. Captivating perfume of red berries, iron and smoke. Sweet and sappy but light on its feet, thanks to a minty nuance and pungent minerality. Very fresh and complex wine, finishing scented and long, with sexy soil tones and suave tannins." 91-94 Points International Wine Cellar

  • "A layered, fresh and lacy nose features of cranberry, raspberry, spice and earth nuances that are also picked up by the detailed, minerally and textured flavors brimming with dry extract, all wrapped in a delicious, intense and beautifully well balanced finish. A lovely blend of power and elegance." 91-93 Points Burghound

• 2006 Vintage

  Mounir Saouma’s approach to the 2006 vintage differed from many. His growers picked late, allowing the fine September weather to draw out the maturity of the grapes and compensate for a cool, wet August.  It was a risk, and not a typical vintage for Mounir, who usually harvests earlier than most, giving him the good acid levels he likes.  The reds express the typicity of their terroirs, and will be enjoyable to drink earlier than the 2005’s, but also possess the heft and structure to age nicely. 

  • "The wine throws off its reductive shackles with a good shaking and reveals bright cherry, lingonberry, and rhubarb aromas that translate on the palate into a sassy, invigoratingly tart, lip-smacking fruit presence, accompanied by black tea smokiness. This spreads out - viscously, silkenly yet buoyantly - across the palate and against the background of a palpably dense sense of chalk, salt, marrow, and stone, finishing with vibratory interactive intensity and irresistible clarity and class." 94 Points Wine Advocate

  • "A relatively high-toned nose featuring notes of red berries, particularly currant and cranberry, is nuanced by spice, wood and earth undertones precedes round, rich and admirably full-bodied flavors that possess good depth and length on the lingering finish that combines both finesse and power." 92 Points Burghound

  • "Deep red. Explosive, wild aromas of briary raspberry, brown spices and dried rose. Wonderfully sexy on the palate, with lovely energy giving shape to the silky texture. This has a velvety richness that reminded me of a 2005. As explosive on the back end as on the nose, finishing smooth, rich and tactile yet quite firm." 91-93 Points International Wine Cellar