Vintus

Chambolle-Musigny "Les Charmes", Premier Cru

The largest Premier Cru in Chambolle-Musigny and a yardstick - it is fresh in expression, ripe, juicy and elegant in its fruit and simply delicious.  Mounir Saouma likes to describe the Lucien Le Moine Chambolle-Musigny as a paradox, saying it is only Chambolle in the finish.  The vineyard is at the same level as Clos de Vougeot, with lots of clay, resulting in power in the mid palette, but mixed with the sand of Chambolle leads to perfumed aromas and sweetness.  Mounir also says that the wines from "Les Charmes" are also notable for their consistency; when you have to pick a bottle from the cellar, "Les Charmes" will always impress.

• 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 Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes showcases the more muscular, intense side of Chambolle in its powerful, intense fruit. Firm tannins frame the insistent finish. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029." 90-92 Points Wine Advocate

  •  "A high-toned and appealingly elegant nose features aromas of ripe cherry and red pinot fruit that precede moderately complex and delicious middle weight flavors that possess good precision but not the depth of the best 1ers in the range. This is by no means simple but there is a dimension missing relative to the Les St. Georges for example." 89-91 Points Burghound

• 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. 
   

  • "The two barrels of Le Moine 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes smell of red raspberry and red currant shadowed by their distilled counterparts, along with orange blossom, iris, lemon zest, and a kelp-like and saline marine note. Vibrantly juicy on the palate, this combines levity and refreshment with textural richness and delivers saline, iodine, cyanic, and crushed stone notes that add to its almost white wine impression. (And if this were a white, I imagine it being a Nahe Riesling.) Bottling date for this cru is critical, opines Saouma, adding that he doesn’t know when that will be because the wine is still very much a moving target. I think the relative lightness of this and its 2007 counterpart might deceive some tasters and that in fact the wine has 12-15 year potential. But that doesn’t mean I would want to miss out on savoring some young." 92-93+ Points Wine Advocate

  • "A picture of elegance, offering violet, black currant, raspberry and mineral notes. Linear and tense, with terrific balance and a lingering aftertaste of black currant compote. Best from 2013 through 2028. 25 cases imported. –BS" 92 Points Wine Spectator

  • "Good deep, bright red.  Crushed dark raspberry, cola and violet on the nose.  Sweet, lush, silky and round but with mineral-driven energy accentuating the wine's impression of depth.  Dense, sexy flavors of black raspberry, candied licorice and crushed stone linger impressively on the very long finish." 92 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 deep red. Musky raspberry and pungent smoky, flinty minerals on the nose. Silky and sweet on entry, then expands toward the back, finishing chewy and rich but classically dry, with palate-saturating flavor. The smoky minerality carries straight through the wine." 90-92 Points International Wine Cellar

• 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. 

  • "I have never smelled a purer evocation of lingonberry preserves in wine than in the nose of the Le Moine 2006 Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes. The palate impression is as purely, sweetly, and lusciously red-fruited as the nose suggests, with lingonberries and tiny cherries (pits in) mingled with cream, black tea, liquid lily-like perfume, chalk, and tincture of iodine. Talk about an ethereal essence of Pinot! And this finishes in a persistently buoyant, pure, and decidedly lip-smacking vein." 93-94 Points Robert Parker

  • "Deep medium red. Pungent smoky minerality, iron and sweet oak on the nose. Lush, broad and sweet but with superb inner-mouth energy. A powerfully mineral Charmes that really spreads out to capture the palate. Finishes with noble tannins and superb persistence. After 48 hours in the recorked bottle, this exploded with sweet black raspberry, mocha, coffee and game, while maintaining fresh acidity and grip." 93 Points International Wine Cellar

  • "A lush, supple red, well-oaked and full of chocolate and raspberry flavors. Vibrant, with fine tannins that mesh with the fruit. This coats the palate nicely on the finish." 91 Points Wine Spectator