Vintus

Vosne-Romanée "Les Suchots", Premier Cru

Vosne-Romanée covers 388 acres, and the fourteen premier cru vineyards cover just over 141 acres: eleven of these are in Vosne, two are in Flagey, and one is split between the two, with total acreage of 113 and 28 acres, respectively, in each commune. The principal premiers crus in Vosne-Romanée lie in Vosne, and the finest of these, approaching grand cru level in quality, are generally considered to be Les Suchots, Les Malconsorts and Les Gaudichots. Les Suchots consists of two contiguous parcels totalling 32 acres situated between Romanée Saint-Vivant and Le Richebourg, on the south side, and Les Echézeaux, on the north side.

Les Suchots is one of Lucien Le Moine's finest Crus every year.  Mounir says that, like Échézeaux, there is an almost Syrah-like character of licorice and smoke.  "Les Suchots" is a wine with a lot of tannin and less of a classic, delicate Burgundian profile.  

• 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 Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots is a deep, powerful wine, with layers of fruit that wrap around the firm tannins. This shows the muscular, broad-shouldered side of Vosne in its powerful, intense personality. Anticipated maturity: 2019-2029." 90-92 Points Wine Advocate

  •  "Reduction and plenty of wood influence make for a difficult to appreciate nose. By contrast, there is more to like with the rich, velvety and mouth coating flavors blessed with plenty of dry extract that buffers well the suave and mocha-infused finish. There is plenty of flesh and volume to the mid-palate and once this is done with its youthful awkwardness, it should be excellent." 91-93 Points Burghound

  •  "Deep, bright red. Wild, reduced aromas of cassis and bitter chocolate. Densely packed and powerfully structured, with chewy, slightly medicinal dark fruit flavors. This needs more elevage to develop its perfume. A classically dry, soil-driven wine that's long on the aftertaste but hard to assess today. May be better than my range suggests." 91-93 Points International Wine Cellar

  • "A big, opulent style, loaded with black cherry, black currant, violet and mineral aromas and flavors. The ripe tannins are firmly embedded, and there's a freshness here that sends the long finish into overdrive, with a toasty aftertaste. Best from 2016 through 2035."  93 Points Wine Spectator

• 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. 
   

  • "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. 33 cases imported. –BS" 92 Points Wine Spectator

  • "Cassis, blackberry, star anise, smoky black tea, and hints of caramel in the nose of the Le Moine 2008 Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots (of which there are 3 barrels) lead to a correspondingly complex, juicy yet rich palate transparent to mineral nuances. The abundant tannins coat the tongue and slightly repress the fruit in what is nevertheless a persistent, pungently smoky finish. There seems little question this will easily handle a dozen or more years- cellaring, but its expression of tannins might change significantly even short-term, and ordinarily one would expect more from this Le Moine cuvee." 91-92+ Points Wine Advocate

  • "Medium red.  Slightly reduced yet highly aromatic nose of strawberry, clove oil and underbrush, all lifted by a peppery nuance.  Rather wild on the palate, with a strong spicy quality to the flavors of red fruits, game, mocha and smoky minerality.  Tangy acidity gives the wine a slightly lean impression. The broad finish features a firm tannic spine.Medium red.  Slightly reduced yet highly aromatic nose of strawberry, clove oil and underbrush, all lifted by a peppery nuance.  Rather wild on the palate, with a strong spicy quality to the flavors of red fruits, game, mocha and smoky minerality.  Tangy acidity gives the wine a slightly lean impression. The broad finish features a firm tannic spine." 91 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.  

  • "A quintessential Vosne nose of spicy red, blue and black pinot fruit trimmed in a bit of warm earth that can also be found on the sappy, velvety and utterly delicious medium-bodied flavors that possess good amounts of dry extract on the mouth coating and solidly structured finish that displays very good length. A classic Vosne in every respect." 90-92 Points Burghound

  • "Dark red with ruby highlights. Cassis and smoked meat on the nose. Rich, tactile and sweet but quite backward and brooding and slow to show itself. Like the Echezeaux, this one will need a later bottling. Dense, sweet and powerful but not yet revealing its fruit. Finishes with palate-saturating length." 90-92 Points International Wine Cellar

  • "Offers good intensity for the vintage, with plenty of substance under the blackberry, black currant, mineral and spice aromas and flavors followed by a sweet fruit aftertaste. There's a good dose of oak, and this will need some time to shed its tannins." 92 Points Wine Spectator