Burgundy Red Wines

wines

Aromas of cherries, raspberries, smoke and spices introduce the 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru, a medium to full-bodied, pure and layered wine with a fleshy core of fruit, sweet tannins and lively acids, concluding with a long, mineral finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91-93 RPThe 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru has an elegant bouquet that gains intensity in the glass: black cherry, raspberry and light floral scents of peony and rose petal, all finely delineated. The palate is very silky on the entry with good grip, a little sweeter than the previous vintage, with touches of cassis infusing the red fruit. This builds nicely in the mouth through a slightly confit-like finish. Very fine.Vinous Media | 91-93 VMA subtle but not invisible application of wood frames the more elegant and slightly cooler nose of newly turned earth, essence of red berries and crushed anise character. The palate feel of the medium weight flavors is also supple but punchy with excellent delineation on the impressively long, youthfully austere and well-balanced finale. This too is worth a look.Burghound | 90-93 BH

The 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux Saint-Jacques is beautiful, offering up aromas of sweet dark berries, licorice and petals, followed by a medium to full-bodied, layered and textural palate that’s rich and fleshy, with lively acids and powdery structuring tannins.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93-95 RPThe 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux Saint-Jacques 1er Cru has more mineralité and terroir expression on the nose compared to the Gevrey 1er Cru, with blackcurrant, raspberry and crushed violet scents emerging with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, firm structure and a healthy dash of black pepper on the powerful finish. Time will tame this Lavaux Saint-Jacques. There is good potential here, but be patient.Vinous Media | 92-94 VMHere too there is just enough wood in evidence to merit mentioning on the wonderfully fresh and more deeply pitched nose of wild dark currant, plum and plenty of sauvage character. There is more volume still even though the medium-bodied flavors are not especially dense, all wrapped in a powerful, punch and mineral-driven overtly austere finish that delivers excellent length. This is lovely and very Lavaut in style and feel.Burghound | 91-94 BH

High-toned, perfumed pomegranate and cranberry fruit with an edge of peony and ginger spice. The texture is silkier than this producer’s Baudes, but it does not have the same depth. The tannins are very fine and Laurent Lignier feels that he will bottle this before spring 2025 to avoid issues with volatility tied to the lower pH this year – he has been buying the fruit for this since 2010 and has noted this tendency in the past.Decanter Magazine | 93 DECMade from purchased grapes, a contract since 2010. Paler colour, raspberry and strawberry, lots of energy, then fractionally earthy in texture but not in taste. Otherwise, the attractive fruit continues on through. Drink from 2030-2035. Tasted Dec 2024.Jasper Morris | 90-93 JMOnce again there is enough wood to merit pointing out framing the pretty and airy essence of spicy red berry scents. The beautifully textured and very supple medium weight flavors flash a subtle bead of minerality on the dusty, balanced and sneaky long finish. This does need better depth so plan on holding it for at least a few years first.Burghound | 90-91 BH

The 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Seuvrées comes from vines planted by Laurent Lignier’s grandfather just after the war. Dark berry fruit mixes with iris flower and rooibos on the nose. It is well defined yet understated. The palate is medium-bodied with cranberry and raspberry notes. Touches of rose water come through with time, with fine concentration toward the finish. It’s not quite up there with the 2022 but it comes close.Vinous Media | 91-93 VM

Opens with just a bit of reduction, but this will disappear at bottling. The aromas are compellingly attractive, with ripe blackberry and blueberry fruit and a slightly floral edge. The texture has density, grip and a marvellously lingering finish. The grapes are from a half-hectare on a gentle slope exposed to the south. This should mature fairly quickly but is also suited to mid-term ageing.Decanter Magazine | 94 DECThe 2023 Monthélie Sous la Velle 1er Cru comes from a 0.35-hectare parcel. It has an airy bouquet with dark berry fruit mixed with mandarin and light sous-bois scents. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins and much more structure than the Village Cru, with a bright and sorbet-fresh finish. This is recommended.Vinous Media | 89-91 VM

Premier cru La Riotte has delivered a wine with ripe, lush aromas of sweet mulberry fruit aromas with a hint of earth and spice. The texture is rich yet still structured, and the density pull the wine through to a pleasantly lingering finish. Laurent explains that the parcel is just below the Clos Saint-Denis, in the stony, sandy soils of the dejection cone from the combe, which helps the grapes ripen well but does not bring a lot of limestone.Decanter Magazine | 94 DECThe 2023 Morey-Saint-Denis La Riotte 1er Cru has a clean, precise bouquet with perfumed redcurrant and raspberry fruit tones. As usual, it’s one of the most open aromatics from Lignier, brimming with joie-de-vivre. This is more floral compared to the Les Chaffots. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins, pleasant salinity and what you might call a transparent finish that lingers in the mouth.Vinous Media | 91-93 VMThe elegant, airy and very pretty nose features the softly spicy and earthy essence of red pinot fruit. The refined and vibrant flavors are not particularly dense but they are lilting and seductive while displaying a subtle bead of minerality on the lightly austere, balanced and firm finale. Lovely and understated in style.Burghound | 91-93 BHMid crimson with some crushed strawberry on the nose. Some crunchiness at the back, this is agreeable but less energetic than some, not quite kicking on. Drink from 2030-2035. Tasted Dec 2024.Jasper Morris | 91-93 JM

Lignier’s premier cru Chaffots was a spectacular success in 2023, with bright forward pomegranate and wild strawberry fruit and hints of violets, liquorice, and flinty minerals. The texture is lively and fresh, with plenty of tannin but no lack of depth. The 0.45 hectares of vines were planted in 1968 in the thin soils above grand cru Clos Saint-Denis, with a prominent influence from the cool winds of the combe.Decanter Magazine | 94 DECBright purple. The nose is subtle and supple, with less immediate sweet fruit than Sorbè, a little more depth than Riotte. The class of the wine shows in the fruit on the palate, a darker red berry, with a seamless long finish, covering the tannins. Precision. Drink from 2032-2038. Tasted Dec 2024.Jasper Morris | 93-95 JMThe 2023 Morey-Saint-Denis Les Chaffots 1er Cru comes from limestone soils, which translate onto the nose. It’s quite strict and linear, with touches of black cherry and sea spray scents. The palate is medium-bodied, with a pastille-like purity on the entry. It is very supple in the mouth, but it just needs a little more grip on the finish. Otherwise, this is a refined Morey-Saint-Denis from one of its best Premier Crus.Vinous Media | 92-94 VMA more reserved and more deeply pitched nose is comprised more from the darker side of the fruit spectrum with more floral and earth nuances as well. Once again there is only average density to the fresh, punchy and solidly powerful flavors that are at once succulent yet with a youthfully austere finish that exhibits outstanding length. Like the Baudes, this virtually always ages well and it is one to look for.Burghound | 91-94 BH

This delicious wine is perennially among the most concentrated and nuanced in Lignier’s cellar—just don’t refer to it as ‘the blended premier cru’. He is at pains to point out that the rows start out in Faconnières and end up in Cheneverey, but that it is one single parcel. The wine boasts aromas of ripe plums with notes of violets, pepper, and a hint of dark chocolate. The texture is dense and rich but without any heaviness. The grapes are from 0.66 hectares of vines. The oldest were planted in 1936, and the youngest in 1962.Decanter Magazine | 95 DECThe 2023 Morey-Saint-Denis Vieilles Vignes 1er Cru comes from the usual three lieux-dits. It has an intense bouquet with cool but focused blackberry, briar and light flinty scents. The palate is medium-bodied and very well balanced, with finely sculpted tannins and seductive creaminess to the texture in the finish. Frequently one of Laurent Lignier’s finest cuvées, this is just wonderful.Vinous Media | 93-95 VMMostly Faconnières. Rich dark crimson with the most fruit to date, fully ripe. The palate offers a balanced headiness, with a fruit dark enough to include some plums. This is the more hedonistic of the two but I think my preference comes down narrowly on the more cerebral Chaffots. Drink from 2032-2038. Tasted Dec 2024.Jasper Morris | 92-95 JMA restrained but beautifully layered nose grudgingly offers up its aromas of black cherry, crushed anise and newly turned earth. There is slightly better density to the overtly powerful and more obviously mineral-driven medium-bodied flavors that culminate in a firm, serious and compact finale. This too virtually always ages well and the 2023 version should be no exception.Burghound | 91-94 BH

Lignier’s new cuvée in Morey is the premier cru Les Sorbès. The wine boasts a ripe blackberry fruit with an almost gamey savoury note and hints of mineral and spice. Although the flavour is substantial, the texture is pleasantly ethereal, almost like a wine from Chambolle. This is the first vintage of this wine; Lignier sourced enough fruit for four barrels from the site located down the slope below the Clos de Tart and the village.Decanter Magazine | 94 DECSlightly fuller crimson colour with a floral nose, a touch of peony. All destemmed as it is the first year of this contract. More sweet cherry fruity intensity on the palate, a little gentian at the finish, an interesting, complex wine. The fruit has more sucrosity than some. Drink from 2030-2037. Tasted Dec 2024.Jasper Morris | 91-94 JMHere too there is a hint of herbal tea on the softly wooded nose of earthy red currant aromas. The seductive, round and utterly delicious middle weight flavors are shaped by relatively fine-grained tannins on the youthfully austere and lingering finale where the only reproach is a touch of warmth. This is a wine of finesse but with sufficient stuffing to repay up to a decade of aging.Burghound | 90-93 BHThe 2023 Morey-Saint-Denis Les Sorbés comes from a purchase of fruit that represents four barrels this year. This has a vibrant floral bouquet with lovely delineation and lift, as rose petal and bergamot infuse the raspberry fruit. The palate is well balanced with supple tannins and a caressing finish, a little fleshy and perhaps Chambolle-like. This will drink well in its youth.Vinous Media | 89-91 VM

The iodine, blackberry and rose-stem character comes through clearly. Plenty of fruit and depth. Medium-bodied with fine tannins that caress the palate and provide endless flavors of Indian spices, flint, nutmeg and light crust. Such refinement and integrity. Drinkable now, but better in three or four years.James Suckling | 98 JSLovely cherry fruit with hints of lavender and rosemary. The texture is silky and dense, almost fat. There is more clay here, and less limestone than in Les Cras, and the tannic structure is not as firm. The grapes are from Drouhin’s massive 6.75ha here, not far from Pommard; they are partially destemmed and fermented on native yeasts before ageing in cask (25% new) for 14–18 months.Decanter Magazine | 93 DECThe 2023 Clos des Mouches Rouge seems just a touch riper in personality than the les Cras this year, thus having just a bit more mid-palate amplitude of sappy black fruit and just a bit more length on the lovely finish. The bouquet is excellent, offering up notes of black plums, black cherries, coffee bean, woodsmoke, gamebird, dark soil tones, a hint of graphite and cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and very sappy at the core, with a good foundation of soil tones, ripe, buried tannins, lovely focus and grip and a long, nascently complex and very promising finish. (Drink between 2036 - 2080)John Gilman | 93+ JGThe 2023 Beaune 1er Cru Clos des Mouches (Domaine) is showing nicely, bursting with aromas of sweet berries, spices, orange zest and new oak. Medium to full-bodied, succulent and lively, with chalky grip on the finish, it will offer a broad drinking window.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 91-93 RPThe 2023 Beaune Clos des Mouches Rouge 1er Cru comes from 35 separate plots with different geology. It’s comprised of ten different lots picked over a week. This opens with dark chocolate and white pepper scents. It has slightly darker fruit on the nose and is a little more introspective at first. The palate is medium-bodied and quite sapid with a firm structure on the entry and a touch of licorice on the finish. This should be very fine once in bottle.Vinous Media | 91-93 VMDeep purple, with a fresh energy. Intense fresh dark raspberry, with just the right structure, tannins present but refined, adequate acidity, a touch of velvet and very persistent. Drink from 2028-2035. Tasted Nov 2024.Jasper Morris | 91-93 JMAn exuberantly floral nose presents ripe aromas of spice, black cherry and a top note of kirsch. The notably finer, though not denser, middle weight flavors are shaped by remarkably fine-grained tannins on the lightly stony bitter pit fruit-inflected finale. This balanced effort could use more depth so at least a few years of cellaring should prove beneficial.Burghound | 90-92 BH