Pinot Noir

wines

The Pommard En Brescu from Domaine Hubert Lignier is high-toned with red berry-fruit aromas and a floral edge. It’s light bodied with fresh acidity and firm tannins. The grapes are from 0.40ha that Lignier purchased in 2014, planted on terraces high on the slope overlooking the Clos des Mouches. The grapes are partially destemmed and fermented with native yeasts before ageing in cask (20% new).Decanter Magazine | 93 DECVines in terraces, planted 1997, vines purchased 2014. A lighter crimson ruby colour. Some firm red berry fruit on the nose. Plenty of energy on the palate, actually fills the mouth despite this being a cool, hillside site. A fine long dark red fruit finish, covering the tannins. Drink from 2030-2035. Tasted Dec 2024.Jasper Morris | 89-92 JMDeep ruby color. A distinctly earthy yet cool and airy nose of both red and dark currant introduces caressing, delicious and seductively textured medium weight flavors that also conclude in a dusty, youthfully austere and firm but not grippy finish.Burghound | 87-90 BH

The 2023 Volnay Village comes from two lieux-dits. It has a lively, punchy bouquet with blackcurrant and raspberry scents and great vigor. The palate is smooth and sensual, with touches of dark chocolate and pain d’épices infusing the red berry fruit with a caressing and quite persistent finish. This is very fine.Vinous Media | 89-91 VM

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

From a vineyard that was originally planted in 1982, with 12 feet spacing between the rows, the 2023 Pinot Noir Marjorie Vineyard boasts a youthful ruby red color and lifts with notes of cranberries, cinnamon, clove, dusty earth, and minty herbs. The energy of the palate is fantastic, with salty minerality, refreshing acidity, and a long, energetic finish. It’s packed with tension and should only improve over the next several years with some patience. This was my favorite in the range at this tasting, Drink it over the coming 20 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDAn elegant, delicious and structured medium-bodied wine with pleasing aromas of bright raspberries, strawberries, crushed rose petals, pink peppercorns and some cool blue fruit. A nervy backbone with fine, chalky, mouth-filling tannins and a zesty finish that goes on and on. Drinkable now, but it will age wonderfully. Drink or hold.James Suckling | 97 JSMarjorie is part of the Cristom heritage, with the original planting dating back to 1982, first planted on its own roots and eventually replanted vine by vine. The 2023 is made with 45% whole cluster. It’s a small block, so they’re careful with it. This vintage was made after half of the block was removed. There is an umami character to the Majorie Pinot Noir aromatics, a depth showing salty brine. It always has fleshy red fruits, blood orange, and soaring acids accenting mint leaves and herbs. It’s spicy and salty through the finishDecanter Magazine | 96 DECThe 2023 Pinot Noir Marjorie Vineyard is youthfully understated and coy, blending dusty floral tones with dried strawberries and nuances of autumnal spice. Harmonious and pure in style, it offers vivid raspberry fruit elevated by a hint of sour citrus as a collection of fine-grained tannins adds cheek-puckering tension through the close. Spicy and exceptionally long, the 2023 finishes structured with a tart blackberry twang. Patience is required.Vinous Media | 95+ VMThe 2023 Pinot Noir Marjorie Vineyard was fermented with 45% whole clusters and matured for 18 months in 31% new French oak. It has layered, savory scents of mushrooms, flint and pipe tobacco over a core of red cherry, blackberry and orange peel. The medium-bodied palate pairs earth-laced flavors with pleasantly rustic, chalky tannins. It’s balanced by bright acidity and has a long, layered finish. 636 cases were made.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93 RPWell-framed and tightly focused, with raspberry and red currant flavors that take on forest floor and black tea as this gathers tension toward medium-grained tannins. Drink now through 2034. 636 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

A tightly focused beam of bitter cherry, damson plum and raspberry coulis streams through this red, with mouthwatering cut in the form of ocean breeze minerality that runs throughout. Iris and rose hip notes fill in the background as the long, piercing finish shows a remarkably pure and unadorned feel. A high-definition Pinot. Drink now through 2035. 3,650 cases made.Wine Spectator | 95 WSThe 2023 Pinot Noir Freestone Occidental Bodega is a well of strawberry, raspberry and blackberry, plus nuances of grapefruit, tea leaves, cola and bitters. The light-bodied palate offers crunchy, perfumed flavors framed by dusty tannins and vibrant acidity, and it has a long, latent finish.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RP

The 2023 Gevrey-Chambertin Champerrier is very pure and sensual on the nose, with generous red cherry and crushed strawberry fruit tones that envelop the senses. The palate is well balanced with a gentle grip, but there is more energy and greater frisson toward the finish than the Vieilles Vignes, which beckons you back for another sip. This is excellent.Vinous Media | 93 VMHere too there is just enough wood to merit pointing out suffusing the compositionally similar, if less expressive, nose. The succulent and rounded medium weight flavors still manage to retain good detail on the solidly powerful, youthfully austere and moderately rustic finish that is both compact and robust. This is an excellent Gevrey villages that is worth your interest.Burghound | 90 BH

A fresh, linear, eye-opening young wine that’s delicious and appetizing, and will develop more complexity and nuance with time in the bottle. Stunning aromas of black cherries, vibrant raspberries and cedary spices lead to mouthwatering red cherry, cranberry, star anise and mineral flavors that expand on the palate. Drinkable now and best from 2030.James Suckling | 98 JSI tasted the 2023 Pinot Noir Le Caprice as a sample just before it was bottled. It has slowly unfolding aromas of cranberry, red cherry, tea leaves and mint, becoming more floral as it airs in the glass. The palate is layered and concentrated with woodsy, earthy flavors evocative of a forest. It’s structured by silky tannins and vibrant acidity and boasts a flourish of spicy accents on the long finish. A total of 979 cases were made, and the wine will be released in April of 2025.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 93-95 RP

From a mostly decomposed granite, 1600-feet-elevation, northeast-facing site with different exposures, the 2023 Pinot Noir Michaud Vineyard is the first vintage for Smith from this vineyard, which he calls as old school and rugged as Chalone. Earth, black tea, and gravelly rock highlight an elegantly poised, complex, floral, and mineral wine that shows both dustiness in texture and ample structure for aging. Cellar through 2037.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDThe cranberry aromas on the nose of this bottling is layered in cedar, pine duff and dried mushroom scents on the complex nose of this bottling. Cherry, red currant and cranberry flavors are cut by graphite and sandalwood on the savory palate. This is a very young wine from an appellation that always benefits from age. Drink now-2040.Wine Enthusiast | 93 WE