CLOS DE LA ROCHE

2019 Grand Cru Domaine Lignier-Michelot

EN PRIMEUR

Another wine with a great nose - 'du Pinot pur' says Virgile. Very much on red fruit. Almost decadently rich, but the purity and mineral underpinning hurl it along like the thoroughbred it is. All in delicacy and purity and freshness, yet a hugely concentrated wine too, with immense energy and class. Goes on and on too - arrow straight. Drinking range: 2030 - 2045L&S (Oct 2020)

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This is the finest young vintage of this wine since the stellar 2010 and it is rather different in shape, too. Plush, sensationally well-appointed and amazingly pure, this is a stunning Clos de la Roche and it really does give you what this famous vineyard ought to come up with year in year out but which actually only seems to happen every so often! Virgile Lignier has nailed it in 2019 and this is a truly thrilling wine. Rating: 19+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jan 2021)

(from a .27 ha parcel, most of which is young vines of 15+ years of age though there is a parcel approximating 15% of the total with ~40 years of age; 80% whole cluster). Very ripe and quite fresh aromas consist of plum liqueur, violet, lavender, leather, warm earth and spice wisps. The dense, palate coating and seductively textured big-bodied flavors possess a plush mouthfeel before terminating in an almost painfully intense finale. This is a bit and exceptionally powerful CdlR that delivers superb length and about the only nit worthy of mention is a trace of warmth. In short, this is a knockout but note well that its constructed accordingly and is not likely to make for especially good early drinking; indeed it may be 25 years before we see this beauty at its full apogee. Drinking range: 2039 - Rating: 93-96 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Jan 2021)

80% whole bunch. Virgile now has 0.80ha to play with, the latest addition being old vines. Planting dates now range from 1944 to 1990. Gorgeous deep purple. This Clos de la Roche has a brilliant bouquet with blue fruit mixed in to a vast range of deep complex red and black notes, both acidity and tannins in the right place. There is a classic grainy texture here too and wonderful length. Tasted: November 2020 4/5 stars Rating: 95-98 Jasper Morris - Inside Burgundy  (Jan 2021)

Cask sample. Mid crimson. Some freshness here on the nose but not quite the depth and integrity one wants of a grand cru. A bit stringy and untogether. Drinking range: 2025 - 2033 Rating: 16 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jan 2021)

The 2019 Clos de La Roche Grand Cru contains 80% whole bunches this year and underwent just a couple of punch-downs. There is a tiny amount of reduction on the nose as I taste it, gradually opening to reveal raspberry, blackcurrant and violet aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with saturated tannins matched with a very fine bead of acidity. This is a very cohesive and refined Grand Cru with a lilting, carefree finish that belies its inherent complexity and persistent. Easy to under-estimate this, I am sure it will age with style. Drinking range: 2024 - 2050 Rating: 94-96 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 2020)

A domaine of 11 hectares, 25% regionals, 50% Villages, 20% Premiers crus and 5% Grands Crus. Virgile Lignier worked at the domaine with his father Maurice from 1988, beginning to bottle some of the wine from 1992 (it had previously been sold to the négoce), taking over in 2000, which was the vintage when he first bottled all the domaine's production.

In the vineyard Virgile made significant changes, stopping the use of herbicides, and beginning to plough instead. Green harvesting to limits yields followed, along with greater attention to grape selection. The domaine works organically except in extremis.

The wines have a lovely combination of enough body and richness, combined with a lively clarity of expression. The old vines village cuvées are seriously good, and great value too. Going up the scale each site seems to speak very clearly of its source and there is a brightness and energy along with full, seamless fruit.

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