MOREY SAINT DENIS

2019 1er Cru Faconnières Domaine Lignier-Michelot

EN PRIMEUR

80% whole bunch. Quite a 'different' expression, blackberry and bramble, smells super-ripe and as though it will have lower acidity, less red fruit. Touch on the mouth is creamy-soft with so-fine tannins and sweetly ripe. It is still fresh, with tighter tannins on the finish giving another kind of grip. Mouth watering too. Lovely stuff. 'it's a little less 'in place' than the others but has greater potential', says Virgile. Drinking range: 2030 - 2042L&S (Oct 2020)

* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.

Always a more powerful and elemental wine than En La Rue de Vergy, this is a fabulous Faconnières and one with some good mileage in the tank. I wouldn’t touch this for five years but expect fireworks when you eventually open a bottle. Rating: 18+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (Jan 2021)

(from 60+ year old vines; 80% whole cluster). Firm reduction renders the nose unreadable at present. Otherwise there is very good vibrancy to the dense and muscular but sleek medium weight plus flavors that possess lovely definition, all wrapped in a mouth coating, mineral-driven and powerful finale. This built-to-age and very firm effort will need to develop more depth, but the underlying material appears to be present for that to occur. Drinking range: 2031 - Rating: 91-93 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Jan 2021)

70% whole bunch. Planted in 1949. Immensely dense rich dark purple. The nose offers a solid block of very dense fruit, not too ripe but so complete, bursting with energy, dense deep dark cherries, very classy, and still with lots more in reserve. Exceptionally long finish. Tasted: November 2020 5/5 stars Rating: 93-96 Jasper Morris - Inside Burgundy  (Jan 2021)

The 2019 Morey-Saint-Denis Faconnières 1er Cru, which contains 70-80% whole bunches, has a perfumed and floral bouquet of violets and iris. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins, very focused and perhaps the most sophisticated of all Virgile Lignier’s cuvées. He comments that this was closed 10 days ago but to his surprise has completely changed in recent days. On this showing, it will surely be the "must-buy" from Lignier-Michelot’s range. Superb. Drinking range: 2024 - 2045 Rating: 93-95 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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Wines bought en primeur are scheduled to arrive in the UK over the course of the next eighteen months. If you do not wish to take home delivery, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our primeurs team for more information.

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BURGUNDY EN PRIMEUR FAQ

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