Lignier Michelot Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes 2020
The Lignier family have deep roots in the village of Morey Saint Denis and owns 10.5 hectares of some of the very best vineyard sites in this village, and also in the 2 neighbouring villages Chambolle Musigny and Gevrey Chambertin. Virgile’s father and grandfather had always produced wine and sold it to negotiants until Virgile started working with his father in the early 1990s and he decided to sell the wines himself. Now with almost 20 vintages of experience, Virgile has moved the Domaine to fully organic viticulture and is producing what many believe to be the best wines of this prestigious village.
In the last 10 years, Virgile has modified his wine-making using whole-bunch vinification ranging from 30-100% depending on the vintage and the vineyard and he has also reduced the percentage of new oak (mostly Seguin-Moreau and Francois Freres) for maturation with most wines seeing around 30% making its effect seamless in the final wines. He also completed a new winery in time for the 2013 vintage that now enables him to work with temperature control and to gain a very gentle extraction of tannins for all his wines. This results in wines showing great precision and energy with remarkable perfume and also beautiful fine tannins and a very silky structure. They are wines that are often very seductive at a young age and also clearly have the potential for ageing superbly. This very young Domaine is now regarded among the very best in the Cotes de Nuits.
Braised duck and lentil salad
From 2 parcels (Les Drazey and Les Gamaires) below Bonnes Mares planted in the 1950s and 1960s totalling 1.48 hectares. A deeply rich and generous Chambolle of great finesse and class. ”The 2020 Chambolle-Musigny Vieilles Vignes is matured with a lot of CO2 to protect the wine. This feels quite precocious on the nose with red cherries, kirsch and blood orange aromas, the oak nicely integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, fine acidity, and just a touch of sour cherry towards the granular finish. Give these 3 - 4 years in bottle to fully soften.” (87-89) Vinous Media, Neal Martin December 2021
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