Lignier Michelot Morey-Saint-Denis Aux Chezeaux 1er Cru 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.
Waygu and baby potatoes with butter
Joins directly onto Grand cru Charmes Chambertin with Virgiles holding in the higher part of this tiny vineyard. “The 2020 Morey-Saint-Denis Aux Chezeaux 1er Cru carries 100% whole bunch although the stems are better integrated than the preceding Fixin at the moment. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy black fruit, fine acidity, and slightly chalky in texture with an understated, quite elegant fresh finish. Drink this over the next 10 to 12 years.” (89-91) Vinous Media, Neal Martin December 2021
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