There is a lot of hype and fanfare centered around each passing year’s new releases from Burgundy. Some vintages are special, but the region’s top wines generally require extended time in bottle before showing their true selves. Furthermore, it takes years before the wines develop the extra layers of depth and aromatic complexity necessary to justify their significant cost. So, I generally advise against rushing purchases of young, overhyped red Burgundy.
I bring this is up because the newly arrived 2012 releases from Domaine Georges Lignier are so impressive and are drinking so well right now, that I have no choice but to bend my own rules. Georges Lignier’s son-in-law, Benoit, has been working in the family’s vines and cellar for 13 years and he recently took over as the estate’s winemaker and managing director. He has made a few small but significant changes to the estate’s protocol that have resulted in a crop of young drinking red Burgundy that deserve all the hype and accolades anyone can throw at them. Benoit carefully tends the vines so that each cluster spends slightly more time on the vine without over-ripening or increasing potential alcohol. In the cellar, Benoit has adjusted the ratio of whole cluster to destemmed fruit (now 20% whole cluster) so that the wines are less brittle and more complete in texture than vintages past. The bottom line shows that Benoit has found the magic formula for his various terroirs—across the board, these wines are full of energy, and incredibly alive aromatically. They are an absolute joy to drink now and I’m confident they will only improve for decades.
Today’s offer focuses on Benoit’s 2012 Morey-Saint-Denis. This small, 1.5 hectare collection of parcels sits on an east facing slope at 750-850 feet. The soil here is dominated by limestone at the top, with a greater concentration of clay toward the bottom of the vineyards. The village of Morey-Saint-Denis’ soils are renowned for producing some of the more masculine and powerful reds in Burgundy, but Benoit has excelled in taming this wild beast. He has raised this cuvée entirely in neutral oak and vinified the wine in a way that accentuates the terroir’s gorgeous floral aromas over its brawn. Benoit is bottling a diversity of extremely limited and expensive Grand Crus (a few of which you will likely see featured on SommSelect in the coming months) but I think this Morey-Saint-Denis bottling offers unparalleled value and is a perfect introduction to the estate’s brilliant and thrilling 2012 vintage.
The 2012 Georges Lignier Morey-Saint-Denis shines in the glass with a bright ruby red core and vibrant pink hues on the rim. I enjoyed a bottle of this wine last night so its aromas are still fresh in my mind. The nose is pure, perfectly transparent and exhibits all the diversity and depth I seek in world class, cellarable red Burgundy. The wine leaps from the glass with notes of freshly picked ripe red cherry, wild strawberry, red plum flesh, wild flowers, tea leaf, wet moss and a faint hint of baking spices. While the palate is lush and powerful, there is a profound softness and purity here. Tannins are velvet-like and the fruit has beautifully soft edges. The wine’s curtain call is an impressively persistent finish that stuck with me for hours after I finished my last glass. Even for someone like me who is often skeptical of young Burgundy, this is an outstanding bottle. It is in the top tier of the region’s wines in this price range. This bottling is perfect for drinking now and I will look forward to enjoying it over the next year. Still, as with all truly outstanding Morey-Saint-Denis, this wine will continue to evolve for years, most likely peaking around 2020 if cellared properly. For now, I recommend decanting for one hour and serving in large Burgundy stems alongside a delicate and understated meal. For me, one thing that distinguishes this wine is its delicate aromas and the subtleties that blossom as the wine opens up. So, I urge you to avoid the heavy hand of roasted or caramelized flavors in any dish you prepare. It may seem backward to pair a Morey-Saint-Denis with fish, but
this Halibut preparation (perhaps substituting pitted Castelvetrano olives in the place of capers) is the skeleton key that will unlock this wine’s greatest potential. This gently prepared fish, a spring salad and some olive oil whipped potatoes—I can’t think of a more flattering context for this truly gorgeous wine.
