Although the Grand Cru “Clos St-Denis” was the one the village of Morey decided to attach to its name, “Clos de la Roche” has emerged over time as the most celebrated Grand Cru in Morey St-Denis. And it should come as no surprise that the eminent ‘micro-négociant’ Lucien Le Moine has a presence here, alongside superstar domaines such as Dujac, Leroy, and Ponsot.
If there is an important vineyard in Burgundy—and Clos de la Roche certainly qualifies—chances are that the dynamic duo Mounir and Rotem Saouma, Le Moine’s proprietors, are custom-crafting a wine from it. Their 2014 Clos de la Roche is a magical convergence of vintage, vineyard, and vintner, delivering a level of profundity that only Burgundy can, and when you compare its price to some of the other high-ticket wines from this cru, it feels like a steal. To put it plainly, this is one of the very top Pinot Noir vineyards in the world, as interpreted by a modern master. We’ve saved our (predictably small) allocation for our very top customers, and can offer up to three bottles per person until it runs out.
Many of you are familiar with the Le Moine story by now, but for those who aren’t, it’s a good one: Lucien Le Moine is not an actual person, but an invented name translating roughly to “the enlightened monk,” referencing co-founder Mounir Saouma’s lengthy winemaking tenure at a Trappist Monastery in his native Lebanon. In 1999, Mounir and his wife, Rotem—herself a native of Israel who studied agriculture in Dijon—purchased an old, cold cellar in Beaune and worked what must have been an impressive Rolodex to source wines from the very best vineyards in the Côte d’Or (more specifically, only Premier Cru and Grand Cru sites). In any given vintage, the couple produce a dizzying array of wines, selecting them just after pressing from their grower-partners and ‘raising’ them in custom-crafted barrels of tight-grained oak from the
Jupilles forest. Theirs is a fanatical, hands-on operation which, as they note themselves, will never grow larger than 100 barrels (~2,500 cases) in any vintage due to the constraints of space. As they explain on their website, “this is the way for us to be able to do everything ‘by hand’ and ‘by ourselves,’” and the results are impeccable—especially in a superb red vintage like 2014, which we have been in love with for reds and whites alike.
The Saoumas are described as both exacting technicians and non-interventionists. Once they’ve selected a wine, it goes into barrel for malolactic fermentation, which often doesn’t commence until the summer following the vintage because their cellars are so cold. The wines are aged for extended periods with 100% of their lees (the spent yeast cells left over from fermentation), and are never racked (decanted from one barrel to another, which both oxygenates wines and separates it from the lees) during this period. This style of elévage (aging) enables the Saoumas to keep sulfur use to an absolute minimum, and as such these wines always require decanting, to disperse trapped CO2 (which acts as an anti-oxidant/preservative instead of sulfur). It’s an interesting mix of the “modern”—always 100% new French oak barrels—and the “traditional,” and the wines display a fascinating combination of polish and earthy soul.
At roughly 33 acres in size, Clos de la Roche is the largest of the Morey St-Denis Grand Crus (although “Bonnes-Mares” is larger, much of it is in neighboring Chambolle-Musigny). It isn’t actually a
clos (stone-walled vineyard), but it is very rocky (
roche = rock), and its wines are often compared to the powerful, mineral driven Grand Crus of Gevrey-Chambertin, which Clos de la Roche borders. The 2014 Le Moine Clos de la Roche is true to its place of origin, displaying a deep ruby color moving to garnet at the rim, and a dark, brooding nose of black cherry, wild berries, black tea, baking spices, chocolate, and underbrush. Nearly full-bodied and silky on the palate, it sits on a sturdy frame of fresh acidity and fine-grained tannins, promising many years of graceful aging ahead. If enjoying a bottle now, decant it at least an hour before serving at 60-65 in your finest Burgundy stems. Personally, I want to forget a few bottles in my cellar until about 2022, when the real magic of this wine emerges in earnest. It has the makings of a blockbuster for future special occasions, and the attached duck recipe should make a suitably luxurious partner. Cheers!
