Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru AOC 2022

A Grand Cru that carries its density inward: cool red fruit, fine-grained tannin, a clear, long finish. At 13.0% vol., the wine stays lean and dry, its strength lying in precision rather than volume.

The Charmes-Chambertin climat ranks among the Grands Crus of the Côte de Nuits and, alongside Clos de la Roche, counts among the house's great sites. In Morey-Saint-Denis, the Lignier family has farmed Pinot Noir since the 1880s: Jacques Lignier bought up parcels devalued by phylloxera at the time, which his son Jules patiently replanted. Via Henri and then Hubert Lignier, who took over management in 1959, the estate passed to Laurent Lignier, who today runs the Domaine in its fifth generation.

Pure Pinot Noir. Synthetic products disappeared from the vineyards from 2007 onward, followed by organic certification in 2019. The cellar in Morey, acquired in 2008, works by gravity alone — from must to bottling, no pump is used. Long, cool macerations precede fermentation, the proportion of whole clusters has grown over the years, while new oak has been scaled back and spread across four coopers so that no single barrel shapes the wine.

Cool fruit of red cherry and raspberry, joined by floral notes, fine spice and a chalky tension. The tannin is fine-grained, the acidity lively, the finish long and clear.

Duck breast with cherries, saddle of venison in red wine jus, coq au vin or boeuf bourguignon. More purist: truffle risotto or ripe Époisses.

The Domaine has bottled its own wines since 1973. Hubert Lignier made that decision in the middle of a sales crisis, choosing it over continuing to sell the wines in bulk to merchants, turning a grape supplier into an address with its own name.