"Clos de la Roche" Grand Cru AOC 2023 3000ml Doppel-Magnum

A Pinot Noir without bombast: cool dark fruit, fine spice, silky tannin and a finish that stays clear for a long time. In the three-litre format, the wine matures more slowly than in a standard bottle, a vessel for patient cellars and grand tables.

Clos de la Roche is the centrepiece of the domaine's holdings in Morey-Saint-Denis on the Côte de Nuits. The Lignier family has grown Pinot Noir here since the 1880s; Laurent Lignier now runs the estate in its fifth generation. At the upper edge of the Grand Cru, in the Monts Luisants climat, stand twenty-seven rows of vines planted by Henri Lignier in 1955, from whose wood he propagated the remaining parcels in the 1960s; since 2017 they have been bottled separately.

Pure Pinot Noir. Since 2007 the estate has worked without synthetic inputs in the vineyard, and the soils are ploughed. The cellar, acquired in 2008, relies solely on gravity, with no pump used from must to bottling. Long, cool macerations precede fermentation, the proportion of whole clusters has grown over the years, and new oak is deliberately scaled back and spread across four cooperages.

Dense and concentrated, with fine-grained tannin and lively acidity. Dark cherry and blackberry, alongside undergrowth and graphite, the finish long and distinctly mineral.

Pigeon with beetroot jus, saddle of venison with cranberries, coq au vin or duck breast on lentils. Truffle dishes and a mature Époisses also pair well. Decant generously if serving young.

Bottled at Domaine Hubert Lignier in Morey-Saint-Denis, 14.0% Vol., dry. Hubert Lignier began bottling his wines himself in 1973, rather than selling them off as bulk wine.