Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru "Vieilles Vignes" AOC 2009 1500ml Magnum

A Premier Cru from Morey-Saint-Denis, harvested from old vines and bottled as a magnum. The warm 2009 vintage brought ripe fruit, which the house's signature style keeps in cool clarity: precisely delineated, finely structured, built for length.

The Lignier family has been growing Pinot Noir in Morey-Saint-Denis since the 1880s. Jacques Lignier bought parcels back then that phylloxera had devalued; his son Jules patiently replanted them. In 1959 Hubert Lignier took over the estate's leadership, and in 1973 he began bottling his own wines himself rather than selling them in bulk to négociants. Over the decades, plots across the Côte de Nuits were added.

Pure varietal Pinot Noir from old vines, which yield less and ripen with greater concentration. Long, cool maceration periods precede fermentation. The cellar in Morey, in use since 2008, works solely by gravity, from crushing to bottling, with no pump ever working the wine. During ageing, new oak is deliberately kept restrained and spread across four coopers, so that no single barrel dominates the wine. Synthetic products had already disappeared from the vineyards by 2007.

Dense, ripe fruit: dark cherry, blackberry and plum, underscored by forest floor, truffle, cinnamon and cardamom. The tannins are ripe and well-integrated, the acidity provides support, and the finish stays long and clear.

Venison fillet and roast wild boar, saddle of wild boar with forest mushrooms, boeuf bourguignon, roast pigeon with truffle jus or rack of lamb in herb crust; for cheese, aged Époisses or Comté.

1500 ml magnum, 13.5% vol., dry, bottled at the Domaine Hubert Lignier in Morey-Saint-Denis. In this larger format, the wine ages more slowly.