2023 Lignier Michelot Morey-Saint-Denis 1er Cru Les Chenevery
The Lignier family have deep roots in the village of Morey Saint Denis and own 10.5 hectares of some of the very best vineyard sites in this village, and also in the 2 neighbouring villages Chambolle Musigny and Gevrey Chambertin. Virgile’s father and grand-father had always produced wine and sold it to negotiants until Virgile started working with his father in the early 1990’s and he decided to sell the wines himself. Now with almost 20 vintages of experience Virgile has moved the domaine to fully organic viticulture and is producing what many believe to be the best wines of this prestigious village.
In the last 10 years Virgile has modified his wine-making using whole-bunch vinification ranging from 30-100% depending on the vintage and the vineyard and he has also reduced the percentage of new oak (mostly Seguin-Moreau and Francois freres) for maturation with most wines seeing around 30% making its effect seamless in the final wines. He also completed a new winery in time for the 2013 vintage that now enables him to work with temperature control and to gain a very gentle extraction of tannins for all his wines. This results in wines showing great precision and energy with remarkable perfume and also beautiful fine tannins and very silky structure. They are wines which are often very seductive at a young age which also clearly have the potential for ageing superbly. This very young domaine is now regarded among the very best in the Cotes de Nuits.
Critics' reviews
The 2023 Morey-Saint-Denis Les Chenevery 1er Cru has a tightly wound bouquet that shows more restraint and coolness compared to the preceding, more exotic Genavrières. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, pliant tannins and perfectly judged acidity that keeps this Morey on its toes. It has more mineralité evident on the finish. This is a classy offering that will give 15 to 20 years of drinking pleasure.
