2008 Clos de la Roche
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Tasting notes
The 2008 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru put in a splendid showing against some serious company. Lucid in colour, it offers copious blackcurrant and bilberry fruit, a touch of iris flower, "cool" like many this vintage yet with more cohesion and intensity. No signs of any greenness here. The palate is medium-bodied with pliant tannins. Vibrant and structured, this has ample grip yet redeemed by more fruit concentration on the finish compared to some of its illustrious peers this vintage. It actually gains delineation with aeration. Magnificent.
Critic scores
Average Score
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
David Schildknecht, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2008 Clos de la Roche is a jewel, but it needs time. There is lovely depth and dimension as the wine opens up in the glass. The fruit shows terrific mid-palate density while the refined, elegant tannins add to an impression of class. This needs at least several additional years in bottle, but it is likely to remain understated in personality. Anticipated maturity: 2018-2033. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990
Cassis, black raspberry, smoky black tea, and brown spices in the nose of the Lignier 2008 Clos De La Roche lead to a polished, plush, yet energetically juicy palate performance accented with cherry pit piquancy and saliva-inducing salinity. Deep suggestions of beef marrow, chalk, and stone add to the fascination of a long, tongue-tingling finish. The evidence of sheer stamina and of abundant, ultra-fine tannins here (not to mention the long, long track record for this cuvee) suggests a Pinot of 15 or more years’ bottle potential. Hubert and Laurent Lignier – for more on whose recent evolution as a domaine and as negociants, consult my report in issue 186 – had one barrel from 2008 still stuck in malo last February, and several others had only finished by Christmas. No wines had been bottled (though they were assembled) when I last tasted them in February; indeed even the 2007s here were not bottled until May and June of 2009. Natural alcohol in the 2008 collection peaked at 13% in the Charmes and Combottes (due to extreme millerandage there, notes Laurent Lignier) and all of the wines were very lightly-chaptalized. Sorting was much less arduous for them in 2008 than 2007, he adds. As is evident from my rating, the array of wines from lesser locations or that incorporate purchased fruit have not (in the years since the splitting-up of control over this estate) nearly approached the consistently outstanding quality that the three or four top Lignier bottlings continue to exhibit. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990
Dark crimson. Big and rather brutish. Lots of muscle here. Lots of pretty ripe damson fruit too. Quite a demanding wine. Lots of tannin without that much fruit weight but it should get there. (JR)