2007 Morey St Denis Vieilles Vignes

Soy; herbal concentrates; as well as almond and pistachio oil, are allied with rich roasted meat juices and ripe red berries on a satisfyingly juicy palate in Lignier-Michelot’s 2007 Morey-St.-Denis Vieilles Vignes, which adds subtle smokiness to the array of fruit, nut oils, and herbal extracts in its finish. This displays a certain leanness I might more have expected from the 2008, but its persistent complexity should also hold up for at least half a dozen years in bottle. I found Lignier’s 2007 Chambolle premier cru “Cuvee Jules” oddly astringent and unknit as well as reduced in February, and did not have time to taste other of Virgile Lignier’s premier crus from that vintage. ”I love the purity of fruit in the 2008s, which is for me is a big part of the definition of Pinot Noir,” declares Virgile Lignier, after admitting that he shared the doubts of many growers about these wines in their earliest stages, doubts that lead him to de-acidify a few small lots. Natural alcohol levels here in 2008 hovered around 13% although Lignier reports having chaptalized around half a degree for the sake of extending fermentations. He was very cautious in fermentative extraction – “mostly we just took a little juice and poured it back over the cap,” he relates – and in nearly all instances retained around on-third of the stems. Lignier also racked his young 2008s earlier and then two and three times because of what he reported were their stubborn CO2 retention and reductive tendencies, an approach diametrically opposed to that of other growers, but the results here this vintage serve as yet another demonstration that many roads can lead to success. I tasted all but the Bourgogne assembled from tank. “You could do a bit more extraction,” says Lignier of 2007, from which time unfortunately precluded my sampling more than a few examples. (For some details on the sites Lignier farms, consult in particular my notes on his 2006s in issue 186.) Becky Wasserman Selection (various importers), Le Serbet; fax 011-333-80-24-29-70