ROUGE 2008 BY PARKER - Lucien Le Moine

In 2008, maintained Mounir Saouma, growers had to decide between two fundamentally different approaches: – Am I going to give in to fear because there is some rot, press gently; not macerate a lot; not keep a lot of lees; work with clean juice and plenty of sulfur? Or am I going to take another direction to counterbalance high acidity by macerating long, pressing deeply, putting a lot of lees in the wines, and aging a long time on those lees- and in his case without racking or adding sulfur. The barrels were topped not with wine but with stored lees, and Saouma gave me a chance to taste the richly-textured, fragrant quality of lees still retained after 18 months. Despite the fact that malo-lactic conversion is nearly always late in this cellar, the 2008s finished more or less on schedule, which here means by late summer or September. Alcohol levels, incidentally, generally finished just a bit over 13% in both vintages. The first, highly selective rackings of 2008s were due to take place soon after I tasted in March, with bottling anticipated between late spring and September of this year. -They-re still slippery fish,- noted Saouma-s partner, (and spouse) Rotem , this March of their evolving 2008s, and added: -We like to see the wines tasting every day well for two months before we bottle.- I last tasted most of the 2007s solely in June, 2009, and most of those prior to bottling. Of this vintage, Saouma, maintains it was important to pick Pinots in the first week of September and -not to exaggerate; to accept that, yes, there was a little bit of rot, and a portion of the fruit that was not entirely ripe; but to press deeply, to delay malo, and to keep a lot of lees in the barrel. Our 2007s were going through malo,- he notes, -when many growers were bottling theirs.- Talk may be cheap when it comes to the notion of wine -making itself,- acknowledges Rotem , but adds -2007 was a real lesson for us. Sometimes you have to sit and be quiet, while the wine educates you.- The results are unquestionably remarkable for their vintage. (The Le Moine wines – for more about whose sources and upbringing consult my reports in issue 171 – are rendered in such small quantities that I have generally indicated in my notes the number of barrels produced – each equivalent to approximately 25 cases. In each case where there I did not taste the bottled wine and are multiple barrels, I tasted a pre-assemblage.) The exceptional quality and promise of the Le Moine wines from two such challenging vintages is certainly a tribute to the unusual vinificatory approach chosen by Saouma ; to the caliber of the growers whose wines they select; and to at least some degree, I suspect, reflects the control they are able to exercise in collaboration with those growers, although Saouma down-plays such considerations, insisting that -if you find a grower you really like for a particular appellation, then you respect that grower-s choices.-

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Chambertin Clos de Beze (96-97)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Romanee St Vivant (96-97)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Vosne Romanee les Gaudichots (95-96+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Clos de la Roche (94-95) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Chambolle Musigny les Amoureuses (94-95) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Mazis Chambertin (94-95)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Clos St Denis (94-95+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Richebourg (93-94)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Charmes Chambertin (93-94) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux St Jacques (93-94+) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Gevrey Chambertin les Cazetiers (93-94) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Nuits St Georges les Cailles (93-94+) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Nuits St Georges les Vaucrains (93-94)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Nuits St Georges les St Georges (93-94)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Bonnes Mares N (92-94+) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Pommard Grands Epenots (92-93) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Volnay Caillerets (92-93) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Chambolle Musigny Charmes (92-93+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Bonnes Mares S (92-94+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Corton Renardes (92-93)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Chambolle Musigny Hauts Doix (91-92)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Corton Bressandes (91-92+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Pommard les Rugiens (91-92+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Gevrey Chambertin Estournelles St Jacques (91-92) Early
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Vosne Romanee les Suchots (91-92+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Clos Vougeot (90-91+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Vosne Romanee les Malconsorts (90-92+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Morey St Denis Clos des Ormes (90-91+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Volnay Clos des Chenes (90-91+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Echezeaux (90-91+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Volnay Santenots (88-89+)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Pommard Epenots (88-90)
2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Fixin les Hervelets (88-89)

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Chambertin Clos de Beze
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Chambertin Clos de Beze, Gevrey Chambertin, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France.
Two barrels worth of Le Moine 2008 Chambertin Clos De Beze display classic black licorice, rose petal, peat, and dark berries. Beef blood and crushed stone add mysterious complexity on a seamless, satin-textured palate and this finishes with the reverberative resonance of the best 2008s yet with vintage-typical acidity sublimated and harnessed to generate positive energy without any sense of tartness. While the tannins here seem to melt in the mouth and there is almost wafting buoyancy to the long finish, there is more than enough structure and sheer extract to support 20 or more years of petal by petal revelations.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Romanee St Vivant
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Romanee St Vivant, Vosne Romanee, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
The lone barrel of Le Moine 2008 Romanee St.-Vivant (half of the previous year-s production, it will be sadly noted) explodes from the glass with an entire garden-s worth of flowers – heliotrope, narcissus, and hibiscus being noteworthy – allied to blueberry and cassis. In its floral and fruit profusion this is like the alter-ego of the Gaudichots, and displays a subtler sense of minerality, suggesting salt, kelp, and peat. This is velvety in texture, seemingly effortlessly refined, pure-fruited, vibrant, buoyant, and transparent to myriad nuances, so that the finish fascinates like watching a shower of petals or a cloud of butterflies. And I predict that this will still be flying high 20 years from now.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Vosne Romanee les Gaudichots
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Gaudichots, Vosne Romanee, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
A single barrel of Le Moine 2008 Vosne-Romanee Les Gaudichots smells of prunelle, violets, jasmine, smoky black tea, cumin, black pepper, and ripe blackberry. Texturally plush yet insistent in its energetic projection of correspondingly complex, pungent flavors, this introduces a smoky, sweet, saline savor that seems to combine tree sap, crustacean reduction, anchovy, tobacco, brown spices, dark chocolate, and a paste of fresh black fruits. This kaleidoscopically, interactively, downright outrageously multifaceted Pinot should be worth following for two decades. And with the sort of raw (not coarse) intensity on display, this may well have yet more to say in short order.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Clos de la Roche
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Clos de la Roche, Morey St Denis, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Brown spices, blond tobacco, sandalwood, and nutmeg mingle with red raspberry confiture on the nose of the Le Moine 2008 Clos De La Roche. A sweet, saline savor of lobster shell reduction wells up on the palate, reinforced by richness of texture. Fine layers of smoky peat and crushed stone add to the complexity and oscillating finishing dynamic of a wine almost certainly destined for 15-20 years of fascination and delight.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Chambolle Musigny les Amoureuses
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Amoureuses, Chambolle Musigny, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
At around 75 cases (3 barrels) the 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses represents a large lot by Le Moine standards, for which I hope a goodly number of wine lovers will be able to give thanks. Red currant, kirsch, freesia, citrus zest, and smoky black tea in the nose lead to a palate performance of brightness, wafting florality, and interactive complexity such would befit a great Riesling, with saline and subtly carnal savor as well as a crystalline sense of minerality shimmering through a long finish. This should be worth following for 15-20 years but I would on no account miss out on drinking some young as well.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Mazis Chambertin
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Mazis Chambertin, Gevrey Chambertin, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Two barrels of Le Moine 2008 Mazis-Chambertin offer a ripe blackberry and red currant married to decadent, musky floral aromas, Latakia tobacco-like pungency, and to a strikingly complex, marine sense of salt, chalk, iodine, peat, and kelp. The profound savor here goes beyond merely meaty or crustacean and leaves you scouring the animal kingdom in vain for reference points. All the while there is a throbbing, generous coursing of ripe, juicy, energy-charged fruit. Saouma notes that beginning with the 2006 vintage, he and Brakir started extracting more gently and working more intensely with the lees on their Mazis as they had inklings that levity and finesse would favor this appellation that is usually associated with relatively massive Pinot. The brilliant results seem to me to speak for themselves (just as their authors maintained they wanted to let the site speak with its own voice), and will remain eloquent for two decades. The mysterious low-tones one listens for in Mazis are here, but scored for harp rather than tuba.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Clos St Denis
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Clos St Denis, Morey St Denis, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Saouma and Brakin report that their two barrel lot of 2008 Clos St.-Denis was on very bad behavior throughout its first winter. But that certainly wasn’t the case when I tasted it in March! Nutmeg, iris, rare beef juices, blackberry, and red currant inform a memorable nose and silken-textured, sweetly- yet brightly-fruited, deeply carnal and savory palate. Suggestions of toasted pecan and of crushed stone add complexity to the resonant finish. And given how far this has evidently come and how quickly, who knows whether I am understating its claim to greatness and to a quarter century of cellar potential?

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Richebourg
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Richebourg, Vosne Romanee, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
While undergirded with abundant fine tannins, Saouma-s 2008 Richebourg (of which there is but one barrel) is seamlessly sleek and sweetly, palate-staining in its black-fruited richness. Notes of cedar, black tea, faded lily, raw beef, and iodine lend piquant mystery on both the nose and palate. This strikes me as remarkably refined and winsome for young Richebourg – but I am not lodging a complaint! It has 15-20 year cellar potential.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Charmes Chambertin
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Charmes Chambertin, Gevrey Chambertin, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Le Moine-s two barrels of 2008 Charmes-Chambertin (one from Mazoyeres) offer sweet aromas of cherry jam and pistachio extract wreathed in hyacinth, rose, and hibiscus, which follow on a seamlessly rich, subtly creamy palate, deep in the senses of plushness and fruit intensity as well as of layered complexity. This pure-fruited beauty certainly lives up to its name, and should perform well for 15-20 years, though it would be a shame not to relish some of it much younger.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux St Jacques
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Lavaux St Jacques, Gevrey Chambertin, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
A strikingly complex nose to Le Moine-s 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux St.-Jacques (of which there are two barrels) mingles smoky, sweet, machine oil with a pungent, saline tang of anchovy, violets, marjoram, ripe cherry, and a hint of manure. Had I smelled this blind, I might well have waxed fantastically about garrigue in the South of France! Certainly one imagines a special sort of concentration taking place in this already cool, windswept site in the cool, windy late September and early October of 2008, making for an impression as if the scrubby, conifer-dotted neighboring woods had been imprinted on the Pinot fruit. A satin-textured, richly ripe yet bright and strikingly, pungently mineral palate impression lingers tongue-tantalizingly even as one tries to decipher the message from one of those sorts of red Burgundy whose mystery will thankfully remain inscrutable. Regular readers will know by now that I have an abiding affection for this site, and here is a remarkable portrait of it. But it you are largely into a Pinot diet of fruits and berries, the free range menu served up in this bottle will not excite you, and might even turn you off. I would count on at least 15 years of further fascination. The rendition from Saouma and Brakir-s first (1999) vintage today displays haunting complexity of a similar sort.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Gevrey Chambertin les Cazetiers
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Cazetiers, Gevrey Chambertin, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
The vines that informed Saouma and Brakir-s 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers are more than 100 years old. Black licorice, candied cherry, almond extract, and Latakia tobacco-like smokiness in the nose lead to a palate of usual sweetness and forward sensuality for its vintage. A saline, sweet, crustacean-like savor builds on the saliva-inducing finish, where peat and black pepper add further pungent complexity. This lacks the mystery or interactive dynamic of the corresponding Lavaux St.-Jacques, but is superb in its own right and will probably hold the greater appeal for many tasters. It, too, has roughly 15 years of potential

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Nuits St Georges les Cailles
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Cailles, Nuits St Georges, Burgundy, France
You know you are in for a show when the first of a trio of Nuits St.-Georges crus that a producer pours for you is his or her Les St.-Georges – i.e. from the commune’s ostensive grand cru – and when it comes to the 2008 Nuits St.-Georges Les Cailles that Brakir and Saouma poured for me third (and of which they have one barrel) there is no question one is in the presence of great wine. Crushed stone along with red currant and red raspberry inform the nose and a silken-textured yet bright palate, where a deep, meaty, saline, and shrimp shell savor emerges and carries into a finish of vibratory energy and prodigious length. There is a certain austerity to the flavors and understatement to the fruit here, reflecting a vinous personality whose basic direction is I think unlikely to change in bottle, but which may become more generous as it completes its elevage and gain complexity if given a half dozen years of cellaring. It should continue to offer rewards 15-20 years from now.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Nuits St Georges les Vaucrains
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Vaucrains, Nuits St Georges, Burgundy, France
The two barrels of Le Moine 2008 Nuits St.-Georges Les Vaucrains are memorably scented with game, smoky-sweet machine oil, hibiscus, heliotrope, and black raspberry preserves, which then inform a rich yet brightly and beautifully focused palate, leading to a finish of cut and complexity, its animal and mineral dimensions as fascinating as they are hard to pin-down in words. Overall, this silken-textured cru is more forward and winsome than its Les St.-Georges counterpart, and while I would not be surprised if it rewards two decades of cellaring, I suspect it will not insist on bottle aging.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Nuits St Georges les St Georges
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les St Georges, Nuits St Georges, Burgundy, France
“In December, it was still impossible to taste,” remarks Saouma of his two barrels of 2008 Nuits St.-Georges Les St.-Georges. Smoked meat, peat, and humus mingle with red and black currant in the nose, while a whiff of heliotrope or vanilla hovers in the background. Rich yet bright fruit and dark earthiness spread across the palate underlain by abundant but exceedingly fine tannins and this finishes with added hints of toasted nuts and brown spices, and with the palate-staining and resonant sense of energy that accrues to all of the finest red Burgundies of its vintage. This beauty should have a two-decade potential and indeed deserves to be locked up for at least the next half dozen years.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Bonnes Mares N
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Bonnes Mares, Morey St Denis, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Framboise, sage, spruce resin, iodine, heliotrope, and faded lilies on the nose of the Le Moine barrel of 2008 Bonnes Mares -N- (its initial referring to a location straddling the sliver of this grand cru that is in Morey, and adjacent rows in Chambolle) leads to a rivetingly complex, decadently floral and medicinally herbal palate underlain by firm but fine tannins. A lip-smacking savor accompanies a long finish of berry tartness yet sweet richness, pungency and piquancy yet utmost transparency to persistent floral and mineral nuance. As with this year-s other barrel of Le Moine Bonnes Mares, there is good reason to believe this will be worth following for two decades.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Pommard Grands Epenots
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Epenots, Pommard, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France
The two barrels of Le Moine 2008 Pommard Grands Epenots is unremittingly brightly-fruited, with blond tobacco and peat joining red raspberry preserves and fresh berries on the nose and on a palate boasting tenderized tannins, and aspects of fruit preserves folded into a butter-pastry envelope. The finish here is refined, long, vibratory (for all of the wine’s textural richness) and transparent to mysterious mineral nuances. Saouma comments on the extreme (dark-light) contrast in personality of this and the Epenots as a classic instance of Burgundy terroir difference, noting that the latter was picked two full weeks ahead of this Grands Epenots. This Pinot became more hauntingly complex as it opened to the air, and I suspect it will be worth following for at least a decade.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Volnay Caillerets
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Caillerets, Volnay, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France
Slight reduction in the nose of Le Moine’s two barrels of 2008 Volnay Caillerets gives way with an airing to smoked meat and to cherry and red currant whose tart freshness invigorates the palate. Chalky and saline notes typical for this site are present in spades, along with clean, marrow-like meatiness, and there is a sense of lift and energy in the finish that add to the impression of a red Riesling. I suspect this will perform beautifully for 12-15 years. Having finished its malo already in May, the additional time this wine had to get its act together should not, Saouma reminds me, be discounted in considering the enthusiasm expressed in my tasting note.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Chambolle Musigny Charmes
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Charmes, Chambolle Musigny, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
The two barrels of Le Moine 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Les Charmes smell of red raspberry and red currant shadowed by their distilled counterparts, along with orange blossom, iris, lemon zest, and a kelp-like and saline marine note. Vibrantly juicy on the palate, this combines levity and refreshment with textural richness and delivers saline, iodine, cyanic, and crushed stone notes that add to its almost white wine impression. (And if this were a white, I imagine it being a Nahe Riesling.) Bottling date for this cru is critical, opines Saouma, adding that he doesn’t know when that will be because the wine is still very much a moving target. I think the relative lightness of this and its 2007 counterpart might deceive some tasters and that in fact the wine has 12-15 year potential. But that doesn’t mean I would want to miss out on savoring some young.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Bonnes Mares S
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Bonnes Mares, Morey St Denis, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Palate-staining fresh blackberry, hickory-smoked roasted meatiness unite with pungent herbal concentrates for a complex, concentrated Le Moine 2008 Bonnes Mares “S” (one of two barrels of Bonnes Mares this year, it’s initial – which will be buried somewhere on the eventual label – referring to a location on the Chambolle side of this grand cru) whose finishing energy sets the tongue quivering. But this is as raw and unevolved as any wine in the present collection and has to be taken with a lot of faith – faith that will probably not be misplaced, given the track record at this address, particularly with proprietor Mounir Saouma’s heartthrob appellation. In all likelihood, this will prove to be worth cellaring for two decades.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Corton Renardes
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Renardes, Aloxe Corton, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France
The twin barrels of Le Moine 2008 Corton Renardes are even more tender in texture than their Bressandes sibling, as well as sweeter in their still-tart fruit (here strawberry, cherry, and rhubarb). Brown spices, browned butter, and hints of caramel make for an appealing cookie dough-like aspect on this wine’s subtly creamy and palpably dense yet buoyant palate. Nor are herbal or floral nuances entirely neglected in the complex performance. A smoky, Latakia-like note graces this wine’s long finish. I suspect 12-15 years will prove a sufficiently conservative estimate of its potential.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Chambolle Musigny Hauts Doix
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Hauts Doix, Chambolle Musigny, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
The musky, narcissus-like notes on the nose of Le Moine’s two barrels of 2008 Chambolle-Musigny Hauts Doix almost rise to the level of stink, and are backed by intimations of cherry pit, tart cherry fruit, and chalk, all of which inform a palate that – like that of the corresponding Charmes – combines brightness with alluring textural tenderness. Dark suggestions of moss and humus lend mystery to the finish of this highly distinctive and decidedly decadent Pinot that ought to be worth following for a decade or longer. Saouma points out that wine from Hauts Doix seldom bears much resemblance to that of Amoureuses despite their virtual embrace, and says that a visit in high summer suddenly made him aware of how much more water is retained in the former, and that this was probably the source of the difference.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Corton Bressandes
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Bressandes, Aloxe Corton, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France
Among the many outstanding vintners rather recently trying their hand at the Corton family of grand crus, Saouma and Brakir have raised a single barrel of 2008 Corton Bressandes that smells pungently of wood smoke, tart red fruits, and raw beef liver, putting me in mind a bit of Cornas. But this has a fine grain of tannin you would never encounter outside of Pinot. Profound meatiness and saline savor make for mouth-watering complexity in this rich yet bright and by no means weighty Pinot, with crushed stone adding a site typical hint of austerity to what is otherwise a truly uplifting finish. I suspect we’re looking here at 12-15 years if not more aging potential, but also at a wine that won’t be bottled until September and could change significantly.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Pommard les Rugiens
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Rugiens, Pommard, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France
The sole Le Moine barrel of 2008 Pommard Rugiens smells of black raspberry preserves, dried blood, blond tobacco, and toasted pecan; comes to the palate with great richness and underlying chocolate as well as carnal and nut elements, but at the same time a fresh, tart berry side to its fruit; and finishes with a long fascinating interplay of animal, smoky-stony mineral, dark berry, and toasty oak elements, the last-named of which Saouma insists will have receded into the background by the time the wine is bottled. I would expect this to thrive for a dozen or more years.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Gevrey Chambertin Estournelles St Jacques
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Estournelles, Gevrey Chambertin, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Lucien Le Moine’s one barrel of 2008 Gevrey-Chambertin Estournelles St.-Jacques smells intriguingly of hibiscus, juniper, white pepper, cherry, and beet root. It is mouth-filling, substantial, plush, and rich, yet bright and full of primary fresh fruit sap; and finishes with invigorating pungency and chalky minerality playing against its ripe fruit. Look for more than a decade of interest here.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Vosne Romanee les Suchots
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Suchots, Vosne Romanee, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Cassis, blackberry, star anise, smoky black tea, and hints of caramel in the nose of the Le Moine 2008 Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots (of which there are 3 barrels) lead to a correspondingly complex, juicy yet rich palate transparent to mineral nuances. The abundant tannins coat the tongue and slightly repress the fruit in what is nevertheless a persistent, pungently smoky finish. There seems little question this will easily handle a dozen or more years- cellaring, but its expression of tannins might change significantly even short-term, and ordinarily one would expect more from this Le Moine cuvee.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Clos Vougeot
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Clos de Vougeot, Vougeot, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Like its Clos St.-Denis counterpart, there are two barrels (i.e. around 50 cases) of this beauty. The three barrels of Le Moine 2008 Clos Vougeot represent parcels in low, middle, and high location along that notoriously heterogeneous slope, and Mounir Saouma cites a Medieval reference supporting the view that to capture the essence of Clos Vougeot the monks who once oversaw it thought you needed just this sort of mixture. Cassis, nutmeg, and machine oil on the nose are joined on the palate by quite vivid crushed stone and raw red meatiness. This is seductively and – for its age, vintage, and cru – remarkably soothing, and finishes with impressive persistence, if also a sense of understatement that might partly reflect this wine’s tardy barrel evolution. Surely it will be worth following for at least a decade, but I won’t try to prognosticate more specifically at this time.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Vosne Romanee les Malconsorts
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Aux Malconsorts, Vosne Romanee, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
Two barrels of Le Moine 2008 Vosne-Romanee Les Malconsorts smell of game, toasted pecan, and black raspberry preserves, then comes to the palate obviously ripe and pungently smoky and spicy, but also slightly obstreperously tannic in a way one has not needed to deal with in the other Le Moine wine-s of this vintage. Humus, peat, and toasted nut bitterness follow the wine-s tannin-girded black fruits in a long finish. This really needs time just to sort itself out. It is almost sure to have a long life span, but about the precise quality of life in question I shall not attempt to prognosticate for the time being. Saouma says this wine has been especially mercurial.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Morey St Denis Clos des Ormes
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Clos des Ormes, Morey St Denis, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
A single barrel of Le Moine 2008 Morey-St.-Denis Clos Des Ormes smells of ripe plums tinged by soy and black pepper, and with the merest whiff of violets and manure (though Saouma seeks to assure me it has had days when you could smell an entire barnyard). The combination of tactile pungency of spices, pepper, and fruit skins with underlying richness of texture is uncanny. This finishes with impressive, complex length and may well have a long and felicitous future ahead of it, although I would be watchful lest some of what one smells here prove to be less terroir than incipient brett.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Volnay Clos des Chenes
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Clos des Chenes, Volnay, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France
A single barrel of Le Moine 2008 Volnay Clos des Chenes smells of smoky-sweet machine oil, resin, fresh ginger, and cherry. Its abundant primary fruit juiciness has to negotiate slightly rough shoals of tannin that are doubtless a legacy of the hail that afflicted this site. But this displays impressive depth of flavor, including a clean, marrowy meatiness and saline savor that mingle with pungent spices and smokiness as well as with bitter notes of fruit pit in a long finish. I’d speculate on a decade or more of satisfaction here, with the proviso that one keep close tabs on its evolution.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Echezeaux
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Echezeaux, Flagey Echezeaux, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
The three barrels of Le Moine 2008 Echezeaux display smoked and roasted meats, red currant and cherry spiced with clove and cinnamon. (It-s not hard to smell why Saouma calls this his -Cote Rotie of the vintage.-) There is a surprisingly doughy richness to the palate despite persistently tart-edged, bright red fruits, and a faintly lip-numbing combination of alcohol and tannin reinforces a sense of finishing flavor opacity. But this might pull itself more together by bottling. One can probably safely assume that it will remain fresh for more than a decade.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Volnay Santenots
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Santenots, Volnay, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France
The Le Moine barrel of 2008 Volnay Santenots – which Saouma describes as “a very Meursault-like Volnay,” displays a slightly awkward juxtaposition of sweet and tart red berries and rhubarb with pungent herbs, caramel, and toasty oak (an element very seldom as prominent in a Le Moine wine as it is – at least for the time being – in this instance). Intriguing suggestions of chalk and salt emerge in the finish, along with considerable tannic abrasiveness that may point toward the hail that afflicted this site. I would want to re-visit this before prognosticating about its bottle evolution.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Pommard Epenots
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Epenots, Pommard, Cote de Beaune, Burgundy, France
Humus and peat mingle with blackberry, dark cherry, and cassis on the nose of the Le Moine 2008 Pommard Epenots, which is overtly leesy, unevolved, and prominently tannic on the palate. Like the corresponding Rugiens, it boasts an invigorating freshness of fruit, although its flavors are more restrained and less striking today. This appears likely to need several years in bottle to give its best and to be capable for more than a decade’s worth of interest.

2008 Maison Lucien le Moine Fixin les Hervelets
A Pinot Noir Dry Red Table wine from Les Hervelets, Fixin, Cote de Nuits, Burgundy, France
A lone barrel of Le Moine 2008 Fixin Les Hervelets mingles beet root and bitter dark chocolate on a plush and – especially for wine of this village – texturally-refined palate. Subtly smoky and stony notes add interest to a satisfyingly long finish. I asked Saouma to explain my consistent impression (shared with so many other observers) that Fixin births inherently tough and relatively monolithic wines, notwithstanding the charming complexity of so many Pinots grown on its borders in Chenove (appellation Marsannay) and Brochon (appellations Gevrey-Chambertin and Cote de Nuits-Villages). “I think a lot of growers try to do too much with Fixin,” was his reply, “rather than seeking beauty in simplicity.”