« There were really two choices with pinot noir in 2007, » said Mounir Saouma. « You could do quick vinifications and quick malos and privilege the fruit and the attack of the wines, or you could delay everything, leaving the wines on their lees to make them deeper and richer, like we did. » Saouma told me his wines began with a lot of fruit and almost aggressive tannins, plus strong acidity, especially those he buys from the Cote de Nuits, and he sulfured his barrels to prevent the malo from happening early. In the end, the secondary fermentations mostly finished in September. « And it was a year in which you had to wait for mature pinot noir grapes despite the risk of rot, » he went on. « It was a good thing that we had the experience of 2003. » He summarized: « Two thousand six is about sweetness, while 2007 is about freshness. And I prefer both years to 2005, because the fruit of 2005 is less typical for Burgundy. »
2007 Lucien Le Moine Volnay Santenots
Bright medium red. Red fruits, smoke, minerals and spicy oak on the nose, lifted by a floral nuance. Supple and round, with good vinosity to its sweet fruit but not the lift or cut of the best 2007s here. Finishes with fine tannins and smoky oak.
87-90
2007 Lucien Le Moine Volnay Clos des Chenes
(racked a month ago, like the Santenots) Good full red. Slightly high-toned aromas of black cherry, licorice, minerals and smoke. Juicy, bright and energetic; not a fleshy style but boasts good cut. Finishes with firm tannins and Pommard-like solidity and spine.
89-91
2007 Lucien Le Moine Volnay Caillerets
(tasted from tank) Good deep red. Cherry, spices and stone on the nose, along with a faint malic note. Juicy red fruit flavors show good energy but are a bit disjointed today. Best on the subtle, creamy finish, which features fine tannins and considerable finesse.
89-91
2007 Lucien Le Moine Pommard Les Epenots
(from cuve Bright, full red. Expressive nose offers cherry candy, redcurrant, plum and smoke. Sweet but juicy and vibrant. Tightens up on the back end, but finishes with very good energy and length. These vines were picked on August 23, according to Saouma.
88-91
2007 Lucien Le Moine Pommard Les Grands Epenots
(from cuve Deep red with ruby highlights. Inky blackberry, pungent minerals and a meaty nuance on the nose. Denser and broader than the Epenots but with plenty of inner-palate energy to balance its sweetness. Intensely flavored and classy wine, finishing with sweet, fine-grained tannins, excellent breadth and lingering minerality.
90-92
2007 Lucien Le Moine Corton Bressandes
Good medium red. Reduced aromas of red fruits and meat. Sweet and lush but not overly so; in fact, this tightens up on the back half and the vinous, aromatic finish shows a surprisingly light touch.
89-92
2007 Lucien Le Moine Gevrey Chambertin Estournelles Saint Jacques
(tasted from cuve Good full red. Pungent aromas of cherry, black raspberry, blood orange and crushed stone. Juicy, pure and penetrating, with lovely inner-mouth perfume and a distinctly firm-edged quality. Finishes tight and firmly tannic. I may be underrating this.
89-91
2007 Lucien Le Moine Gevrey Chambertin Les Cazetiers
(from cuve Bright medium red. Captivating perfume of raspberry, minerals and smoked meat. Rich, broad and pliant, with wonderful sweetness and complexity to the flavors of black and red fruits, smoke and game. There’s a wildness allied to finesse here that reminds me of Clos de Beze. A superb showing.
90-93
2007 Lucien Le Moine Nuits Saint Georges Les Cailles
Good deep red. Pungent aromas of minerals, crushed stone and licorice. Then juicy and imploded on the palate, with superb class and lift to the complex flavors of musky raspberry, stone and fresh tobacco. There’s an almost Chambolle-like mineral and earth element here that I sometimes find in Chevillon’s Cailles. Not a fat wine but beautifully detailed.
90-93
2007 Lucien Le Moine Nuits Saint Georges Les Saint Georges
Good full red. High-pitched aromas of black fruits, violet, lavender and minerals. The palate offers terrific cut and finesse, with superb lift to the bright mineral and floral flavors. The tannins are firm but fine, giving a solid structural underpinning to this very stylish wine. Shows the almost electric finish of so many of the better 2007s.
91-93
2007 Lucien Le Moine Nuits Saint Georges Les Vaucrains
Good full red. Sappy red cherry and flowers on the nose, with an almost liqueur-like candied quality. Then fat, rich and sweet if a bit reduced, with red berry and cherry flavors dominating. A bit clenched and less sharply delineated than the Saint-Georges but impeccably balanced, sweet and long, and quite suave on the palate-saturating aftertaste.
90-93
2007 Lucien Le Moine Chambolle Musigny Les Charmes
Good deep red. Musky raspberry and pungent smoky, flinty minerals on the nose. Silky and sweet on entry, then expands toward the back, finishing chewy and rich but classically dry, with palate-saturating flavor. The smoky minerality carries straight through the wine.
90-92
2007 Lucien Le Moine Chambolle Musigny Les Haut Doix
Good deep red. Slightly wild aromas of dark fruits, smoky minerals, herbs, spices and crushed stone. Serious and structured wine, with pepper, spice and earth notes giving it a drier aspect than most of these 2007s. Not the smoothest wine in the portfolio but the tannins are essentially ripe and gentle.
89-92
2007 Lucien Le Moine Chambolle Musigny Les Amoureuses
Good full red. Pure aromas of musky raspberry, strawberry, cassis and flinty minerals. Complex, sweet and fine-grained, with superb density and lingering perfume. Here the tannins are perfectly buffered by mid-palate fruit. Finishes with very good energy and lift.
91-94
2007 Lucien Le Moine Vosne Romanee Les Suchots
Dark red with ruby highlights. Cassis and smoked meat on the nose. Rich, tactile and sweet but quite backward and brooding and slow to show itself. Like the Echezeaux, this one will need a later bottling. Dense, sweet and powerful but not yet revealing its fruit. Finishes with palate-saturating length.
90-92
2007 Lucien Le Moine Vosne Romanee Petits-Monts
Good medium red. Candied cherry, raspberry and musky minerals on the nose, plus a whiff of leesy reduction and some vanillin oak. Suave on entry, then inexpressive in the middle palate, with new oak and sexy truffley perfume currently masking the wine’s fruit. Best today on the rather delicate aftertaste, which features fine-grained tannins.
89-92
2007 Lucien Le Moine Vosne Romanee Les Malconsorts
Medium red. High-pitched, very pure aromas of raspberry, minerals and flowers. Juicy, pristine and penetrating, with a tangy lift but also an impressively chewy quality to the vibrant flavors of raspberry, blood orange and white pepper. Offers an uncanny balance of body and buoyancy and finishes with superb lingering perfume. Saouma was far from the only one who told me that Vosne-Romanee fared particularly well in 2007.
92-94
2007 Lucien Le Moine Vosne-Romanee Gaudichots
Medium red. Ripe nose offers coffee, mocha and smoky oak; lower in pitch than the Malconsorts. Very rich, supple and sweet, with a deep smokiness and impressive depth but not quite the breed of the Malconsorts. This big boy will need longer to express itself.
90-93
2007 Lucien Le Moine Clos St Denis
Good bright red. Captivating perfume of red berries, iron and smoke. Sweet and sappy but light on its feet, thanks to a minty nuance and pungent minerality. Very fresh and complex wine, finishing scented and long, with sexy soil tones and suave tannins.
91-94
2007 Lucien Le Moine Clos de la Roche
Good deep red. Captivating, vibrant aromas of raspberry, brown spices, fresh herbs and white truffle, all lifted by a minty nuance. If sucrosite is an impression of sweetness that does not come from residual sugar, this sharply delineated, classically dry wine could be Exhibit A. Firm acids and a slightly high-toned quality frame and lift the wine’s flavors. Finishes rather backward and tight but with noble tannins, pungent minerality and lovely lingering perfume.
92-95
2007 Lucien Le Moine Charmes Chambertin
Medium red. Redcurrant, spices and a floral nuance on the high-pitched nose. Fresh but tight, with a suggestion of dried flowers. Nicely juicy but not yet showing much complexity. Finishes with firm tannins and good verve.
90-92
2007 Lucien Le Moine Clos Vougeot
Good deep, bright ruby. Captivating perfume of plum, red cherry, flowers and white truffle. Sappy, sweet and aromatic in the mouth, with terrific precision and verve to the red fruit flavors. Very primary wine with excellent energy for the year. The electric finish features a fine dusting of tannins and lovely perfumed lift. From a combination of old vines in the middle of this grand cru and less-old vines closer to the top.
92-95
2007 Lucien Le Moine Echezeaux
Good dark red. Aromas of dark cherry, black raspberry, minerals and smoke. Rich, sweet and chewy, but currently showing less detail and lift than the Clos-Vougeot. But this too is powerful and pure, finishing with superb breadth and a serious tannic structure. No shortage of energy on the aftertaste.
91-93
2007 Lucien Le Moine Mazis Chambertin
Deep ruby-red. Wild, musky aromas of liqueur-like red fruits, game and dried flowers; reminded me of a pheasant pate I had eaten the night before. Dense and lush, with a distinctly creamy, syrupy quality to the smoky fruit flavors and a nicely restrained sweetness. Finishes long and suave, with fine-grained tannins.
91-94
2007 Lucien Le Moine Bonnes Mares
Good deep red. High-toned aromas and flavors of raspberry, blood orange and stone. At once creamy and deep, with terrific inner-mouth energy and building sweetness of fruit. Very densely packed wine, finishing with substantial dusty tannins and terrific back-end lift.
92-95
2007 Lucien Le Moine Chambertin Clos de Beze
Bright, deep red. Aromas of spicy redcurrant and bitter cherry come across as very ripe for this vineyard. Lush, creamy-sweet and superconcentrated, with a dominating flavor of bitter cherry and an utterly spherical shape. Wonderfully silky, harmonious wine that saturates every square millimeter of the palate. Finishes with outstanding length and elegance. This is 13.5% natural alcohol, from vines harvested on September 1, notes Saouma, and is impossibly sexy today. But the underlying limestone (like that in Montrachet, notes Saouma) gives energy to the wine.
93-95
2007 Lucien Le Moine Grands Echezeaux
Good deep red. Red fruits, dried rose, graphite and spicy oak on the nose. Wonderfully fine-grained, seamless and sweet, combining outstanding fullness with an uncanny weightlessness. Extremely fine-grained and subtle, with some apparent oak spice in the middle palate. Best today on the explosive, broad aftertaste, which saturates the palate with perfume and leaves the salivary glands quivering.
93-95
2007 Lucien Le Moine Romanee Saint Vivant
Good deep red. Pungent, slightly high-toned aromas of raspberry, coffee and cocoa powder; leading with its fruit today. Then wonderfully suave, vibrant and pure in the mouth, with outstanding intensity of crystallized fruit flavors and an impression of sappiness that cuts through the wine’s thickness. This, too, saturates the palate with flavor and finishes with outstanding class and lingering perfume.
93-96
2007 Lucien Le Moine Richebourg
Good deep red. Musky raspberry, blueberry and a meaty complexity on the nose. Wonderfully dense, sweet and concentrated, with uncanny depth of flavor and solid underlying structure. A great and classic manifestation of the vintage. The big tannins, which arrive late and build inexorably, will require an extended elevage, noted Saouma, who estimated an August 2009 bottling for this one.
93-96
