Lucien Le Moine : Clos de la Roche Grand cru 2020

Tasting Notes and Cellaring Advice for the Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2020 by Lucien Le Moine

Tasting

Nose
This Clos de la Roche opens with intense aromas of graphite and sandalwood, layered with a perfume of violet petals. The bouquet carries a dark, brooding quality typical of this grand cru, balancing floral lift against a more sculpted, mineral core.

Palate
On the palate, flavors of cassis and black cherry meet notes of iron and woody undergrowth, giving the wine an energy verging on racy that keeps the fruit from feeling heavy. The finish stretches long, fruity, spicy and salivating, leaving a lingering trace of dark fruit and ferrous minerality.

Serving and cellaring

Because of Lucien Le Moine's elevage, which leaves considerable dissolved carbon dioxide in the wine, this Clos de la Roche 2020 benefits from vigorous decanting before being poured, allowing the gas to dissipate and the aromatics to open fully. According to the official tasting note published by the estate, this wine is best enjoyed from 2026 to 2045 at minimum, confirming its suitability for long-term cellaring rather than immediate consumption.

A Deep and Structured Morey-Saint-Denis Grand Cru from Lucien Le Moine

The Estate

Lucien Le Moine was founded in 1999 in Beaune, Burgundy, by Mounir Saouma and Rotem Brakin, who remain at the head of the house today. Operating as a micro-négociant rather than a traditional estate, Lucien Le Moine selects only premier and grand cru sites across the Côte d'Or, limiting its total output to under one hundred barrels each vintage. The house is known for unusually long, lees-driven aging and a minimal approach to sulfur, choices that set it apart within contemporary Burgundy winemaking.

The Vineyard

Clos de la Roche is one of the signature grand crus of Morey-Saint-Denis, on the Côte de Nuits, recognized for pinot noir of structured power and depth. Lucien Le Moine does not own vines in this cru but sources juice or wine from growers established there, bringing it into its Beaune cellar to be shaped through its own method of elevage.

The Vintage

The 2020 growing season in the Côte de Nuits was shaped by warm, dry conditions that pushed harvest dates earlier than usual, into late August and early September. These conditions favored ripe fruit and concentrated grapes, setting the stage for wines built on density and structure from the outset.

Winemaking and aging

For the Clos de la Roche Grand Cru 2020, grapes were vinified following Lucien Le Moine's practice of adjusting destemming according to berry size, followed by a cold pre-fermentation maceration without punching down or pumping over. Fermentation proceeded slowly in cold cellars, and the wine was then transferred with its full lees into new oak barrels from the Jupilles forest, where it aged for roughly eighteen to twenty-four months without racking and without added sulfur, protected instead by naturally retained carbon dioxide and its own lees. A small dose of sulfur was added only at bottling to stabilize the wine.

Grape Varieties

This wine is made from 100% pinot noir, the sole variety permitted in the Clos de la Roche grand cru appellation.