2011 Clos de la Roche
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Tasting notes
(12.6% potential alcohol, chaptalized to 13%, according to Laurent Lignier): Good deep red. Expressive, vibrant aromas of dark berries, wild cherry, fresh herbs and black pepper. Silky, dense and deep but with a juicy quality and terrific definition to the flavors of berries, spices and minerals. Boasts a lovely layered texture for the year and finishes with suave, fine-grained tannins and excellent breadth and lift. This is fun to taste today but its solid supporting minerality and noble tannins suggest that there's a lot more to come.
Critic scores
Average Score
Neal Martin
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2011 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru really puts the Charmes-Chambertin "11" in its place. Raised in 50% new oak, it offers much more complex, quite entrancing bouquet with perfumed red currant and wild strawberry scents laced with wilted rose petals and wet limestone. The palate is medium-bodied with an expressive, very well-defined entry and certainly impressive structure that exerts a gentle but insistent grip. There is a lovely silkiness here, the finish very composed and refined. Superb. Drink 2014-2028. Domaine Hubert Lignier is another Morey-St-Denis estate that I have followed and visited for a number of years, a period that has been turbulent to say the least. I have always appreciated Hubert's classic style of wine and his tenets have been instilled in his son, Laurent. It was he who led me through the tasting of impressive 2011s at their cellar under a magnificent cedar overlooking the Route Nationale, though Hubert popped in to say, "Bonjour." Laurent explained that the vineyards are now in their third year of organic viticulture although he has no intention of seeking certification. This was a strong set of pure, sensual, quite intellectual wines that I feel deserve more recognition, exhibiting prudent use of oak, ample freshness and wonderful expression of their terroirs not dissimilar to Lalou Bize-Leroy. Quantities are often very small as they home in on individual lieux-dits, though prices remain reasonable. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990
The 2011 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru really puts the Charmes-Chambertin "11" in its place. Raised in 50% new oak, it offers much more complex, quite entrancing bouquet with perfumed red currant and wild strawberry scents laced with wilted rose petals and wet limestone. The palate is medium-bodied with an expressive, very well-defined entry and certainly impressive structure that exerts a gentle but insistent grip. There is a lovely silkiness here, the finish very composed and refined. Superb. Drink 2014-2028. Aug 2013, www.robertparker.com