Hubert Lignier
Vieilles Vignes Premier Cru
Morey-Saint-Denis
2019

The producer

A recently established domaine among its historical peers in the village of Morey, the Lignier-Michelot family has lived and owned vines here for generations. The 10.5 ha domaine owns vines in the Grand Crus of Clos-de-la-Roche and Clos-Saint-Denis and premier crus in Morey and Nuits-Saint-Georges.

Winemaker Virgile Lignier practices organic viticulture and, with a gentle hand in the winery, is now producing some of the finest wines of the appellation – no small feat when you consider the history of this tightly-controlled commune. For the last decade the use of oak has been reduced to 30% or less and whole bunch fermentation has added to the perfume and intensity of the wines while refining the tannins and silky texture.

Their 0.90ha holding of Clos-de-la-Roche is perhaps their finest although it competes for supremacy with their Clos-Saint-Denis. Domaine Lignier-Michelot may be a young domaine by Burgundy standards but is now considered among the best of the Cote d’Or.

The wine

Hubert Lignier owns 0.90 hectares in Clos de la Roche, the most northerly of Morey’s grand cru vineyards. The soil is rich in limestone with clay and pebbles in the topsoil and the exposure is gently east-facing. The top wine from Hubert Lignier, Clos de la Roche is complex, dense, and muscular with a firm mineral finish. 

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.