le moine 2008 meursault perrieres and M&M 2009 pulignys

16.1.2012billn

lucien-lemoine-2008-meursault-perrieres

The wines of Le Moine seem to have polarised opinion – at least the wines of their first few vintages. Yet I’ve heard many recent reports of their transparency that are at odds with early pronouncements of ‘spoofulated’ wines. I have hardly visited for one simple reason; the wines seem rather expensive. But I can’t just rely on ‘hearsay’ can I? Hence, biting the occasional bullet…

On Saturday we started with a Mischief and Mayhem 2009 Puligny 1er les Pucelles and finished with their 2009 Puligny 1er Les Caillerets. It’s not long since I tasted these wines, and frankly I have nothing more to add to these notes, except that the Pucelles was more open. Sandwiched in-between was this wine from Le Moine:

2008 Lucien Le Moine, Meursault 1er Les Perrières
The bottle, I’m afraid to say, seems the glass equivalent of a red sports car; heavy, and with a punt into which you could lose your arm. Clearly the nose ushers in the presence of quite a bit of oak, a little transient gunflint/struck match too, yet this is far from jarring wood, indeed it is very well polished. In the mouth I have a faint hint of surprise; despite a perfectly smooth texture, this is a wine that’s clearly cut from the chalk of Perrières; mineral with some 08 tension and undoubted density and intensity. There are a few other MPs that I might might prefer to drink, all of them lower priced, but this is a very fine wine – no discussion. I have the impression of pear fruit on the palate yet without a hint of obvious sweetness. Very good line into the considerable finish. Clearly I have listened to too much hearsay, because this is super wine.
Rebuy – Yes

Leave a Reply to Don CornwellCancel reply

There are 4 responses to “le moine 2008 meursault perrieres and M&M 2009 pulignys”

  1. Don Cornwell18th January 2012 at 9:01 amPermalinkReply

    Bill

    I’ve had some of the same skepticism about Le Moine, though I’ve bought a few beginning with 1999, but tonight we opened 14 btls of major 2001 grand crus plus Rousseau and Fourrier CSJ and Meo and Rouget Cros Parantoux — just to take the pulse of the wines and see where they are after ten years. One of the very pleasant surprises of the evening was that the 2001 Le Moine Bonnes was fantastic, every bit the equal of the 2001 Roumier Bonnes Mares.

  2. Sergey29th May 2012 at 2:54 pmPermalinkReply

    The most mysterious thing is where does he get grapes for his wines?! But they are all incredible, I was lucky to visit this domaine two years ago, red wines are almost salty and have amazing depth. Perhaps we wont find the secret of origin of the grapes… I read that S.Tanzer said Le Moine makes Oregon Pinots in Burgundy, are you agree with this opinion?

  3. Don Cornwell30th May 2012 at 12:12 pmPermalinkReply

    Sergey:

    I’m usually not that much of a fan of Oregon pinot noir, so I really can’t compare them. I have liked the two different vintages of Bonnes Mares I have tried from Le Moine, but I have not been as pleased with the whites from the 2004 vintage that I tasted earlier this year.

    I know that Mounir sources grapes from many top sources. I know a couple of the sources, but I’m not a liberty to identify them. The sources who supply the negociants are very seldom identified or discussed publicly (whether that be the big firms like Drouhin or Jadot on one hand, or Le Moine, Bernstein, Leroux or Laurent on the other. My understanding is that it is the domaines and vineyard owners who don’t wish the source of the grapes to be disclosed.

  4. Sergey30th May 2012 at 9:57 pmPermalinkReply

    Thanks for the answer, Don!
    I am not a fan of Oregon Pinot Noirs as well:)
    But this point of view ( S.Tanzer) i am not sharing at all.
    I mean just the fact that some of top producers sell him some of the grapes does cost something!
    Mr. Mounir made for us degustation by vineyards, and thats been amazing! So he try to develop the taste of terroir rather than taste of his maison.
    We do have his wines here in Russia now, they are quite expensive, but I like them.
    P.S. sorry for my english!

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