2005 Domaine Lignier-Michelot Morey-Saint-Denis Les Faconnieres 1er Cru

Cask sample Crackling fruit, real crunch on the palate. Lots of bitter cherry fruit. Dense but tight with lots of potential. (JR)

From immediately north of Les Millandes, Lignier’s 2005 Morey-St.-Denis Les Faconnieres (the same site that informs Hubert Lignier’s long-running hit, Morey 1er cru) offers diverse black fruits, brown spices, resin and saline notes on the nose, a rich, sappy, sweetly-fruited and formidably dense palate, and an invigorating finish with low-toned meatiness and pronounced chalk and brine minerality. This deserves watching over at least a decade. (And the 2004, incidentally, is a joy to drink now.) Virgile Lignier elected not to filter his 2005s, but I suspected that a couple of them were suffering slightly from their very recent bottling. Also recommended: 2005 Bourgogne ($25.00; 86), 2005 Chambolle-Musigny ($50.00;86+?), 2005 Gevrey-Chambertin ($53.00; 86+?). Various Importers. A Becky Wasserman Selection, Le Serbet; fax 011- 333-80-24-29-70.

Bright, full ruby-red. Superripe aromas of kirsch, blackberry, cassis and bitter chocolate; this smells almost like cabernet! Then sweet, fat and generous in the mouth, with crunchy primary fruit and mineral flavors offering an impressively chewy texture. Very broad, stony wine that really spreads out on the back end. There's more limestone than clay in this soil, notes Lignier. Impressive.