2007 Domaine Hubert Lignier Morey-Saint-Denis Les Chaffots 1er Cru

Fresh cherry and plum tinged with the piquancy of their pits mark the Ligniers 2007 Morey-St.-Denis Les Chaffots, which displays a bright but rather austerely firm and sparsely-flavored palate. Chalk, pepper, and brown spices add some pizzazz to the finish, though, and this may well be quite interesting and satisfying to re-visit over the next several years. Certainly its clarity and brightness are admirable in the context of the vintage. Hubert and Laurent Lignier – for more on whose recent evolution as a domaine and as negociants, consult my report in issue 186 – had one barrel from 2008 still stuck in malo last February, and several others had only finished by Christmas. No wines had been bottled (though they were assembled) when I last tasted them in February; indeed even the 2007s here were not bottled until May and June of 2009. Natural alcohol in the 2008 collection peaked at 13% in the Charmes and Combottes (due to extreme millerandage there, notes Laurent Lignier) and all of the wines were very lightly-chaptalized. Sorting was much less arduous for them in 2008 than 2007, he adds. As is evident from my rating, the array of wines from lesser locations or that incorporate purchased fruit have not (in the years since the splitting-up of control over this estate) nearly approached the consistently outstanding quality that the three or four top Lignier bottlings continue to exhibit. Importer: Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990