Lignier's Clos de la Roche is often mentioned in the same breath as the appellation's other benchmarks - Ponsot, Dujac, and Leroy.
Compared to these, Lignier's Clos de la Roche is the most unmediated rendering of the Grand Cru. It's this quality that really wows. It's a wine of class and elegance, without artifice.
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Clos de la Roche sits on a rock-hard layer of limestone with a thin layer of topsoil. Lignier's parcels are in two different climats, Monts Luisants and Les Fremieres. The vines are 50-60 years old.
Lignier's Clos de la Roche captures the Grand Cru in all of its rugged majesty. It's a wine of perfumed berry fruit with spice, earthy, dark floral tones, and a firm, stony minerality.
The 2017 is a Clos de la Roche for purists. It offers up a full-throttle intensity and, above all, finesse. You have expansive power with an insane amount of complexity and length married to a racy weightlessness. The combination is absolutely lovely.
The capacity of Lignier's Clos de la Roche to age is legendary. A few years ago, I attended a tasting that stretched back to 1978, and it was clear just how bulletproof the wines are.
Over the years, I've watched collectors discover Lignier's Clos de la Roche and become obsessed with it. It's an utterly impressive expression of the Grand Cru that harkens back to a bygone era. The 2017 is a compelling example of how profound this wine can be. I'm happy to have another opportunity.
To order, email offers@crushwineco.com or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Ian McFadden
Director, Fine & Rare Wine
Crush Wine & Spirits
Burghound: "A broad-ranging nose features notes of violet, lavender, tea, dark cherry and plenty of earth and game nuances. The sleek but notably more powerful big-bodied flavors possess excellent concentration in the context of what is typical for the 2017 vintage, all wrapped in a stony, muscular and solidly persistent finish. As is the case with a number of wines in the range, the tannins are coarse and grippy but they should soften and round out with extended cellaring which by the way this will definitely require."