Lucien Le Moine
About Lucien Le Moine
Founded in 1999 by Mounir and Rotem Saouma, Lucien Le Moine is an expression of the Burgundian drive to lovingly craft only the very best wines from the very best terroirs, regardless of any external factors. These are wines of truly relentless excellence.
The concerted aim of this house is to produce no more than 100 barrels of 1er and Grand Cru wine each vintage, varying from year to year as Mounir samples each vineyard before deciding which meet his lofty standards. Often only securing a single barrel per vineyard, their 100 barrel release in 2017, for example, covered 68 different wines.
The Winemaking
Lucien Le Moine has no running contracts with growers (although they will often source grapes repeatedly from the best), and they have no prerequisites with regards to how the vines were managed. Fascinatingly, this producer is not a winemaker, as such, as they purchase wines after fermentation. Instead, the art for which Mounir and Rotem Saouma have become so revered is the élevage - the process of ageing, filtration, racking etc. in their facility in Beaune.
Given their focus on post-fermentation processes, they work very closely with one specific barrel supplier, who sources the very finest wood from the great forests of France and wider Europe. Such is their care and determination, that each individual barrel is composed and toasted slightly differently to match and season each specific wine - attention to detail and artisanal craft reaches its apogee at Lucien Le Moine.
| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
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Burgundy | 2 | 90-92 (VN) |
Inc. TAX
€1,312.38 |
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Vinous (90-92)Dark red-ruby. Good mineral lift to the aromas of red berries, tobacco and cardamom. Bright, fine-grained wine with moderate depth and sweetness but lovely inner-mouth floral lift to its raspberry and stone flavors. Still a bit compressed but this may be gaining in richness. The firmly tannic finish offers good persistence. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 91-94 (BH) |
Inc. TAX
€2,290.38 |
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Burghound (91-94)A very pretty and airy nose features notes of red cherry, raspberry and spice with a shading of soft wood and earth. On the palate though this is not nearly as concentrated though there is still perfectly good concentration and a sleek muscularity on the vibrant, detailed and lingering finish. While this is by no means light, it is a Charmes built more along the lines of finesse than power. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 91-94 (VN) |
Inc. TAX
€904.03 |
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Vinous (91-94)(fairly late malo here): Aromas of pear, green apple, menthol, mint leaf and rosemary, complicated by warm southern herbs. Very rich, even opulent wine with noteworthy sucrosité and lowish acidity. This very tactile, smooth wine boasts excellent breadth without any rough edges. Finishes quite dry and rich, with palate-staining length and an emerging impression of lemon drop acidity. |
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Burgundy | 1 | 92-94 (VN) |
Inc. TAX
€1,150.38 |
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Vinous (92-94)(destemmed): Bright, full ruby. Deep, almost liqueur-like aromas of cassis and black cherry; there's something old school about this. Hugely concentrated and mouthfilling, with its very ripe flavors of cassis, blackberry, dark chocolate and violet complicated by saline minerality. Finishes dense, saline, floral and very long, with big but utterly smooth tannins that reach the incisors. This is a major mouthful of wine already but it will need time to lose some baby fat. With its slightly high-toned character and impression of fat, this wine struck me as rather 2015-like. |
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Rhone | 5 | - |
Inc. TAX
€857.58 |
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Rhone | 13 | 96 (VN) |
Inc. TAX
€685.98 |
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Vinous (96)Limpid violet. Displays seductively perfumed raspberry preserve, exotic spice and lavender oil qualities on the nose, along with hints of incense and smoky minerals. Juicy, seamless and energetic on the palate, offering intense red berry liqueur, fruitcake and floral pastille flavors that show outstanding clarity and spicy cut. Fine-grained tannins frame a strikingly long, penetrating finish that shows superb red fruit- and mineral-driven persistence. |
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| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Burgundy | 2 | 90-92 (VN) |
In Bond
€1,075.00 |
|||||
Vinous (90-92)Dark red-ruby. Good mineral lift to the aromas of red berries, tobacco and cardamom. Bright, fine-grained wine with moderate depth and sweetness but lovely inner-mouth floral lift to its raspberry and stone flavors. Still a bit compressed but this may be gaining in richness. The firmly tannic finish offers good persistence. |
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|
|
Burgundy | 1 | 91-94 (BH) |
In Bond
€1,890.00 |
|||||
Burghound (91-94)A very pretty and airy nose features notes of red cherry, raspberry and spice with a shading of soft wood and earth. On the palate though this is not nearly as concentrated though there is still perfectly good concentration and a sleek muscularity on the vibrant, detailed and lingering finish. While this is by no means light, it is a Charmes built more along the lines of finesse than power. |
|||||||||
|
|
Burgundy | 1 | 91-94 (VN) |
In Bond
€744.00 |
|||||
Vinous (91-94)(fairly late malo here): Aromas of pear, green apple, menthol, mint leaf and rosemary, complicated by warm southern herbs. Very rich, even opulent wine with noteworthy sucrosité and lowish acidity. This very tactile, smooth wine boasts excellent breadth without any rough edges. Finishes quite dry and rich, with palate-staining length and an emerging impression of lemon drop acidity. |
|||||||||
|
|
Burgundy | 1 | 92-94 (VN) |
In Bond
€940.00 |
|||||
Vinous (92-94)(destemmed): Bright, full ruby. Deep, almost liqueur-like aromas of cassis and black cherry; there's something old school about this. Hugely concentrated and mouthfilling, with its very ripe flavors of cassis, blackberry, dark chocolate and violet complicated by saline minerality. Finishes dense, saline, floral and very long, with big but utterly smooth tannins that reach the incisors. This is a major mouthful of wine already but it will need time to lose some baby fat. With its slightly high-toned character and impression of fat, this wine struck me as rather 2015-like. |
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|
|
Rhone | 5 | - |
In Bond
€696.00 |
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Rhone | 13 | 96 (VN) |
In Bond
€553.00 |
|||||
Vinous (96)Limpid violet. Displays seductively perfumed raspberry preserve, exotic spice and lavender oil qualities on the nose, along with hints of incense and smoky minerals. Juicy, seamless and energetic on the palate, offering intense red berry liqueur, fruitcake and floral pastille flavors that show outstanding clarity and spicy cut. Fine-grained tannins frame a strikingly long, penetrating finish that shows superb red fruit- and mineral-driven persistence. |
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