2019 Lucien Le Moine - Clos St. Denis (750ml)

Lucien Le Moine is a small négociant house founded in Beaune in 1999 by husband and wife Mounir and Rotem Saouma. The name is an invented moniker tied to Mounir's years spent in a Cistercian monastery near Jerusalem, where monks originally from Septfonds taught him older winemaking traditions such as gentle pressing, aging without racking, and bottling by gravity at the full moon. Unlike most négociants, Le Moine buys wine only after fermentation is complete, taking no role in the vineyard or the vinification itself and instead devoting its attention entirely to élevage. The house produces around 30,000 to 36,000 bottles a year across roughly 38 different crus, nearly all premier and grand cru.

This Clos Saint-Denis arrives from the grower already fermented, and Mounir and Rotem age it slowly in barrels built to their own specification, using minimal sulfur in a nod to older Burgundian practice. Élevage here typically runs long, with the wine spending well over a year in barrel before bottling.

The wine shows a light ruby color with a floral nose layered over dark cherry and a hint of earth. It opens into a complex, spicy mid-palate with velvety tannins, staying medium-bodied and mineral, with gentle extraction and only a light touch of oak.