Hubert Lignier
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Hubert Lignier Perhaps no estate has been as fundamental to Rosenthal Wine Merchant's success as the Domaine Hubert Lignier. We have had the extraordinary good fortune of working with the family since the 1978 vintage, when Hubert was still selling most of his wine to négo- ciants. As our relationship progressed and our purchases increased, more and more of the secrets of the cellar found their way into bottle rather than being shipped off in cask. All of the domaine’s holdings are now bottled under its own label. The estate owns just over 8 ha, principally in Morey, Gevrey, and Chambolle, with recent purchases in Nuits, Pommard, and Saint Romain rounding out its holdings. After the tragic passing of Romain Lignier in 2004, his elder brother, Laurent, is the next generation of this proud estate and is following his father’s traditional practices, ensuring that the treasures coming from the family’s impressive vineyard holdings continue to exhibit the best of their respective appellations. The high standards of Hubert, Romain, and Laurent Lignier have become our markers whenever we add to our suppliers. We are immodest enough to believe that each of our growers is among the very best of the producers in their respective appellations, and there is perhaps no better partner for the ethos of our enterprise than this inimitable, unassailable domaine. Viticulture: • Farming: Certified organic since 2016, practicing since 2011 • Treatments: Only copper sulfate, no herbicide or insecticide since 1990 • Ploughing: Annual ploughing to maintain soil health • Soils: A variety of sites in the Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, all on limestone-clay • Vines: Old vines planted in Guyot, young vines in Cordon de Royat. All vines are replaced via Selection Massale on a plant- by-plant basis. • Yields: Controlled by a combination of severe pruning, debudding, deleafing, and green harvesting. Yields vary from 20-55 hl/ha depending on appellation and vintage. • Harvest: Exclusively manual, early-late September • Purchasing: Mostly estate fruit, with some cuvées made from purchased fruit (noted on tech sheets for each specific wine) Vinification: Aging: • Fermentation: Following partial destemming (depending on • Élevage: All wines racked by gravity and are never pumped the cuvée and vintage) and a c. 5-day cold soak, wines ferment during élevage, which lasts 18-24 months, depending on cuvée, spontaneously in open-top, concrete vats, with cuvaison lasting with wines seeing mostly 20-30% new oak. c. 20 days • Lees: All wines kept on their fine lees until bottling, with no • Extraction: A combination of pumpovers and punchdowns, racking after malolactic depending on the vintage • Fining and Filtration: No fining, no filtration • Chaptalization and Acidification: Chaptalization when necessary • Sulfur: Applied at harvest and after malolactic, 15-20 mg/l free sulfur. • Pressing: All wines pressed pneumatically; white wines see direct, whole-cluster pressing. • Malolactic Fermentation: Spontaneous, in barrel in the spring Rosenthal Wine Merchant • The Mad Rose Group (800) 910-1990 [email protected] • madrose.com Hubert Lignier Aligoté At a Glance: In The Cellar: • Appellation: AOC Bourgogne Aligoté • Fermentation: After pressing, wine ferments spontaneously in stainless-steel tanks • Encépagement: Aligoté (85%), Chardonnay (15%) • Pressing: Pneumatic • Average Annual Production: • Time on Lees: 9 months • Average Alcohol by Volume: 12% • Malolactic Fermentation: Spontaneous, in stainless-steel tank • Average Residual Sugar: < 5 g/l in the spring • Average Total Acidity: • Élevage: 9 months in stainless-steel tank • Press Wine: Blended after pressing In The Vineyard: • Fining and Filtration: Unfined, unfiltered • Parcel Names, Slopes, and Locations: From a .6 ha parcel in • Sulfur: Applied at harvest and after malolactic, 15-20 mg/l Gevrey free sulfur. • Soil Types and Compositions: Limestone-clay • Vine Age, Training, and Density: Trained in Guyot, planted in 1943 In The Glass: • Average Yields: 45-55 hl/ha A serious Aligoté that displays freshness, complexity, and tension wrapped around a mineral backbone with great length, intensity, • Average Harvest Date and Type: Manual, mid-September and balance. Rosenthal Wine Merchant • The Mad Rose Group (800) 910-1990 [email protected] • madrose.com Hubert Lignier Saint Romain Blanc Sous Le Château At a Glance: In The Cellar: • Appellation: AOC Saint Romain • Fermentation: After pressing, wine ferments spontaneously in small barrel • Encépagement: Chardonnay (100%) • Pressing: Pneumatic • Average Annual Production: • Time on Lees: 15 months • Average Alcohol by Volume: 13% • Malolactic Fermentation: Spontaneous, in barrel in the • Average Residual Sugar: < 5 g/l spring • Average Total Acidity: • Élevage: 15 months in neutral barrel, with occasional bâton- nage • Press Wine: Blended after pressing In The Vineyard: • Fining and Filtration: Unfined, unfiltered • Parcel Names, Slopes, and Locations: Purchased fruit com- ing from a southeast-facing .3 ha parcel on the northern slope • Sulfur: Applied at harvest and after malolactic, 15-20 mg/l above Saint Romain. free sulfur. • Soil Types and Compositions: Limestone-clay • Vine Age, Training, and Density: Trained in Guyot, average In The Glass: age 25 years old The Lignier family went out of their way and all the way south to • Average Yields: c. 40 hl/ha the village of Saint Romain to source a vineyard in the Côte de Beaune in homage to their late son, Romain. This lieu-dit is one • Average Harvest Date and Type: Manual, mid-September of the best placed sites in Saint Romain with the vines planted at a steep angle and facing southeast, giving a wine of terrific acidity and snappy yellow fruits on a racy, mineral-driven frame. Rosenthal Wine Merchant • The Mad Rose Group (800) 910-1990 [email protected] • madrose.com Hubert Lignier Fixin Blanc At a Glance: In The Cellar: • Appellation: AOC Fixin • Fermentation: After pressing, wine ferments spontaneously in small barrel • Encépagement: Chardonnay (100%) • Pressing: Pneumatic • Average Annual Production: • Time on Lees: 15 months • Average Alcohol by Volume: 13% • Malolactic Fermentation: Spontaneous, in barrel in the • Average Residual Sugar: < 5 g/l spring • Average Total Acidity: • Élevage: 15 months in neutral barrels, with occasional bâton- nage • Press Wine: Blended after pressing In The Vineyard: • Fining and Filtration: Unfined, unfiltered • Parcel Names, Slopes, and Locations: From a small, .25-ha plot in the Champs de Vosger parcel in Fixin • Sulfur: Applied at harvest and after malolactic, 15-20 mg/l free sulfur. • Soil Types and Compositions: Limestone-clay • Vine Age, Training, and Density: Trained in Guyot, planted in 2000 In The Glass: • Average Yields: c. 40 hl/ha This rather full-bodied white is produced from one of the rare plantings of Chardonnay in the Côte de Nuits. The soil is a mix • Average Harvest Date and Type: Manual, mid-September of marl and limestone, very rocky in texture, and is more famous for producing rustic red wine. Thus, it is surprising to encounter a certain elegance in this wine which displays a pleasant acidity that elevates this wine in status. Rosenthal Wine Merchant • The Mad Rose Group (800) 910-1990 [email protected] • madrose.com Hubert Lignier Bourgogne Passetoutgrain At a Glance: In The Cellar: • Appellation: AOC Bourgogne Passetoutgrain • Fermentation: Following total destemming and a c. 5-day cold soak, the wine ferments spontaneously in open-top, con- • Encépagement: Gamay (67%), Pinot Noir (33%) crete vats, with cuvaison lasting c. 20 days • Average Annual Production: • Pressing: Pneumatic • Average Alcohol by Volume: 12% • Time on Lees: 7 months • Average Residual Sugar: < 5 g/l • Malolactic Fermentation: Spontaneous, in barrel in the spring • Average Total Acidity: • Élevage: 7 months in 228-l neutral barrels • Press Wine: Blended after pressing In The Vineyard: • Fining and Filtration: Unfined, unfiltered • Parcel Names, Slopes, and Locations: From .4 ha of vines in Morey Saint-Denis • Sulfur: Applied at harvest and after malolactic, 15-20 mg/l free sulfur. • Soil Types and Compositions: Limestone-clay • Vine Age, Training, and Density: Pinot Noir planted in 1998, Gamay planted in 1960, both trained in Guyot. In The Glass: • Average Yields: 45-55 hl/ha Lignier’s Passetoutgrain has long been a benchmark of its cat- egory, offering the balance and grace of far loftier appellations • Average Harvest Date and Type: Manual, mid-September and capturing all the elegance and nuance of the house style. It presents with snap and verve but ripe and concentrated, with at- tractive notes of freshly turned earth and small berries. Rosenthal Wine Merchant • The Mad Rose Group (800) 910-1990 [email protected] • madrose.com Hubert Lignier Bourgogne Rouge At a Glance: In The Cellar: • Appellation: AOC Bourgogne • Fermentation: Following 70-80% destemming and a c. 5-day cold soak, the wine ferments spontaneously in open-top, con- • Encépagement: Pinot Noir (100%) crete vats, with cuvaison lasting c. 20 days • Average Annual Production: • Pressing: Pneumatic • Average Alcohol by Volume: 13% • Time on Lees: • Average Residual Sugar: < 5 g/l • Malolactic Fermentation: Spontaneous, in barrel in the spring • Average Total Acidity: • Élevage: 7 months in 228-l neutral barrels • Press Wine: Blended after pressing In The Vineyard: • Fining and Filtration: Unfined, unfiltered • Parcel Names, Slopes, and Locations: From 1.5 ha of vines in Chambolle-Musigny • Sulfur: Applied at harvest