Description / Reviews
"Without question, after over 25 years of producing wine, Lucien Le Moine is one of the most exciting and sought-after producers in Burgundy. Mounir is often labelled a ‘modernist’ due to his passion for the inclusion of large quantities of lees, the long élevage technique, no sulphur use during élevage, and no racking. In fact, as he says himself, it’s “as traditional as it gets,” given the winemaking history of Burgundy. It’s important to understand just how unique their operation is. Mounir sums it up so well when he describes their dream of creating “a library of some of the greatest Premier and Grand Cru vineyards in the Côte d’Or, every vintage.” It’s an incredible array of some of the most sought-after sites in Burgundy. They are a true micro-négociant, buying between one to three barrels from each site—sometimes making over 50 different crus. Lucien Le Moine was founded in 1999, a partnership between Mounir and his wife, Rotem." - Franc About Wine, Importer
"Mounir and Rotem Saouma established their two-person micro-négoce in 1999 that focuses almost exclusively on the very best 1ers and grand crus in both red and white. With respect to 2023, Mounir told me that “it is a vintage of excess in every sense of the term. We again had, at least from a historical perspective, an extreme growing season if perhaps not quite as extreme as those of several other recent vintages. Yields were high everywhere, alcohols were generous, acidities were low-ish without being actually low and despite all of this, I believe 2023 is an exceptionally good vintage. One of the all-time greats? No, but certainly as good as any number of vintages over the past 20 years and better than many. Moreover, the best aspect of 2023 is that it’s certainly ripe but the wines remain fresh and superbly transparent. I genuinely believe that the wines are going to surprise a lot of naysayers in time.” I have to agree with Saouma that he has made some very fine to excellent 2023s and a number of them are indeed recommended. As a more general comment about the Le Moine whites, it’s important to know that they will not be bottled until about November 2025, or a full 27 months after the harvest, which is very unusual in modern Burgundy. This is not mere whimsey as Saouma’s view is that a long élevage with no added protection allows anything that can oxidize to do so and thus fall out naturally rather than being filtered or fined out (or more concerning, to actually oxidize in the bottle). As a result, they note that the colors of their whites are always deeper yellow than would be considered typical, at least outside of peculiar vintages such as 2003. They explain that because their wines are expressly built to age and are always bottled with elevated CO2 levels (<1000 mm) that they should be decanted. Moreover, they argue that their whites need a minimum of 10 years of bottle age before they’re ready so that if you want to try one before that, be sure to decant it." - Allen Meadows, Burghound
