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DOMAINE LUCIEN LE MOINE 1er Cru Montmains, Chablis Lucien Le Moine is a unique négocianthaute couture is often how they are described. Husband and wife, Mounir and Rotem Saouma source small parcels of wine from many producers. Their contribution to the wine is in the elevage, esoteric regime which changes each vintage relying on Mounirs sensory talents forged in a Trappist monastery in Lebanon and honed in their vaulted cellars in the Cote dOr. Working with the best (Jupilles, FRA), fine-grained new oak, the Saoumas produce a staggering number of Grands and 1er Crus cuvees.

Organic. This is a special ‘Degree Oechsle’ bottling crafted from a selection of extremely dried-out grapes. Müller-Catoir recommends drinking this wine at a temperature of around 10 to 12°C from a large red wine glass, to tease out the wine’s extraordinary aromatic complexity. Alcohol 6%; acidity 12.3 g/L; residual sugar 443.6 g/L.

“Even had one not tasted the corresponding Beerenauslese, the deep bronze color; notes of leather and dried mushrooms; and nasal prickle of Muller-Catoir’s 2008 Gimmeldinger Schlossel Rieslaner Trockenbeerenauslese would make clear that you’ve traveled far deeper into the realm of botrytis than this grape will normally take anyone. Orange marmalade, peach preserves, and fresh lemon inform a plate of Eszencia-like, almost gelatinous viscosity, with a correspondingly uncanny sense of lift and of huge residual sweetness practically canceled out. The sharpness of citrus, pungency of citrus oil and botrytis spice; and piquancy of toasted nuts lend indelible and invigorating intensity to the finish, while nut brittle, glazed apricot, and peach preserves uphold a confectionery yet not hugely sweet persistence. At 400 grams residual sugar and 19 grams of acid, your mind can scarcely wrap itself around the analysis of this concentrate, much less around its performance. It’s almost too early to treat it as wine. There have been other remarkable examples of such Rieslaner essences in this estate’s history – though perhaps never one this intense – and experience suggests it will be worth following this one for more than three decades.” 96 points, David Schildknecht, The Wine Advocate (tasted 2010)