Lucien le Moine Bourgogne Rouge 2021

It’s important to understand how very unique their operation is. Mounir sums it up so well when he describes their dream of creating “a library of some of the greatest 1er and Grand Cru vineyards in the Cote d’Or, every vintage”. It’s an incredible array of some of the most sought after sites in Burgundy. They are a ‘micro-negociant’, buying between one to three barrels of each site, sometimes making over 50 different Cru’s. Each year this selection can change based on what they taste. Of course some of their grower relationships have been established over last 20 years so each year it’s mix of wines I have come to love/expect them to be bottling and some new ones.

A common question I am asked is how do they source such iconic vineyards and how do they choose new wines each year. If you have or ever get to meet Mounir he is one in a million, a man of rare talent, both highly intelligent and charming all at once. Andrew Jefford put’s it best with this quote; “I know of no one in Burgundy who speaks with more passion, articulacy, exuberance, irreverence and sometimes wild poetry about different vineyard sites than Mounir Saouma”. The distinctive style and critic acclaim of Lucien le Moine’s wines along with Mounir’s personality has undoubtedly meant many growers genuinely want Mounir to vinify their grapes despite him being a relative newcomer in Burgundy, they are of course proud vignerons of some of the most sought after grapes in the world.

Mounir seems to so often be labelled a ‘modernist’ due to his long elevage technique, lack of sulphur use during elevage and no racking hence a lot of work with the lees. In fact, as he says himself its “as traditional as it gets” given the winemaking history of Burgundy as explained further below.  They visit growers and taste the wines very early just after the press, in the case of whites taking the juice straight to barrel and the reds working alongside the grower with the vinification process of the primary ferment.