Domaine Lucie et Auguste Lignier

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
Kellen_Lignier.jpg
The illustrious Domaine Huber Lignier was to have been inherited by the eldest son, Romain, married to American Kellen Lignier, with whom he had two children. But in 2004 Romain died at the age of 34 from a brain tumor, initiating a tremendous to do. The old man tried to prevent the widow from inheriting the domaine so that it could go to his second son, Laurent. The house divided, Kellen put the name of the children on her share of the wine and managed to persevere bravely until the end of last year when, for undisclosed reasons, possibly linked to negative reviews received in the 2009, Kellen threw in the towel and returned to El Paso with the children. Surely there is a story of considerable human interest to be told here, involving chauvinism and maternity, insiders v. outsiders, French v. American, grumpy oldster v. lighthearted youngster, just waiting for a good biographer (and detective) from The New Yorker or Vanity Fair.

On consecutive nights, we tasted two 2004s from Domaine Lucie et Auguste Lignier’s first vintage (the corks still said Hubert Lignier) .

2004 Domaine Lucie et Auguste Lignier Morey - St. - Denis 1er Cru Les Chaffots 14.0%
Elegant aroma of unidentified red berries and tar, dominated by an enjoyable herbaceous note. No green meanies, maybe the critters morphed into herbs. Good balance, but acidity running on a separate track. Surprising tannins, maybe from stems, because wood flavor is barely noticeable. The 14% don’t generate heat, but suggest sugar in a not particularly hot year like 2004. Marcia complained of a bitter finish. Ladybug residue?

2004 Domaine Lucie et Auguste Chambolle - Musigny 1er Cru Les Bussières 13.5 %
Elegant red berries with nothing herbaceous. The initial attack was just perfect, with good acidity, better integrated, in harmony with vivid fruit. But ‘twas my turn to complain about a bitter finish, one that Marcia, however, found lower than in the Morey (so-called people variation). With food, something rare happened in my experience of wines with decent acidity: it got much worse. Disjointed, like a gangly teenager. Negation of the breed standard, a clumsy Chambolle.

Bummer, the wines were less interesting than the story. Perhaps they absorbed some of the gloom that must have dominated the atmosphere back then. They become, in a way, bad fluids.
 
Description sounds like classic '04 disease. Bitter is sometimes a better description than green, though it's usually sort of a combination of the two. When the '04s are bad, they're really bad. Not much Kellen (or Hubert) could have done.

I had not heard the sad end to this already sad saga. I hope things work out OK for all involved.
 
A little more factual background. There was a legal proceeding that resulted in most of the property reverting to Domaine Hubert Lignier; it was not bad reviews that caused the abandonment of the Domaine L&A Lignier.

I believe that the 2004s under the L&A Lignier label are in fact identical to the Domaine Hubert Lignier wines, hence the corks still saying Hubert Lignier. IIRC, it was in 2006 that Kellen began making wines.

My understanding is that Kellen and the children have moved to the States. There were a few separate parcels that had not come from Hubert Lignier and so did not revert back; I've been told that Kellen turned them over to the Cooperative des Hautes Côtes for operation.

At Hubert Lignier, I think Laurent has really come into his own the last several years and I am finding that I prefer his wines (at least young) to those his brother made.
 
Hubert had leased most of his holdings to Romain for 10 years. The lease is up. The wine is great, again.
 
originally posted by .sasha:
Hubert had leased most of his holdings to Romain for 10 years. The lease is up. The wine is great, again.
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It may have been a little more complicated than that. I was told by another Morey vigneron that Romain had tried to set it up so that the property (1/2 the Hubert Lignier properties) would be in the hands L&A in perpetuity, but obviously, the court did not see it that way.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
originally posted by .sasha:
Hubert had leased most of his holdings to Romain for 10 years. The lease is up. The wine is great, again.
Click to expand...

It may have been a little more complicated than that. I was told by another Morey vigneron that Romain had tried to set it up so that the property (1/2 the Hubert Lignier properties) would be in the hands L&A in perpetuity, but obviously, the court did not see it that way.
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Various sources confirm what you just said, but for one minor detail.

Remove "Romain" from the sentence and insert another name.

Again, this is all second and third hand, so don't shoot the messenger.
 
One other clarification. In looking over the above, some may have the impression that the entire Domaine Hubert Lignier became Domaine L&A Lignier. That was not the case -- L&A was just half of Hubert Lignier. Domaine Hubert Lignier continued to exist during the whole period of L&A's existence; because the holdings had been cut in half, though, HL started acquiring other properties and also took out a negociant's license to make wines to sell under the HL label. So now HL is larger than it was before the split; I don't know whether the negociant wines will continue, though. They often were made in very small quantities, meaning that there was a large number of wines, but not very much of any one of them -- a marketing nightmare.
 
Claude, do you remember off the top of your head which might have been the negoc wines?
I ask for two reasons.
One, with the exception of a Hospice wine, I could not see any differences in the labels. Should there be?
Two, I had liked so many wines when we comprehensively tasted through the 10s there, that there is a very good chance some of the stuff I really enjoyed was negoc.
 
Can't give you a complete rundown, .sasha. For some wines, I don't have notes on status; some wines I don't see on a particular visit because they aren't in a state for showing (e.g., being racked or malo not yet finished). For the past few vintages, I do have that the 2012 Chambolle-Baudes is part estate fruit, part purchased. The 2012 Morey-Chenevries is purchased fruit. The 2010 Morey-Clos de la Baule is from barrels purchased and then raised by Lignier. The 2010 Chambolle-Chabiottes is from grapes purchased by Lignier. The 2010 Gevrey-Perrière is from a plot owned by someone else but Lignier cared for it entirely after the pruning (I think Lignier now has a long term lease on the plot, but I'm not sure). I didn't go back to check my notes prior to 2010. As you note, the Hospices des Nuits wines are negociant.

I can't say that I could see a difference between negociant and estate wines; in some cellars, the difference can be marked.

Check with Rosenthal on whether the labels indicate which are negocaint and which are estate.
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
One other clarification. In looking over the above, some may have the impression that the entire Domaine Hubert Lignier became Domaine L&A Lignier. That was not the case -- L&A was just half of Hubert Lignier. Domaine Hubert Lignier continued to exist during the whole period of L&A's existence;
Click to expand...

Indeed, that's why I wrote "The house divided, Kellen put the name of the children on her share of the wine..."
 
originally posted by Claude Kolm:
Can't give you a complete rundown, .sasha. For some wines, I don't have notes on status; some wines I don't see on a particular visit because they aren't in a state for showing (e.g., being racked or malo not yet finished). For the past few vintages, I do have that the 2012 Chambolle-Baudes is part estate fruit, part purchased. The 2012 Morey-Chenevries is purchased fruit. The 2010 Morey-Clos de la Baule is from barrels purchased and then raised by Lignier. The 2010 Chambolle-Chabiottes is from grapes purchased by Lignier. The 2010 Gevrey-Perrière is from a plot owned by someone else but Lignier cared for it entirely after the pruning (I think Lignier now has a long term lease on the plot, but I'm not sure). I didn't go back to check my notes prior to 2010. As you note, the Hospices des Nuits wines are negociant.

I can't say that I could see a difference between negociant and estate wines; in some cellars, the difference can be marked.

Check with Rosenthal on whether the labels indicate which are negocaint and which are estate.
Click to expand...

thanks

I have Chabiottes 10. There is nothing different about the label. Nice wine!
 
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