Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Aux Combottes” AOC 2023 1500ml Magnum

Wine description for Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Aux Combottes” AOC 2023 1500ml Magnum by Hubert Lignier

Character

A Pinot Noir of cool precision and quiet depth. For generations, Domaine Hubert Lignier has stood for precisely delineated, finely structured wines from the Côte de Nuits – no opulence for its own sake, but clarity, tension and length. Dark berry fruit, floral hints and a fine-grained, taut framework shape the picture; the magnum bottle also grants the wine a particularly slow, assured development in the cellar.

Terroir & Origin

Aux Combottes is a curiosity of Burgundy: the only Premier Cru island set right in the midst of the band of Grands Crus of Gevrey-Chambertin, wedged between Clos de la Roche and Latricières-Chambertin. A vineyard site, then, that literally stands on Grand Cru soil. The Lignier family has been rooted in Morey-Saint-Denis since the 1880s; back then, Jacques Lignier bought parcels that phylloxera had rendered worthless – land nobody wanted, which today ranks among the finest addresses of the Côte de Nuits. Laurent Lignier runs the estate in the fifth generation.

Grape Variety & Vinification

Pinot Noir, organically farmed – the estate has held organic certification since 2019, and synthetic treatments disappeared from the vineyards as early as 2007. In the cellar, moved into in 2008, everything flows solely by gravity, without pumps, from the must to bottling. A long, cool maceration before fermentation, a proportion of whole bunches that has grown over the years, and deliberately restrained new wood – sourced from four different coopers so that no single cask dominates the wine: this is how the estate’s cool, refined signature comes about.

Food Pairings

A wine for the laid table and unhurried occasions. It pairs beautifully with pan-roasted duck breast, saddle of venison with lingonberries or stuffed quail. Mushroom dishes – such as a porcini risotto – as well as coq au vin are equally inspired companions. Anyone opening the magnum should bring patience or decant generously; a few years of bottle rest will do nothing but good for this Premier Cru from such distinguished surroundings.