2005 Lucien Le Moine Chambertin Clos de Beze

Lucien le Moine is a rarity in Burgundy. It is a garagiste producer of Grand Cru and Premier Cru Pinot Noir and Chardonnay with a cult reputation for highly individualistic wines. Its founders and owners are the husband and wife team of Mounir Saouma and Rotem Brakir, who started the label only in 2000. Saouma became fascinated with Burgundy while working in a Trappist Monastery in Jerusalem, and later studied oenology in Montpellier, France. His wife Rotem comes from a cheese-making family and she studied agriculture and oenology in Dijon. The couple owns or leases no vineyards of their own but they purchase small batches of juice or very young cuvee from outstanding Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards in the Cote d’Or. The couple does all the work themselves and produce, at most, 30,000 bottles a year. Robert M. Parker Jr. has written that “the richness and complexity of (their wines) are stunning.”

Chambertin Clos-de-Beze is a Grand Cru vineyard in Gevrey-Chambertin, and its history goes back to the 7th century when it was owned by the monks of the Abbey of Beze. After the French Revolution the Catholic Church was forced to divide the vineyard among peasants. Today it is a 38-acre vineyard, making it slightly larger than Chambertin. Chambertin and Chambertin Clos-de-Beze are adjacent and share similar limestone, clay and gravel soils. Of the 18 proprietors, the largest by acreage are Pierre Damoy, 13.4 acres; Armand Rousseau, 3.5 acres; and Drouhin-Laroze, 3.48 acres.

This red wine is relatively light and can pair with a wide variety of foods. The grape prefers cooler climates and the wine is most often associated with Burgundy, Champagne and the U.S. west coast. Regional differences make it nearly as fickle as it is flexible.