Lucien Lemoine is a boutique, haute-couture négociant house established by Mounir and Rotem Saouma in 1999. After two decades of work, they are amongst the most prominent Burgundy producers, acclaimed for some of the most sought after wines in the world.
A traditionalist approach – hand crafted wines from an array of Burgundy’s great terroirs sourced from the most iconic producers. In the late 1980s, Mounir Saouma’s visit to a Trappist monastery in the Middle East led to a prolonged stay during which he worked in the monastery vineyards and first learned to make wine. He subsequently studied Viticulture and Oenology in Montpellier, followed by six years working in Burgundy, other areas of France, and California.
During this time he became fascinated by traditional methods of viticulture, vinification, and aging. In 1999 he decided to push to the extreme all he had seen and experienced, and with his wife Rotem created a small cellar dedicated to the philosophy of making wines of purity and typicity.
Lucien le Moine produces only 1er Crus and Grand Crus from Burgundy with a conscious limit of 100 barrels (1 to 3 barrels – 300 to 900 bottles – maximum per appellations).
- Juice selection is decided immediately after the press and sourced from long-standing relationships with iconic estates,
- The new oak barrels crafted by cooper Stéphane Chassin come exclusively from the Jupilles forests located north of the Loire Valley,
- All the wines are aged on lees in a cold underground cellar, with gentle battonage three to four times a month, Malolatic fermentation occurs naturally and can last until the next summer. There is no intervention. The cold environment associated to naturally produced carbon dioxyde allow to use very little sulftites,
- Crus are bottled when ready and when atmospheric pressure is high,
- No racking, no fining, no filtering,
- When enjoyed young, the wines should be decanted.
