Clos de la Roche, Domaine Hubert Lignier 2002

Strong impressions of crushed, very spicy red and black fruit aromas and very ripe soil notes marry beautifully with suave, fat, sweet, relatively round and elegant flavors that offer superb density and outstanding finishing complexity. There is good if not incredible power, exceptionally good length and perhaps the best acid/fruit balance of any of these '02s and as there often is with this wine, this has that "wow" factor going for it.

The estate's 2002 Clos de la Roche reveals a nose of candied red fruits, spices, earth, smoke, and blackberries. Satin-textured and fleshy in the attack, it offers powerful waves of fleshy red fruits. Its extensive finish displays copious tannin, providing a firm backbone to the wine's sappy fruit. This concentrated, complex effort should be drunk between 2007 and 2016.