Lucien Le Moine

Lucien Le Moine is a tiny négociant house in Beaune, founded in 1999 by Mounir Saouma and Rotem Brakin, and it works quite unlike anyone else in Burgundy. The pair buy small quantities of grapes or must, only ever from premier cru and grand cru vineyards, then handle the whole upbringing themselves: long, slow ageing on the full lees with as little intervention as they can manage.

The name tells Mounir's story. Lucien is the French equivalent of Mounir, meaning light, and Le Moine, the monk, recalls the monastery near Jerusalem where he first learned to make wine. Our bottle is their Pommard Les Rugiens 2013, from one of the village's most celebrated premier cru sites, and it carries the house's patience in every glass.