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Lucien Le Moine Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Hauts Doix 2016
RedFrance2016
By Daniel Min · Tasted 2020-12-03 · Published 2026-09-30 · Updated 2026-09-30
At a glance
In one line
5.0/5 — higher than Vivino's 4.4 average · world avg price US$244 · A tiny 1.7-hectare premier cru between Les Amoureuses and Les Charmes; its name is said to come from an old word for 'springs'.
Wine-Searcher aggregate of 2 critic reviews: 94. Vivino lists no critic score for this vintage.
Market note: World average US$244 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). No single bottles are listed — only 6-bottle cases from three sellers. Per bottle: UK in bond US$187.77, Hong Kong pre-arrival US$221.78, US pre-arrival US$256.67 (all ex-tax). From the same house, Les Amoureuses is US$566 (93) and Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots US$281 (92).
Father's note — Daniel Min
Original author of the notes“정향향 뒤에 날카로운 아로마에 시원하게 미네랄의 느낌도 파도처럼 다가온다. 타닌은 굉장히 부드럽고 피니쉬도 깔끔. 이 정도 완성도의 샹볼뮈지니 레오두와가 또 있을까 싶다.”
Show original
“raspberry oak red fruit strawberry minerals citrus 정향향 뒤에 날카로운 아로마에 시원하게 미네랄의 느낌도 파도처럼 다가온다. 타닌은 굉장히 부드럽고 피니쉬도 깔끔. 이정도 완성도의 샹볼뮈지니 레오두와가 또 있을까싶다.”
I moved the glass jar to the front row of the spice shelf.
Sunday, the bar's day off. Mom asked me to sort out the kitchen spice shelf. Throwing out old packets and wiping jars, I found a palm-sized glass jar at the very back. No writing on it; inside, a jarful of little brown things shaped like tiny nails. Mom said it was Dad's. He never cooked with it, she said.
When I opened the lid, a warm, prickling smell stung my nose. The dentist's smell. The clove I wrote down on page thirty-six of the new notebook four days ago. Dad must have bought this and sat smelling it on his own. When I held the jar under my nose and stayed still, something cold washed in once behind that scent and drew back. A Thursday night in December opened.
Twenty-two, the first Thursday of December. The same kitchen where, two days earlier, neither of us could eat anything after a white. Dad took a sip from a small bottle with bubbles first, frowned and pushed it aside. Then he opened a new cloth-wrapped bottle and poured me something red. The moment I smelled it I said: the dentist's again. Dad laughed and told me to wait for what came next. I waited: raspberry came, and then something cool washed in, once, twice. I said it was like the wind you get on a winter beach, and Dad picked up his pen. There was almost no astringency, and the finish was clean. I don't know the name of the bottle.
The notebook has two lines for that date. The short one got one star; this bottle's line got five. After the clove, a sharp aroma, and minerals coming 'like waves'. Very soft tannins, a clean finish. He wondered if there was another of this completeness. The bottle was Lucien Le Moine Chambolle-Musigny Premier Cru Les Hauts Doix 2016 — the same house as the dentist's-smell bottle I wrote about four days ago. I stuck on the wine-name Post-it. Probably the 'waves' in the notebook were my winter wind, carried by Dad over to the sea.
I sent Minjae a photo of the spice shelf, and a reply came right away. Very much a supermarket buyer's reply.
In the evening I opened the new notebook to page forty at the kitchen table. In the scent column: 'clove, then winter wind.' What I learned today: Dad studied the names of scents on his own, too. I moved the glass jar to the front row of the spice shelf.
What this wine is
High on the slope of Chambolle-Musigny, at 250–300 metres, lies a vineyard of barely 1.7 hectares. Below it is Les Amoureuses, the village's most famous premier cru; beside it, Les Charmes. The small premier cru squeezed between them is Les Hauts Doix (Wine with Seth). 'Doix' is said to come from an old French word for springs — there were once places where water rose at the foot of the slope. 'Hauts' means upper.
The soil is thin: crushed stone and pebbles over Jurassic limestone, draining fast and keeping yields low. Pinot Noir from a site like this speaks through perfume and a mineral spine rather than power. With so little land, only a handful of producers put the name on a label — Domaine Robert Groffier, the benchmark, Maison Joseph Drouhin, and Lucien Le Moine.
Lucien Le Moine is a négociant founded in Beaune in 1999 by Lebanese-born Mounir Saouma and Rotem. It owns no vineyards; it picks only the best barrels of wine growers have already fermented and raises them long on their lees. The story of its 'monk' name is in my piece on the house's Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 2015.
What the world says
The two critic reviews on Wine-Searcher aggregate to 94. Vivino lists no critic score for this vintage.
On Vivino the 2016 averages 4.4 from 52 ratings: 14 fives, 35 fours, 2 threes and one 2. The label as a whole averages 4.4 from 481, with vintages from 2011 to 2018 evenly between 4.2 and 4.5. Suggested drinking window: 2018–2028.
"Attractive character like perfume. But not match with the Chambolle-Musigny. More like the new world PN." — Vivino review, Apr 2022, 4.4 stars
Structure shows high acidity at 4.3, with intensity 3.1 and a light tannin of 2.5. Red fruit such as cherry and raspberry leads the keywords, and alongside earth and mushroom, 'saline' appears four times. The producer speaks of a sweet, smooth entry, plum and dark cherry, and a toasty oak finish.
The world average is US$244 / 750ml (Wine-Searcher, ex-tax, Sep 2026). No single bottles are listed, only 6-bottle cases.
How I drank it
December 3, 2020, 5 stars. The same day I gave La Marca Prosecco one star and called it 'too artificial'. The day's lowest and highest scores sit side by side.
My note begins with clove. After the clove, a sharp aroma, and then a cool mineral feel that comes like waves. The tannins were very soft, the finish clean. I wondered whether there was another Les Hauts Doix of this completeness. Two months earlier, on October 18, I had given the same house's Vosne-Romanée Les Suchots 2015 4.5 stars and written about 'the clove of Vosne-Romanée'. Clove was a word that came up often in my notes that autumn.
The community averages 4.4; I gave 5. One review says it doesn't taste like Chambolle, but what came from my glass was a textbook Chambolle coolness. Whether the community's 'saline' and my 'waves' point to the same thing is something to check with the next bottle.
Vivino community data
2016 vintage rating distribution (52 ratings, average 4.4)
| 5★ | 14 (27%) | |
| 4★ | 35 (67%) | |
| 3★ | 2 (4%) | |
| 2★ | 1 (2%) | |
| 1★ | 0 (0%) |
Most-mentioned aromas
| Family | Mentions | Top keywords |
|---|---|---|
| Red fruit | 27 | cherry 8 · raspberry 8 · red fruit 6 · red cherry 2 · strawberry 2 |
| Earth & leather | 23 | earthy 6 · mushroom 4 · saline 4 · smoke 4 · chalk 1 |
| Oak | 12 | oak 7 · tobacco 3 · caramel 1 · cedar 1 |
| Black fruit | 7 | plum 3 · cassis 3 · black fruit 1 |
| Floral | 4 | perfume 2 · rose petal 1 · violet 1 |
Structure: Acidity 4.3/5 · Intensity 3.1/5 · Tannin 2.5/5 · Sweetness 1.6/5
Average by vintage (all vintages: 481 ratings, average 4.4)
| Vintage | Average | Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 4.4 | 47 |
| 2013 | 4.2 | 41 |
| 2014 | 4.4 | 45 |
| 2015 | 4.5 | 55 |
| 2016 | 4.4 | 52 |
| 2017 | 4.4 | 50 |
| 2018 | 4.4 | 38 |
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→Frequently asked questions
What kind of vineyard is Les Hauts Doix?
A premier cru of Chambolle-Musigny of about 1.7 hectares, on the upper slope (250–300 m) between Les Amoureuses and Les Charmes. Its thin limestone soil yields Pinot Noir marked by perfume and minerality.
How much does it cost?
Wine-Searcher's world average is US$244 per 750ml (ex-tax, Sep 2026). Overseas it is sold only in 6-bottle cases, from US$187.77 a bottle in bond in the UK to US$256.67 pre-arrival in the US.
What food goes with it?
The Vivino community suggests beef, veal, poultry and game such as venison. With light tannin and high acidity, roast poultry is a safer match than heavy sauces.
What is Lucien Le Moine?
A small négociant founded in Beaune in 1999. It owns no vineyards and selects only the best barrels of wine growers have fermented, then ages them long on their lees. This bottle's Wine-Searcher critic aggregate is 94.
Links & sources
View on Vivino · Prices on Wine-Searcher
- Vivino — wine page and community data
- Wine with Seth — Les Hauts Doix
- Wine with Seth — Maison Lucien Le Moine
- Wine-Searcher — 2016 Lucien Le Moine Les Hauts Doix
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