Lucien Le Moine

The story

The Monastic Beginning

During the 1980s, Mounir Saouma began learning winemaking as a novice in a Trappist monastery in the Middle East. He later studied formally at Montpellier. The producer's name records both parts of that path. Lucien derives from the Lebanese meaning of Mounir, light, while Le Moine means the Monk and refers to the monastery where he first learned winemaking. The two words connect a personal meaning with the place where his first wine lessons began.

From the atlas

Lucien Le Moine

Based in Beaune, Lucien Le Moine is a micro-négociant sourcing fermented wines from named Burgundy sites.

At A Glance

The Producer

Once fermentation is complete, Lucien Le Moine takes the wine into its cellar. Based in Beaune, this micro-négociant sources wines from named Burgundy sites and carries them through extended élevage, the period when wine matures before bottling. The house aims to make each wine an accurate and focused expression of its origin, the French idea of terroir.

Lucien Le Moine is not a traditional estate winery. It works with sourced wine and keeps the site name attached to each label. The origin remains visible while the house handles the maturation before bottling.

Place

The labels split the red range between Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune, while the white range includes bottles from Côte de Beaune. Beaune is the base. Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune are Burgundy subregions whose names sit beside individual vineyard names on the labels. The geographic name changes from one bottle to the next as the named site shifts.

Story

In 1999, Mounir Saouma and Rotem founded Lucien Le Moine in Beaune. Rotem came from a cheesemaking family, studied agriculture in Dijon and won a French Academy of Agriculture prize for research on the Côte d'Or. The pair established a micro-négociant whose range is built from named sites rather than one estate vineyard. Its cellar receives the wines and carries them to bottle.

Vineyards And Cellar

At Lucien Le Moine, the working lot is measured in barrels. The cellar takes one to three barrels from each site and can produce more than 50 different crus annually. In Burgundy, a cru names a recognized vineyard or site level; keeping each lot linked to its origin keeps the site visible on the label.

The sourced wines arrive after fermentation. Jupilles oak is used for ageing and produces a soft, sweet fruit character with little other evidence of new oak. The wines also age on their lees before unfiltered bottling. Lees are the spent yeast cells left in the vessel; time with them can add texture and savory depth. Unfiltered bottling means the wine is not passed through a filter before bottling. Sulfur and oxidation are managed as part of the cellar work.

Wines

Lucien Le Moine's red range includes Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru, Latricières-Chambertin Grand Cru, Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru and Echezeaux Grand Cru. Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots adds a Premier Cru bottle, while Corton Le Clos du Roi Grand Cru and Volnay Premier Cru Pitures Dessus bring in Côte de Beaune reds.

The whites include Bourgogne Blanc, Meursault 1er Cru Les Gouttes d'Or, Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru and Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru. Premier Cru and Grand Cru are named vineyard levels in Burgundy, with Grand Cru above Premier Cru; Bourgogne Blanc is a regional label. Together, the labels cover regional, Premier Cru and Grand Cru wines in red and white styles.

In The Glass

Across the red wines, ripe dark fruit appears alongside floral and savory aromas. The 2022 Chambolle-Musigny Les Baudes brings blackberry, boysenberry and plum with lively acidity that lends freshness. The 2022 Gevrey-Chambertin Les Cazetiers has bacon fat, cherry and rose. The 2016 Richebourg opens with black cherry, dark berries, tobacco and violet, then moves into deep black fruit and licorice before an outstandingly long finish. The 2012 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze unfolds with raspberry, red currant, pomegranate, cranberry and rose petal aromas.

White wines bring fruit, brine, smoke and stone. The 2022 Meursault Les Gouttes d'Or is rich yet detailed, with peach, lemon and briny oyster wrapped in smoky, toasty oak. The 2017 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru opens with lemon curd, wood smoke, pine forest and stone, then carries sweet fruit on a palate with bracing acidity.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2022. It is a named Côte de Nuits Grand Cru, with one site and one vineyard level on the label. The wine has firm tannins and vibrant acidity, followed by a long savory finish with mineral and herbal nuances. The bottle keeps the house's small lot sourcing attached to one named place.

Anecdote

During the 1980s, Mounir Saouma began learning winemaking as a novice in a Trappist monastery in the Middle East. He later studied formally at Montpellier. The producer's name records both parts of that path. Lucien derives from the Lebanese meaning of Mounir, light, while Le Moine means the Monk and refers to the monastery where he first learned winemaking. The two words connect a personal meaning with the place where his first wine lessons began.

Final Word

Based in Beaune, Lucien Le Moine is a micro-négociant that matures sourced wine before bottling. Its bottles include Bourgogne Blanc plus Premier Cru and Grand Cru wines, with named sites retained on the labels.

Sources

• https://lucienlemoine.com/en/
• https://www.vinovest.co/blog/lucien-le-moine
• https://francaboutwine.com/portfolio/lucien-le-moine/
• https://www.bbr.com/producer-1886-lucien-le-moine
• https://lucienlemoine.com/en/news/2026/lucien-le-moine-2022-by-wine-spectator/
• https://tastingbook.com/wine/lucienlemoine/closdevougeotgrandcru_2022?language=en
• https://www.vinovest.co/blog/chambertin-clos-de-beze