The 2002 Clos de la Roche Grand Cru was one on the highlights of the Lignier vertical. Glossy red cherries and kirsch, hints of blueberry on the nose lifted by just a touch of VA, but that disappears with aeration. The palate is framed by very fine tannins, superb acidity and a vibrant, shimmering finish that is lightly spiced with clove and white pepper. Superb transparency here, a brilliant 2002 just flexing its muscles.

Deep red-ruby. Vibrant, highly nuanced nose combines small red berries, minerals, smoked meat, mocha, underbrush and mint. Sweet, dense and sappy; boasts impressive volume without excess weight. Not a super-fleshy style but this has wonderful fruit. Very long on the aftertaste, but perhaps less subtle today than the Combottes. But there's more wine here. At once typical and strong. This is a no-brainer: buy it if you can find it and afford it. Lignier is high on the 2001 Clos de la Roche, and also singled out the '99 and '93 as two of his favorites over the past decade-plus.

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. Drink: 2012+
-Allen Meadows, burghound.com Issue: 17. Tasted: Jan 01, 2005

Wine Advocate June, 2004

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.