CLOS VOUGEOT
2014 Grand Cru Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair
Thibault has added 20% whole bunches from a part of the vineyard specially prepared for this. Red-orange clay on the high part of the Clos, the rest on stony clay. Striking colour. Rich harmonious nose, full with sappy, earthy fruit, and also a juice that shoots through it - real elegance results. Very grown-up. Drinking range: 2024 - L&S (Nov 2015)
75cl bottles (wood case of 6)
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Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2014 tasting, the 2014 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru from Thibault Liger-Belair, alas, failed to show the promise that it conveyed when I tasted this from barrel. It has plenty of dark fruit on the nose, but it lacks the purity and delineation one expects from a grand cru. The palate is medium-bodied with chewy tannin, quite dense in the mouth but missing grace, and it is rather hard and sour on the finish. Maybe this is just in a sulky phase? I attach a question mark next to my score just in case. Tasted September 2017. Drinking range: 2019 - 2029 Rating: 89 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Nov 2017)
Bright, dark red. Youthfully sullen nose offers slightly inky scents of red cherry, minerals and earth. Then fresher than the nose suggests and extremely unevolved on the palate, conveying very good energy and a chewy quality to its sharply delineated berry, red licorice and saline mineral flavors. The wine's serious building tannins are going to require extended cellaring. Drinking range: 2025 - 2036 Rating: 92+ Stephen Tanzer, www.vinousmedia.com (Mar 2017)
(from a .72 ha parcel on the Vosne side in the middle against the wall; 20% whole clusters). Reduction again dominates the nose. The big, bold and muscular broad-shouldered flavors also possess plenty of mouth coating dry extract that helps to buffer the very firm tannins before terminating in a backward and austere but gorgeously long, balanced and complex finish. This distinctly old school and overtly powerful effort is pointless to buy unless you have the express intention of cellaring it for at least 10 to 12 years. Drinking range: - 2031 Rating: 91-94 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Jan 2016)
Planted in 1944, Thibault Liger-Belair’s south-facing parcel covers 0.72 hectares. It’s a serious, concentrated, sculpted wine, made to age and showing 50% new oak. The spicy whole bunches add extra complexity to what is quite a monolithic wine. 2020-30 Drinking range: 2020 - 2030 Rating: 95 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Jan 2016)
The 2014 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru is 20% whole cluster fruit matured in around 60% new oak. It has a very fragrant bouquet with blackberry and briary scents, nicely detailed and focused. The palate is medium-bodied with fine chalky tannin, well judged acidity and a harmonious, detailed finish that is a real treat. This is a sophisticated and compelling Clos Vougeot from Thibault Liger-Belair. Drinking range: 2018 - 2035 Rating: 93-95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 2015)
Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair
Thibault Liger-Belair has two hectares in Les Saint Georges, the vineyard which gives Nuits the rest of its name, and 60 ares out of a total of 4 hectares of the Grand Cru Richebourg, as well as a good holding in the Clos Vougeot and some well-placed village wines. The vineyards are a good start, but it is Thibault himself who has catapulted this domaine straight into the very top echelons of Côte de Nuits domaines from his first vintage (2002). Thibault was trained as an oenologist but first worked as a wine buyer. He has come to wine making with a wide experience of wine buying, and has had the advantage of having discussed wine-making for many years, with the benefit of his oenological background, with some of the best winemakers of the world. Viticulture is biodynamic (since 2005), yields low but not ludicrously low, everything is pragmatic, so that he should be doing just what is necessary and no more. He uses 40-50% new wood maximum. The wines are bright, pure, focused, aromatic and elegant without lacking anything in the way of stuffing.