NUITS SAINT GEORGES
2016 1er Cru Les Saint Georges Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair
8 barrels here from 2 HA, Frost hit this quite hard. 10 barrels per hectare is normal. Thibault likes the reduction caused by malolactic fermentation. Adds an inky character, more subtle than reduction in the initial fermentation. Very sexy. Fine grippy tannins are firm but sleek, and sit well with the well poised dark berry fruit. Clean, firm but sweetly ripe in the middle. Dense and intense, but good, needs time. L&S (Oct 2017)
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The 2016 Nuits Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges 1er Cru has an impressive and quite captivating bouquet with open-knit tertiary red berry fruit, hints of leather and sous-bois, just so involving that you cannot extract your nose from the glass. The palate is beautifully balanced with seamless tannin, superb acidity, the new oak present but seamless integrated with a satin-like finish that you might conflate with a wine from Vosne-Romanée. Outstanding. Tasted blind at the 2016 Burgfest tasting. Drinking range: 2022 - 2045 Rating: 95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Oct 2019)
(from a huge 2.10 ha parcel; 40% whole cluster). A whiff of brett-like phenols is present on the earthy dark berry aromas that are set off by a touch of wood influence. There is terrific punch and freshness to the muscular, big and bold flavors that brim with both dry extract and minerality before concluding in a powerful, serious and driving finale. This isn’t a refined wine, indeed it could aptly be described as old school, yet there is plenty of underlying material. This is a difficult wine to rate because the brett character is very much a background element and there is no finishing dryness and thus my rating is a bit of a compromise. Drinking range: 2023 - Rating: 91 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Jan 2019)
(from a huge 2.10 ha parcel; 40% whole cluster). Firm reduction renders the nose impossible to assess. By contrast there is terrific punch and freshness to the muscular, big and bold flavors that brim with both dry extract and minerality before concluding in a powerful, serious and driving finale. This isn’t a refined wine, indeed it could aptly be described as old school, yet there is plenty of underlying material. Ultimately, if you have the patience to allow this a long snooze in a cool cellar, it should be marvelous. Drinking range: 2031 - Rating: 91-94 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Jan 2018)
(40% vendange entier; just 8 barrels produced in 2016, vs. 27 in 2017): Bright ruby. Wonderfully pure, utterly captivating aromas of cassis, black cherry, violet and spices. Compellingly rich and chewy, with its slightly high-toned dark fruit flavors enlivened by chalky minerality and savory earth tones. Atypically silky and opulent for both the vineyard and the vintage, but this generous wine's broad dusting of tannins, harmonious acidity and underlying minerality give it an impression of completeness. Finishes with lingering notes of dark chocolate and violet. Liger-Belair noted that there's calcite in a fault in this vineyard (from the scraping of the limestone over time) and that the topsoil has been getting whiter through natural movement. The result, he said, has been wines with more verticality and lift, a bit less burly than previously. Rating: 92-95 Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (Jan 2018)
The 2016 Nuits Saint-Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges includes 40% whole cluster fruit, eight barrels produced from 2.04 hectares, the lowest ever. I have to say that the quality of the terroir comes through on the nose: beautifully defined, mineral-driven, hints of sous-bois underneath the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, slightly chalky in style, long and tender with brilliant focus on the finish. Thibaut talked about a verticality of this cru, and I can see exactly what he means. Magnifique! Drinking range: 2020 - 2045 Rating: 93-95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 2017)
2 hectares: Deep clay, light brown. The small gravel in the terroir gives the elegance.” 40% whole bunch. Not very deep soil and integrated limestone. 40% whole cluster with 4 barrels a hectare this is just 10hl/h. A light vinfication - just 2 pigeage in 2 weeks. Dark forest fruit and a touch of mint. Black cherry and white pepper. There are firm, tight, fine tannins...maybe not as satin coated as they can be. It is intense, rather than concentrated. Quite a salty finish. Not quite as effortless as is normally. It did not sing to me this year. Rating: 18.35 Sarah Marsh MW, The Burgundy Briefing (Nov 2017)
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.
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