NUITS SAINT GEORGES
2018 1er Cru Les Saint Georges Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair
30-40% whole bunches. Very dark colour; rich and silky - it's very ripe. Very dark fruit and deep sweet spice, with an extraordinary density of ripe tannin which gives shape and intensity. Needs a bit more time in élevage.L&S (Nov 2019)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2018 Nuits Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges 1er Cru has plenty of ripe, slightly pruney fruit on the nose, almost pastille-like, a little heady with more red fruit emerging with aeration. Some sweaty saddle notes appear with time (Brettanomyces). The palate is a little chewy on the entry with thick and grippy tannins, bold and assertive yet missing grace and tenderness, any essence of Pinoté on the finish. What has gone awry with this bottle? Vexing after its showing from barrel. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2018 red tasting. Drinking range: 2022 - 2027 Rating: 86 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Nov 2022)
The 2018 Nuits Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges 1er Cru has a superb bouquet of brambly red fruit, quite ferrous in style, displaying hints of dried blood and meat juices. The palate is medium-bodied with grippy tannins, quite firm in the mouth and very saline, though it is closed on the finish. Nevertheless, this has great potential. Drinking range: 2023 - 2040 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 2020)
(from a huge 2.10 ha parcel; 40% whole clusters). Ripe and well-layered aromas are composed by notes of black cherry, raspberry and violet with top notes of red currant and spice. The succulent, round and very seductively textured middle weight flavors contrast with a finish that is presently raspy, dry and short. This could come together before it’s bottled but that is not a certainty. Drinking range: 2025 - Rating: 86-89 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Jan 2020)
Cask sample. Rich and tough without seeming to be obviously so many more times better than the Hautes-Côtes Corvée de Villy. Yes it will probably last longer but for the moment there’s a hint of bitterness on the end. And it’s extremely ripe! Drinking range: 2032 - 2046 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jan 2020)
The 2018 Nuits Saint-Georges Les Saint-Georges 1er Cru contains 45% whole cluster, a little more than last year. The bouquet features raspberry preserve, white pepper and bay leaf. The palate is balanced with good body thanks to a little more punching down during vinification. Very well defined and quite saline in the mouth, with an elegant, confit-tinged finish that lingers in the mouth, leaving cassis notes and marmalade on the aftertaste. Excellent. Drinking range: 2024 - 2044 Rating: 92-94 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Jan 2020)
Thibault Liger-Belair has produced one of the tighter, more serious expressions of this premier cru in 2018, finding texture, tannin and structure in his 74-year-old vines. Real poise, balance and intensity with spice, tobacco notes and underlying minerality. Drinking range: 2026 - 2036 Rating: 96 Tim Atkin MW - Decanter (Dec 2019)
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.
Please note that certain wines are on very tight allocations and will first be offered to customers who buy across the range. If you have any queries, please email our primeurs team or speak to your usual L&S contact. Please feel free to email us at any time. This list can include wines listed as available on the website, as well as those marked 'To Be Advised'. We will reply as soon as possible with confirmation of what we can offer. Wines bought en primeur are scheduled to arrive in the UK over the course of the next eighteen months. If you do not wish to take home delivery, you may wish to consider where you would like the wines shipped on arrival in the UK. Lea & Sandeman offers duty paid and in bond storage through a dedicated storage company called Elephant Storage. For more details on the terms and fees associated with storage please go to our Storage Homepage or contact our primeurs team for more information. While helpful, we do not require a firm commitment on delivery destination to process your primeur order at this stage. Our team will be in contact with you when your wines arrive in the UK to confirm the necessary delivery details. OFFER: All wines are offered subject to availability and final confirmation. PRICING: All prices are quoted IN BOND ex-VAT, by the case size stated. Please double check that the desired case size does match what is being offered as wines are variously listed in threes, sixes, dozens, halves and larger formats. DELIVERY - TIMING: This is a primeur offer so the wines are not yet physically available for delivery. They will be shipped to the UK over the next eighteen months. Generally, wines are shipped to your nominated location once the whole order has landed in our London City Bond account. If you require wines to be delivered by a certain date, please advise us at the time of ordering. DELIVERY - FEES: In bond delivery to an Elephant Storage account (for more information see 'Storage Options' opposite) is free of charge. Transfer of wines to any third-party bond (i.e. not Elephant Storage) will incur an administration charge of £16.50 + VAT for all orders under £1,000. Please indicate if you would like the wine duty paid and a duty & VAT invoice will be raised once all the wines on your order are available for shipment. Once the relevant duty & VAT has been settled, we will ship the wines to your nominated address as per our normal duty paid Delivery Terms. PAYMENT: All orders will be invoiced for immediate payment by cheque, cash, debit card or cleared funds to our account. We regret that we cannot accept credit cards for primeur orders. We reserve the right to apply a dunning charge of 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.ORDERING VIA OUR WEBSITE:
ORDERING VIA EMAIL:
STORAGE OPTIONS:
BURGUNDY EN PRIMEUR FAQ