Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair

Thibault Liger-Belair is cousin to Vicomte Liger Belair of Vosne Romanée. In 2001 he took over an old family property in Nuits St Georges, taking back the vines which had been contracted out to various share croppers, and leased a cuverie just down the road. The family jewels (his branch) consist of Richebourg, Clos de Vougeot and Nuits St Georges Les St Georges, to which he has added further vineyards and a few additional cuvées made from purchased grapes.

The vines are now certified organic and farmed biodynamically, with horses used to plough the vineyards where possible. The grapes are rigorously sorted on a table de tri, then destalked and fermented without much punching down or pumping over. They will be racked once during the elevage, but Thibault is not afraid of reductive flavours at this stage which he feels add to tee eventual substance and complexity of the wine. The oak regime is not to exceed 50% new barrels but also not to use any barrels more than three years old.

The natural style of Thibault’s wines is plump and full-bodied, though the benefits of his farming methods seem to be bringing a more mineral aspect to the fruit as well. The domaine wines come from:

Richebourg, Grand Cru                                              0.55 ha
Clos de Vougeot, Grand Cru                                     0.73 ha
Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Les St Georges             2.10 ha
Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Petits Monts                    0.10 ha
Vosne-Romanée aux Réas                                       0.55 ha
Nuits St Georges La Charmotte                                0.40 ha
Gevrey-Chambertin La Croix des Champs             0.20 ha
Hautes Côtes de Nuits La Corvée de Villy              0.70 ha
Hautes Côtes de Nuits Clos du Prieuré                  1.10 ha

Richebourg Grand Cru
The holding was planted in 1936 and is in the southern part of Les Richebourgs, with Domaine de la Romanée-Conti on one side and Etienne Grivot on the other. According to Thibault, you feel this wine in the throat – it is not ready to show all the detail on the palate when young, but the richness of fruit is revealed in an incredible aftertaste.

Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Les St Georges
Having the largest holding of les St Georges, Thibault has been at the forefront of the proposal for the vineyard to be promoted to grand cru. This is typically a rich, succulent wine with blackberry fruit as well as the more traditional plums. There is enough tannic structure for long ageing.

Vosne-Romanée aux Réas
The village sector of aux Réas drops down rapidly from the premier cru Clos des Réas, but Thibault’s holding of the former is very well placed on the southern slope. This is a racy, lively, well perfumed Vosne-Romanée that merits village-plus in classification.