2014 Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Les Saint-Georges, Premier Cru, Côte de Nuits, Red Burgundy, France.
The dark fruited 2014 Thibault Liger-Belair Les Saint-Georges Premier Cru Nuits-Saint-Georges Red Burgundy is showing beautifully with just a hint of this lighter vintage’s touch of green spice and actually feels rich and serious on the palate with excellent density and fruit layering. Coming from some of the most coveted vines in this part of the Côte de Nuits, Liger-Belair’s Les Saint-Georges is sourced from a tiny 2.05 hectares of vines that planted in 1944. Set on very pebbly brown limestone soils and located in the southern part of the appellation, Les Saint-Georges is considered to be, an undeclared Grand Cru, and one of the most ancient climats in Burgundy, according to legend having been planted with vines as far back as the year1000. The winery itself notes that at the end of the 19th century, the town of Nuits was allowed to officially add the Saint-Georges appendage after its name, that of its most famous cru, like many of the villages do with their Grand Crus, like Vosne-Romanée, Gevrey-Chambertin and Chombolle-Musigny. Like most of the top estates, Thibault Liger-Belair has employed all organic farming and is now certified and he even is label vegan too. The wines here typically show excellent transparency and reductive notes with minimal intervention winemaking in the cellar and modest use of new wood, though serious stuff like this one probably saw good dose to tame the powerful structure found in Les Saint-Georges. So this wine was crafted with carefully hand harvested grapes and with 40% of whole clusters. The Les Saint-Georges had three weeks of fermentation with very gentile maceration and was then pressed to barrel with about 50% of new oak this time and was aged for a total of 22 months.
For those that haven’t had Thibault Liger-Belair’s wines, I highly recommend doing so when given any chance, especially the signature Nuits-St.-Georges bottlings, like this one. Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair is a highly-regarded and well respected Pinot Noir producer based in Nuits-Saint-Georges, in the Côte de Nuits and has been in the family since 1720, when C.Marey and Comte Liger-Belair created the original estate. It is noted that the Liger-Belair family has passed down the tradition of winemaking from generation to generation for the past 250 years, and in 2001, the youthful Thibault Liger-Belair took over the vines as the winemaker and created his Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair. Interestingly, according to his importer Vineyard Brands, prior to joining the family domaine, Thibault who had studied viticulture and oenology for six years, worked for a communications firm in Paris where he was able to present and taste wines internationally, as well as being an early, for the French, adopter of internet wine marketing. Thibault, they add, also started an internet company with the idea of discovering and selling high quality wines, but he caught the winemaking bug and decided to concentrate on the vines first and foremost. Thibault started with his 2002s, which were his first harvests of the Nuits-Saint-Georges, Nuits-Saint-Georges Charmottes, as well as Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas, all of which were well received. In 2003, the domaine added some incredible parcels, including the famed Richebourg Grand Cru and Clos Vougeot Grand Cru, as well as Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Petits Monts, and an entry level Bourgogne Rouge, helping fill out the collection. Since then, Liger-Belair has added some fine white wines, including a super Aligoté and even got into Gamay, with some top notch Moulin-à-Vent Cru Beaujolais, which I’ve really enjoyed.
($124 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive