2020 Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair, Savigny-Les-Beaune Blanc “Clos du Village” White Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, France.
Coming from a small grower and a little walled vineyard, the beautiful pale gold/straw hued Liger-Belair Clos du Village Savigny-les-Beaune Blanc is a special 100% Chardonnay cuvée that shows off a terroir driven limestone influenced palate of stony/mineral intensity and a rewarding fruit density and tension. To be honest with all of the Liger-Belair red treasures, I’ve not often had the chance to try any of Thibault’s whites, so this was quite interesting and a rewarding experience, with this wine’s serious nature and lovely textural presence. The pale straw/gold and steely medium/full bodied Clos du Village shows off lime blossom, green apple, white peach and lemony fruits, along with a touch of matchstick, hazelnut, gingery/clove spice, chalky/stony essences and very subtle creaminess. There was a lot to like here and it certainly has me curious about the rest of the whites here at Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair, including the Aligoté, along with the rest of the Chardonnay village and cru offerings.
Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair says that this Clos du Village cuvée comes from the west side of Savigny in the tiny walled lieu-dit called “le Village” it’s only about f 0.2 hectares that is south facing, enjoying ripe exposure and marked by its clay and white marl soil that brings out, what they add, a nice maturity of flavors and mineral tones in the grapes. They only use a limited portion of the grapes here at the Clos du Village as it also has some Pinot Blanc planted along side the Chardonnay, used here, with all mature 50 years old vines, allowing for just about 100 cases per vintage, making this a wonderful rarity. In the pursuit of transparency and purity the all hand harvested grapes see a gentle whole cluster pressing, lasting three hours and the fermentation and aging is done in 100% used wood. The 2020 Savigny-les-Beaune Clos du Village, a small and concentrated vintage, saw an elevage of 15 months in the mostly neutral used French oak barrels, which really let the site’s personality shine through without too much oak influence. 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.
($60 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive