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Domaine du Comte LIGER-BELAIR

It was evident from Louis-Michel Liger-Belair’s first vintage that he was going to be a star. After all he descends from what was once a family with some of the greatest land holdings in Burgundy. But more than that, he’s the spiritual successor of Jayer and he owns what is perhaps the second greatest vineyard in all of Burgundy. On your first visit, Louis-Michel will brief you on the family’s history. Brief is the appropriate word, as he will do so standing below the towering portrait of his ancestor, a General, in Napoleon’s army who founded the estate in 1815. Louis-Michel also positions himself above you on the stairway and below the portrait as you stare up the landing, first at the young viscount, then at the ancestor. The French aristocracy may have lost most of their belongings but certainly not their sense of rightful place. Louis-Michel’s story of riches to crumbs will exasperate winemakers of more modest origins who were not so lucky in their inheritance, not to mention those who had to start from scratch, as the crumbs that fell on his plate are a royal feast compared to many estates. But to the Burgundy aficionado, especially the high-end collector, such is the list of vineyards the Liger-Belairs once owned that the prospect of what could have been is bewildering. And here it goes. The Liger-Belairs once owned La Romanee, all of the original La Tache, all of La Grand Rue, once third of Clos de Vougeot, a large portion of Richebourg, Chambertin, Echezeaux as well as land in Les St. Georges, Suchots, Beaumonts, Reignots and more. Do I hear a “oh my gawd?” But in the thirties at the death of Louis-Michel’s great-grandmother, some of the rather numerous children were still minors and the inheritance could not legally be divided. The other members of the family not wishing to wait, the property was auctioned off. Do I see tears now? Juste Liger-Belair, a priest not wanting to let the entire estate go to strangers purchased La Romanee and other vineyards, which now comprise Louis-Michel’s estate. But that was all he could afford. The remaining 3,14 hectares of the current estate do indeed seem like meager leftovers. What could have been an estate of equal or greater importance to Domaine de la Romanee Conti, is now closer to something of the Lichtenstein of Burgundy. Sympathy for the viscount is not discouraged, by the coupling of a cherub’s face with a Machiavellian charm and sense of humor. After he has disposed with the family history, Louis-Michel will tell you his own. It’s quite straightforward really. He decided he wanted to be a winemaker at the age of eight and told his father as much. “Fine” said his father, a general in the French Army, “first become an engineer, then I will give you the keys to the estate. Louis-Michel did just that. From his first vintage, 2000, the wine made by Louis-Michel were some of the best Burgundy had to offer, and they were very reminiscent of the fruit-driven, polished style of Henri Jayer. But the world didn’t take note. Nor did the world take more notes with the following vintage. But everything was about to change with the 2002 vintage as overnight, Louis-Michel would become one of Burgundy’s most wanted. The smallest appellation d’origine controlée in France is the vineyard of La Romanee. You have heard it is Romanee-Conti or even Chateau Grillet. But no, it is La Romanée with its diminutive 0,84 hectares, which, in a manner of speaking, tops them all. It sits right above Romanee-Conti, unarguably the greatest vineyard in Burgundy, many would say the world. From 1946 until 2001 it was under a sharecropping arrangement with three consecutive generations of the Forey family. The wines had also been commercialized by various entities, Bichot, Leroy, even Camille Giroud and since 1976 by Bouchard Pere et Fils. La Romanee has always been a great wine but is it largely unknown, even to the most knowledgeable of Burgundy aficionados. Perhaps it is because despite a couple of extraordinary vintages, the vineyard may have been under its least glorious under the helm of the youngest of the Foreys, Regis who made wine from 1988 to 2001. Still, given the astounding quality of the vineyard and its supreme location, it is surprising so few have ever heard of it. There are many bottlings prior to the eighties that have nothing to envy La Tache or Romanee-Conti itself. La Romanee is not all that different from Romanee-Conti and it shares the same supreme elegance and a similar complexity which can take the better part of two decades to fully reveal itself. Like Romanee-Conti, it is a complete wine, a perfect circle in the mouth. Perhaps a tad more austere, though it is hard to say if that is because of terroir or the previous winemakers. What few people know is that a good chunk of La Romanee is actually in Romanee-Conti, as the two vineyards are not rectangles sitting one on top each other. Rather, they fit into one another forming a squarish yin and yang motif. The sharecropping arrangement with the Foreys ending in 2001, Louis-Michel made La Romanee in 2002. Actually, since the agreement with Bouchard will only end in 2005, Louis-Michel made two 2002 La Romanees, his own as well as the Bouchard bottling. Both wines were not only lauded by Tanzer and Meadows, their release coincided with Meadows publication of the tasting notes for a truly historical tasting of La Romanee dating back to 1915. Meadows wrote a detailed editorial and profile on the vineyard, concluding that is was one of the absolute greatest, and that it merited to be mentioned in the same breath as La Romanee-Conti, La Tache, Chambertin, Musigny, and Richebourg. The printed pipers had indeed piped, loudly and with tubas. Louis-Michel was knighted. It may take a little time for the world to realize that Louis-Michel also owns another gem, 0,75 hectares of a premier cru called Aux Reignots. Aux Reignots sits just above La Romanee, and just south of Petit Monts and Cros Parantoux. The three premier crus lie above the Grand Crus on the same band of soil, but there is the case to be made that with less altitude, both Petits Monts and Reignots are more favored than Cros Parantoux. In Camille Rodier’s seminal book on Burgundy published in the twenties, which list all the vineyards and their respective rankings before they became law, both Reignots and Petit Monts are seen as superior to Cros Parantoux and on a par, among others, Romanee St. Vivant and Malconsorts. It is doubtful that the 2003 vintage will receive the same attention that 2002 did in Burgundy. Nevertheless, the La Romanee 2003 waiting patiently in Louis-Michel’s cellar is of such extraordinary length that it may very well be on a short list for candidate of wine of the vintage. It looks like just a year after knighthood, and a mere three years after baptism, Louis-Michel is about to receive confirmation. © PAUL WASSERMAN.
http://www.liger-belair.fr/

Region:

Côte de Nuits

Winery Location:

Vosne Romanée

Domaine (avg.):

2100 cases

Winemaker:

Louis Michel Liger Belair

Vineyard Area:

13.73 acres (5.56 ha)

Varietals:

Pinot noir

 

VITICULTURAL METHOD:Organic and Biodynamic approach

TRIAGE:In the vineyard & in the cuverie

FERMENTATION:7 days pre fermentation maceration

AGING:roughly 15 months

NEW OAK:100%