Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair
2012Nuits St. Georges “Les Cras” ♥1er Cru Red barrel
Score: 90-93
Tasted: Jan 15, 2014
Drink: 2022+
Issue: 53
Outstanding
Note: from a .37 ha parcel
Producer note: Louis-Michel Liger-Belair told me that 2012 was marked by a “terrible flowering that cost us dearly with respect to yields. We had the same number of bunches that we usually do but there were many fewer berries and even then they didn’t have much juice in them. Depending on the sector in question we were down anywhere from 20 to fully 70%. I waited to begin picking until the 25th of September and brought in reasonably clean fruit that required some sorting but certainly nothing major. There was very good phenolic ripeness and potential alcohols ranged from 12 to 13% and I chaptalized around .5%. I used from 15 to 20% whole clusters for some wines including the La Romanée. The malos were quite long and slow and many of the wines did not finish until July. While you don’t know these things until later, if we hadn’t had such low yields we never would have obtained the fine ripeness levels. So in a fashion the tiny yields saved the vintage. As to the wines they are at least very good and may in time prove to be excellent. But I do not believe that they will rival for example the 2010s but they will offer much enjoyment all the same.” Fans of the domaine will see that there is a new wine in the form of the 2.21 ha Nuits 1er monopole of La Grande Vigne (it’s actually in Prémeaux). He will also have a white from this vineyard in 2012 as a .5 ha portion of La Grande Vigne is planted to chardonnay and a review for this wine will be in Issue 55. Note the ’11s were revisited in bottle below. (Becky Wasserman & Co., www.leserbet.com, Beaune, France; additional distributors include Veritas Imports, www.veritaswine.com, CA/NV/AZ/NM, Grand Cru Selections, LLC, nedbenedict@gmail.com, NY/NJ, Wines Unlimited, www.winesunlimited.com, New Orleans, LA, Classified Wine & Spirits, LLC, www.classifiedwine.net, Austin, TX, C’est Vin, LLC, 703/243-3559, Arlington, VA, and USA Wine Imports, www.usawineimports.com, NY, NY for “Selection Pas Mal”, New York, NY; Justerini & Brooks, www.justerinis.com, UK and Richards Walford & Co., Ltd., www.r-w.co.uk, UK).
Tasting note: There is enough reduction to knock down the fruit. By contrast there is terrific verve and detail to the understated middle weight flavors that also brim with minerality before terminating in a mildly austere and equally long finish. This is a classy effort that combines Vosne finesse with the natural muscularity of Nuits.
Domaine du Comte Liger Belair, Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, Cras
US$7,000 / 每箱價格
Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair
2012Nuits St. Georges “Les Cras” ♥1er Cru Red barrel
Score: 90-93
Tasted: Jan 15, 2014
Drink: 2022+
Issue: 53
Outstanding
Note: from a .37 ha parcel
Producer note: Louis-Michel Liger-Belair told me that 2012 was marked by a “terrible flowering that cost us dearly with respect to yields. We had the same number of bunches that we usually do but there were many fewer berries and even then they didn’t have much juice in them. Depending on the sector in question we were down anywhere from 20 to fully 70%. I waited to begin picking until the 25th of September and brought in reasonably clean fruit that required some sorting but certainly nothing major. There was very good phenolic ripeness and potential alcohols ranged from 12 to 13% and I chaptalized around .5%. I used from 15 to 20% whole clusters for some wines including the La Romanée. The malos were quite long and slow and many of the wines did not finish until July. While you don’t know these things until later, if we hadn’t had such low yields we never would have obtained the fine ripeness levels. So in a fashion the tiny yields saved the vintage. As to the wines they are at least very good and may in time prove to be excellent. But I do not believe that they will rival for example the 2010s but they will offer much enjoyment all the same.” Fans of the domaine will see that there is a new wine in the form of the 2.21 ha Nuits 1er monopole of La Grande Vigne (it’s actually in Prémeaux). He will also have a white from this vineyard in 2012 as a .5 ha portion of La Grande Vigne is planted to chardonnay and a review for this wine will be in Issue 55. Note the ’11s were revisited in bottle below. (Becky Wasserman & Co., www.leserbet.com, Beaune, France; additional distributors include Veritas Imports, www.veritaswine.com, CA/NV/AZ/NM, Grand Cru Selections, LLC, nedbenedict@gmail.com, NY/NJ, Wines Unlimited, www.winesunlimited.com, New Orleans, LA, Classified Wine & Spirits, LLC, www.classifiedwine.net, Austin, TX, C’est Vin, LLC, 703/243-3559, Arlington, VA, and USA Wine Imports, www.usawineimports.com, NY, NY for “Selection Pas Mal”, New York, NY; Justerini & Brooks, www.justerinis.com, UK and Richards Walford & Co., Ltd., www.r-w.co.uk, UK).
Tasting note: There is enough reduction to knock down the fruit. By contrast there is terrific verve and detail to the understated middle weight flavors that also brim with minerality before terminating in a mildly austere and equally long finish. This is a classy effort that combines Vosne finesse with the natural muscularity of Nuits.
