Thibault Liger-Belair Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France

梯貝沙爾姆香貝丹列級園干紅葡萄酒

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The 2016 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru includes 70% whole cluster, the highest of the domaine’s cuvées, in order to capture its freshness. That comes through on the nose: black fruit mixed with black truffle and hints of autumn leaves. The palate is medium-bodied with firm and slightly brittle tannin with a slightly short finish. Fine, but missing a little excitement despite the acidity. I would just like more..."charm"?

The 2015 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru includes 70% whole bunch and 80% new oak in order to "stretch the wine" according to Thibault. It comes from purchased grapes. The whole bunch component is neatly assimilated into the nose so that it actually seems fully de-stemmed. There is fine purity here, perfumed red cherries mixed with raspberry preserve. The palate is medium-bodied with quite grippy tannin, quite firm in the mouth and I feel it needs a little more "flow" towards the finish. I just wonder whether that 80% new oak was a prudent move, because for me it just clips the final half of the wine. The jury here is out for the time being...

The 2014 Charmes Chambertin Grand Cru has a lively bouquet with crushed strawberry, morello, mango and orange blossom. The palate is medium-bodied, conservative, tightly wound and structured. This just needs a little more tension and detail, especially on the finish that as I noted out of barrel, requires a little more presence and concentration. Perhaps this is still a little upset after being bottled months ago? Let's see how it develops over the next 2-4 years. Tasted November 2016.

The Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru is 50% whole cluster with 30% cut by hand. It has a slight reduction on the nose, but opens nicely with lively redcurrant and strawberry fruit, the mineral scents developing behind. The palate is medium-bodied with a taut entry and lifted acidity that shades the succulence of the red berry fruit. The oak is a little prominent in this sample, but it will be more assimilated once it is in bottle.

The 2012 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru comes from a parcel located next to the road that suffered a lot of oidium in this vintage and it was harvested at?drumroll please?17% alcohol! Thibault refrained using whole cluster and so the fruit was destemmed by hand and for the first time it is matured in 100% new oak that was specially selected by Thibault in the forest. What is unusual is that the barrel is made after the fermentation to marry with the wine. Thibault also let the wine evaporate during fermentation and reduced it to 15.5%. The nose does seem balanced and disguises the alcohol level well. The palate is rich and sumptuous, very gourmand with layers of sweet truffle-tinged fruit. The oak makes it presence felt on the chocolate-tinged finish. It will be intriguing to see how this develops. Though I have met Thibault Liger-Belair several times in the melee of the London Burgundy tastings, this was actually the first time that I had visited his cellars, stationed on the busy RN74 artery as it swerves through the village of Nuits-Saint-Georges. He actually started on the communication side of the wine business, before relocating from Paris and establishing the domaine in 2001. In case you were wondering (as I was) he is distantly related to Louis-Michel Liger-Belair in Vosne: their great-grandfathers were brothers. The barrel cellars lie below the grand maison that on first appearances is spacious for a Burgundy domaine. That might be because of the depletion of yields in recent vintages, Thibault’s 2012 averaging only 16 hectoliters per hectare on average. Still, this is a vigneron that has expanded his holdings in recent years, most recently into Moulin-a-Vent in Beaujolais, whose notes I have included here for no lesser reason than they are too bloody good to just sit on. Thibault told me that he stumbled across a Beaujolais grower who was blissfully unaware of the currency of old vine material. “I was shocked when I asked him how old the vines were,” he recalled with glee. “He did not know their age exactly. But he was 80 years old, and he said that when he was a boy, they were referred to as ‘vieilles vignes’!” I have always found Thibault an easygoing person, candid with his views, one of the most garrulous winemakers in the region. Gregory Gouges forewarned that if I videoed Thibault, I would be unable to make him stop talking, which my interviewee admitted was true before commencing his oration. But that is no bad thing when you are a young, ambitious winemaker galvanized by what you are doing and the tenets you bring to your wines that are invariably top drawer. Burgundy and Nuits-Saint-Georges in particular, need people like Thibault. Overall, these were astutely crafted wines that expressed their terroir with panache. Sure, there is a couple that seemed a little “iffy”, for example the “crazy” Charmes-Chambertin, but otherwise the passion that Thibault shows as a winemaker is translated into the passion shown by his wines. N.B. Subscribers can watch a video I took of Thibault discussing the vintage, filmed in his cellars in Nuits-Saint-Georges. I begin with Thibault’s quartet of impressive Beaujolais wines. Having experienced a 1934 Fleurie, he is convinced that there is immense untapped potential in this region (to which I agree.) Moving to the Cote d’Or, Thibault showed me through his barrel samples from the negoce side of the business (labelled “Thibault Liger-Belair Successeurs”) and from his own vineyards (labelled “Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair”.) Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802 and through Berry Brothers & Rudd in UK.