2005 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Vosne-Romanée Clos du Château- France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée (7/25/2016)
Absolutely stunning nose. Asian spice. Riper fruit but not overripe. Starting to show some truffle earthy elements of evolution. The palate is still structured. Lots of amazingly wonderful ripe fruit. Expands on the finish to show lots of spice. I love this stuff. I bought extensively in the 2006/2007 era for reasonable money. Good allocations. The last auction price scared me. I don’t sell wines with rare exceptions. A + village wine.
Agree this is very nice indeed. We had a bottle in May. I did think it was surprisingly mature though. Of course, it may hold like that for a long time, but compared to the Mugneret Gibourg village bottling, my benchmark, it’s much more open and evolved. Not necessarily a criticism.
I have the impression his wines don’t really close but are always in a good way accessible, not evolved. They have a perfect balance and I would characertize them as ‘etherical’, which I have not found in many other Burgundies
I have friends who find Comte Liger-Belair too oaky but at my one and only exposure (Reignots at the La Paulee verticals) I fell in love. The passion wasn’t enough to pay $300+ a bottle, but I am content to love from afar.
Well, in my humble opinion a ridiculous statement. All of Louis-Michels wines - when really mature, which is rather after 12-25+ years than after 10y, won´t show any signs of new oak whatsoever … the oak is hardly discernable in the youth, it´s beautifully balanced and integrates perfectly … due to the concentration and purity of the fruit.
But - well - the only vintages I would call “close to mature” - as good as others are drinking sometimes due to the great balance - are 2001 … and 2007 (e.g. La Romanee is an unbelievable great drink …)
Seriously, if I wouldn´t be lucky to be one of the few privates who sit on an allocation off domaine, I definitely couldn´t afford buying (and hardly would) … while the wines are not cheap off domaine (justifiedly) the strange things happen in the retail market afterwards … - but not only with L-B …
Well, I think the wines do show oak when young, but about as well integrated as you will ever find considering the high amounts he uses. But, even as a relative non-fan of oak, I’ve never found it too much. Some bottles taste a little oaky when young, but it’s really a faintly reductive thing that clears with air-time, not unlike the ‘oakiness’ that sometimes appears in the wines of Fourrier, but again it’s just a short-lived effect of reduction…
I meant indeed ethereal. His wines are very perfumed for me if that is an easier descriptor![[tease.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/c/c5b32b76bebaa359b0452ae247b61189ffe5fa7e.gif "tease"){kind=small}
- but not only with L-B …