DOMAINE DU COMTE LIGER-BELAIR MASTERCLASS - St. Regis Hotel, Singapore (9/4/2011)
After starting the day with a bang with a great Chateau de La Tour masterclass, it was only fitting that we ended on a similarly high note and, if anything, this was even better. A small lime-up, only 5 wines from the 2008 vintage, but every wine was a star. This reaffirmed both my high opinion of the Domaine and of the 2008 red vintage. Louis-Michel Liger-Belair was a great host as well, conducting a masterclass that was both entertaining and educational. If I could put my finger on a house style, I would say purity most of all, aromatically expressive, elegant wines, with great finesse and grace. No surprise he named Henri Jayer as his biggest influence.
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2008 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Vosne-Romanée - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée
A good village. The nose was rather dominated by a toasty oakiness at first. But underneath that, there were nice Vosne notes of, spice, flowers and sweet cherry fruit. The palate was very full, very broad on the attack, with impressive dark cherry flavours and lots of spice. This thined out a little past the midpalate so that the back-end of the was neither the longest not the deepest. However, the wine was always nicely balanced and well proportioned, with a nice underlying minerality and a delectable lick of sweet spices right at the finish. It actually improved quite significantly over the hour of the tasting as well - the overt toastiness on the nose went down a bit, juicy fruit scents come up and, on the palate, the finish stretches out and lengthens, with spice and bramble notes opening up alongside the fresh dark fruited flavours. Very yummy. (91 pts.) -
2008 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Vosne-Romanée La Colombiere - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée
This was very good. From the get go, it was more open and expressive nose than the straight Vosne Romanne village. Toasty oak notes where still predominant, but the sweet spice and dark fruit notes were clearer here, alongside with a little meaty note that gave the bouquet a nice base. The palate had really good density for a village, with nicely rich but pure dark cherry and orange peel flavours wed to some lovely acidity. As with the previous wine, the finish at first seemed rather less impressive than the attack, but this was clearly the more complete wine, with nice round tannins providing a sense of structure and some savoury herb and earth notes lingering away. With time, the wine opened up even more, to show a whole mouthfull of deliciously integrated fresh fruit flavours at the backend even as the toasty notes which kind of jarred me at first faded slightly. A very good, ageworthy wine. (92 pts.) -
2008 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Petits Monts - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Excellent. This was definitely a class up from the already very good pair of Vosne villages. It had a beautiful nose, almost perfumy, with scetns of wood spice, black cherries, orange peel and a toss of flowers. Like the previous wines, there was some toastiness, but there was just more breadth and expressive to the nose here. However, nice as that was, it was on the palate that this really shone. Just stunning purity here - cherries and strawberries wrapped in a brilliantly balanced juiciness that kept the wine ever so clean, pure and absolutely focused. Alongside with the fruit, I got lots of spice - pepper, anise, cloves and, into the finish some savoury earth, meat and fruit tea notes along with a stony, minerally undertow. It all came together somewhat darker, spicier, perhaps a little more austere than the 1er Reignots drank alongside. Neverthless, this was beautiful to drink. Great now in its extreme youth, but what a stunner it will be when it grows up! (93 pts.) -
2008 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Reignots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru
Brilliant stuff. I liked the more reserved 1er Cru Petit Monts a little better when I first tasted this, but as time went by, this clearly stole a march on the former wine. It had a deep, heady Vosne nose. Toast, wood spice, lemongrass, whiffs of black earth all on an underlayer of sweet dark fruit. The nose was actually rather reminiscent of the straight Vosne village, just with everything in greater proportions and amplitude - deeper, richer, more resounding. As with the Petit Monts though, it was on the palate where the sheer quality of the wine really shone. Fresh, lively, super well integrated, it unfolded with an absolute mouthfull of flavour: lovely dark cherries and plums, gentle washes of spice and some floral perfume. Rich, generous flavours all the way into the back-palate, where toasty spice notes blossomed in the mouth. The finish here had such a lovely freshness and open, generous feel that each sip of the wine called out for another. Certainly more impressive on this count than the Petit Monts I thought. Finish aside, the Petit Monts was darker, spicier. This was higher toned in its fruit expression, more lifted, a bit more feminine almost. However, what I really enjoyed most of all though is how the wine wore its deliciously pure flavours. In spite of its obvious presence and depth, it was always elegant, always full of finesse, almost gracefully effortless in the way it translated in the mouth. Make no mistake though, for all its grace and precision, this was a structured wine with tons of substance, and one that will reward a long, patient cellaring. (94 pts.) -
2008 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Echezeaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Echezeaux Grand Cru
Absolutely superb. This was the single best Echezeaux I have ever had, and by some distance the best wine in a weekend choked full of impressive pinots. Of all the five great glasses in the flight, this had the most complex, intriguing nose. Not quite as expressive as the pair of Vosne 1er Crus, maybe not even as expressive as the pair of village wines, but there was a whole lot more going on. Subtle scents of earth, gentle spices, dark cherries, touches of dark fruit, a hint of toast, some flowers, a bit of wild bramble - so much to pick apart as they wafted out of the glass in a deeply integrated melange. Lovely stuff. The palate had such really elegance for an Echezeaux. Like the nose, it was superbly integrated, very harmonious, with beautifully detailed red fruits - strawberry, cherries, raspberries… woah, piercingly pure here, and just super yummy. It still had some of the broad shoulders of its terroir and reservoirs of depth in its fruit expression. Yet on a whole, the wine was more toned and supple than muscular, more about finesse and elegance than the brute force one sometimes gets in top examples of Echezeaux. Here, the pitch perfect acidity was woven so wonderfully into the body of the wine, the super fine velvety tannins provided such classy structure, and the whole package just came together so well that it was a juicy, succulent and incredibly focused whole. So complete. Of all the wines, this was the one where the fruit completely stood up to the 100% new oak, almost absorbing any nuance of it. This wine was one of those at the very top echelon of Burgundies that are almost impossible to pick apart - a brilliant, brilliant wine. (95 pts.)
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