Aloxe-Corton 1er cru La Toppe au Vert 2017

THIBAULT LIGER-BELAIR

Aloxe-Corton 1er cru La Toppe au Vert
2017

  • Organic
  • Biodynamic

$167.78*

* Suggested retail price

Out of stock

Product code
838540
Format
6 x 750ml
Listing type
Speculative
Status
Store Only
Type of product
Still wine
Country
France
Regulated designation
Appellation origine controlée (AOC)
Region
Burgundy
Subregion
Côte de Beaune
Appellation
Aloxe-Corton
Classification
1er cru
Varietal(s)
Pinot Noir 100 %
Colour
Red
Sugar
Dry
Closure type
Cork
Producer's website

About this winery

Thibault Liger-Belair comes from a great winemaking family that has deep roots in Burgundy: he is a direct descendant of the Napoleonic General Louis Liger-Belair, who acquired the Chateau de Vosne in 1815 when he married Ludovie Marey, whose family had been Burgundy negociants since 1720. Youthful, passionate and always full of ideas, Thibault trained as an oenologist, but had his start in the wine industry as a wine buyer. He is also a former rugby player with a genuine 'down to earth'...

See the THIBAULT LIGER-BELAIR detail page for more information on this brand

Press reviews

Vinous

89-92

Stephen Tanzer, January 2014

(from 60-year-old vines now farmed en bio): Medium red. Highly perfumed aromas of cherry, leather, lavender and honey. Juicy and delicate but sappy and sweet, showing very good lift to its red fruit and spice flavors. Finishes with suave tannins and lovely lingering perfume. Light but not at all meager; hardly your typical Corton wine but I like it.

See detailed press review
Vinous

(89-91) Points

Stephen Tanzer, January 2015 (Vintage 2013)

(made from purchased grapes): Bright, deep red. Raspberry and smoky minerals on the lightly reduced nose. Dense and sweet for this cuvée, which is usually more austere in the early going. The flavors of black cherry, stone and earth expand on the back, with supple tannins providing shape without cutting off the wine's fruit.

See detailed press review
Vinous

(88-91) Points

Stephen Tanzer, January 2016

(destemmed): Bright medium red. Reduced nose hints at red berries and spices. Then juicy and penetrating on the palate, conveying lovely intensity and energy to the flavors of redcurrant, cherry and crushed rock. In a savory style, with moderate flesh. Juicy and imploded in the early going but the tannins are suave and the wine spreads out subtly to dust the palate on the back end.

See detailed press review
Burghound.com

(89-91) Points

Allen Meadows, January 2015 (Vintage 2013)

There is a top note of green tea to the very fresh red berry fruit suffused nose. The
mouth feel of the middle weight and intensely mineral-inflected flavors is sleek, even satiny, all wrapped in a focused, balanced and lingering finish. This is on the lighter side but packs good flavor authority.

See detailed press review
Burghound.com

(89-92) Points

January 2016 (Vintage 2014)

Reduction once again renders the nose unreadable. By contrast there is good freshness, intensity and precision to the delicious flavors where the supporting tannins are actually relatively fine in the context of an Aloxe 1er, all wrapped in a complex finale that delivers sneaky good length.

See detailed press review
Vinous

(90-92) POINTS

January 2017

(from a crop level of 28 hectoliters per hectare, according to Liger-Belair; 100% destemmed): Moderately saturated medium red. High-toned aromas of sappy raspberry and roast coffee. Sweet but a bit subdued in the mouth, with a rather linear quality to its red fruit flavors. Not a fleshy or easygoing style but delivers lovely purity and thrust. And the fine-grained tannins arrive late, allowing the wine's perfume to build. These vines are at least 50 years old, according to Liger-Belair.

See detailed press review
Vinous

(89-91) POINTS

January 2017

Reduction. There is more size, weight and richness to the intensely mineral-driven
medium weight flavors that possess a rounded mid-palate but again tighten up immediately on the dusty, linear and moderately austere finale. This should benefit from a few years of bottle age to add depth and flesh out.

See detailed press review
Vinous

(90-92) POINTS

January 2018

(this site features barely a foot of dark soil over limestone and rock; entirely destemmed): Dark red-ruby. Fresh, subtle aromas of smoky black cherry, spices and sexy earth tones. A supple, juicy midweight, with nicely focused berry and cherry fruit flavors accented by spices. Ripe tannins spread out to dust the palate on the firm but sweet back end. These vines escaped the frost in 2016.

See detailed press review
Vinous

90-92 Points

Neal Martin, October 2018 (Vintage 2017)

The 2017 Aloxe-Corton La Toppe Au Vert 1er Cru contains no whole clusters (there will be some in 2018) since the vines are planted on shallow soils. It has an expressive bouquet of red cherries, crushed strawberry, rose petal and a touch of orange pith. This feels open and generous already - quite precocious for the vintage. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, very well judged acidity, smooth texture and a little corpulence toward the candied finish. This will be difficult to resist in its youth - you have been warned.

See detailed press review
Burghound.com

(87-89) Points

January 2020 (Vintage 2018)

This too possesses a very pretty nose that offers up notes of the essence of black raspberry, cassis, violet and a whiff of earth. There is good volume and richness to the supple, round and delicious medium bodied flavors where the ever-so-mildly spiky finish may well round out with a few years of bottle age.

See detailed press review