Hautes Côtes de Nuits 'La Corvée de Villy'
2015
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'...
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This vineyard is 0.70 ha (1.75 acres) and was planted in 1988. This vineyard is in the upper reaches of Nuits-Saint-Georges on the Chaux plateau, this vineyard is on very stony soil, mainly composed of lava stone (the primary limestone that formed the basis for the creation of the Côte). The first 30 centimetres (12 inches) of the soil are made up of red-orange clays rich in ferrous elements.
The grapes are harvested by hand and 100% destemmed before fermentation. There is a 3 week fermentation period with very moderate intervention. They are aging the wine in 30% new French oak barrels for 18 months. The wines are unfiltered and unfined.
Very floral with aromas of small red fruits, the palate is rich and luscious. The wine has a great balance of freshness & minerality. It is medium bodied, fine tannin with bright acidity.
This has plenty of red and black fruit characters, with an intriguing salty, savoury edge and plenty of freshness on the palate. Produced from a 0.7ha parcel in the hills above Nuits-St-George, in the village of Chaux, on thin, iron-rich soils over the limestone. The fruit is destemmed and fermented on native yeasts, before ageing two winters in cask (30% new).
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(from white marl soil on a very steep slope; 100% destemmed): Ripe aromas of black cherry, raspberry and smoke, plus a whiff of meat. Creamier and larger-scaled in the mouth than the Corvée de Villy but with good juicy stony lift giving detail to the middle palate. Finishes with substantial broad, dusty tannins that current cut off the fruit. In a distinctly sunny style, but the Corvée de Villy may be longer.
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