Gevrey-Chambertin 1er cru la Croix des Champs
2013
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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Saturated dark red. Slightly reduced nose conveys a wild quality to the aromas of raspberry, mocha and soil tones. Then plush and intense in the mouth, displaying a savory/sweet impression to the flavors of raspberry, rose petal, spices and earth. Very concentrated wine with a classic Gevrey combination of gaminess and nobility; in fact, this distinctly mouthfilling wine shows more village than vintage character.
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(50% whole clusters). A strikingly cool, restrained and very floral nose presents fresh and cool red currant along with earth, game and humus wisps. The well-detailed medium weight flavors possess a lovely sense of underlying tension on the focused, precise and energetic finish. This isn’t especially dense but it is well-balanced and solidly persistent though I would note that if you generally don’t care for whole cluster-vinified wines then this won’t be for you as the effects are quite noticeable.
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Discreet wood sets off very fresh and rather floral-scented aromas of freshly turned earth, red currant and sauvage hints. The supple, round and again relatively forward middle weight flavours tighten up quickly on the balanced, attractively persistent and complex finale.
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(50% vendange entier; Liger-Belair did only a single punchdown during the vinification of this wine): Deep ruby-red. Sexy aromas of black cherry, wild dark berries, licorice and bitter chocolate, plus a hint of earth. Dense and smooth but at the same time sappy and juicy, with ripe crushed dark fruit flavors accented by a minty quality. Still youthfully primary, even a bit leesy. Like some other winemakers who vinify with stems, Liger-Belair "sandwiches" layers of juice and whole clusters in his fermentation tanks.
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(from soil rich in brown clay and silt on the wrong side of the Route Nationale; Liger-Belair vinifies with 50% whole clusters "to maintain sappy freshness and to play down the earthy side of Gevrey"; 40% new oak): Healthy medium red. Musky, inviting aromas of savory dark fruits, spices and meat. A supple, airy, very spicy wine with darker fruit flavors than most of the other 2014s in this cellar, but not hugely concentrated. Finishes dry and savory but essentially gentle, with slightly dusty tannins and lingering herb and spice notes from the vendange entier.
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(50% whole clusters). A notably floral nose offers notes of plum, freshly
turned earth and red currant scents. I very much like the underlying tension and fine delineation of the middle weight flavors that also exude a fine bead of minerality on the mildly austere and rustic finish. This is notably more structured than the Charmotte and will need a few years of cellaring first.