From purchased fruit, Thibault Liger-Belair’s 2005 Chambolle-Musigny Les Gruenchers exudes musky florality, cherry, cherry pit and red meatiness. Densely-concentrated, fine-grained and incipiently creamy on the palate, this preserves a fresh primary fruit in its finish even as the decadent floral and carnal side of Chambolle and dark shadings of moss-covered wet stone assert themselves in an intriguingly mysterious finish. It will be fascinating to revisit in two or three years.
In this his fourth vintage, and (like his cousin at Comte Liger-Belair in Vosne-Romanee) young, ambitious in the pursuit of quality, well-traveled, and in the process of taking back family property from rental and negociant contracts, Thibault Liger-Belair is ensconced in deep, ancient, and bitterly-cold cellars in the center of Nuits-St.-Georges. He has begun pursuing a biodynamic regimen in his vineyards and has inaugurated a rigorously-controlled negociant arm (its wines labeled “Thibault Liger-Belair Successeurs” and designated “S” in my listings). He says he approached 2005 with great caution lest the wines lose polish and finesse to over-extraction of tannins. Certainly the results have included some very powerful and formidably structured wines. Low sulfur and a significant inclusion of whole clusters (“depending on the circumstances and site,” he says, “- I have no system”) are among other prominent features of Liger-Belair’s approach in 2005.
Also recommended: 2005 Aloxe-Corton La Toppe au Vert ($64.00; 86+?).
Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980 8802
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