Michael Schuster relishes a range of “absolutely lovely” wines from Comte Liger-Belair in an excellent vintage, the first to include four cuvées new to the domaine.
Louis-Michel Liger-Belair calls his 2022 wines “a thrilling vintage,” and he has every right to be very pleased with them. His pithy summary of the season was, “A very benign season that presented little in the way of challenge.” After a mild, sunny, early spring with little frost damage, summer was very hot and dry, breaking (yet again) numerous records, but with few real extremes. There was welcome rain toward the end of June and as occasional relief toward the end of August. The grapes at the start of harvest were in excellent health, and the picking started at the domaine on August 30: eighty people picking for a week, with all the family there.
In contrast to the frost-depleted, empty vats of 2021, the 2022 yields were generous, and the cellar in 2022 was absolutely full, as a result not only of the abundance of the vintage but also because of the Lamarche additions, the domaine’s big news for 2022.
The Lamarche additions
These were vines owned by Nathalie Pacareau of the Lamarche family, who, at the end of 2021, decided to associate herself and her personal holdings with Louis-Michel and to lease her vineyards, in a métayage (sharecropping) deal, to the Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair for 28 years up until to 2050, adding nearly 2.8ha (7 acres) of prime terroir.
Related
New to the domaine are
Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru La Croix Rameau: 0.21ha (0.5 acre)
Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Malconsorts: 0.5ha (1.2 acres)
Content from our partners
Vosne-Romanée Aux Réas: 0.42ha (1 acre)
Grands-Echézeaux: 0.3ha (0.74 acre).
There are also the following additions to existing holdings:
Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots: +0.36ha (0.9 acre)
Clos Vougeot: +0.59ha (1.5 acres)
Echézeaux: +0.24ha (0.6 acre)
Vosne-Romanée various: +0.15ha (0.37 acre).
That is a total addition of 2.78ha (6.87 acres) from Nathalie Pacareau, plus an extra hectare (2.47 acres) or so of various Bourgogne regional-level vineyards.
That brings the total vine surface up to 14.5ha (36 acres) today, from 10.5ha (26 acres) before the Lamarche additions, an increase of nearly 40%. Addressing the tasters in London in April, Louis-Michel made the point that while it was wonderful to take over these exceptional vineyards, they come with an initial caveat. It takes at least five years to really clean the soil of herbicides, to fine-tune the management of the vineyards on the organic and biodynamic principles of the existing holdings, to encourage the roots to push deeper and so on, in order to achieve the quality potential of the already converted vineyards.
Where the domaine already had holdings in particular vineyards (see above), the fruit from the new Natalie Pacareau vines was incorporated in 2022. And it is, of course, difficult to be sure exactly how this might have affected their absolute quality possibilities. Where this was perhaps clearest to see was with the Grands-Echézeaux, where this first Comte Liger-Belair expression of the vineyard was clearly qualitatively not up to that of the “lesser” Echézeaux. And as Louis-Michel put it regarding the Grands-Echézeaux, “It will take time to get a real sense, a real idea, a real understanding of the vineyard, of its true soul.” Indeed; for all the newly acquired holdings, he might have added.
A brief reminder of the domaine’s viticulture and vinification: The 14.5ha of vines (10.5ha before the Lamarche additions) are managed meticulously on organic and biodynamic principles, and yields are very low. The majority of the grapes are destemmed (which seems to contribute a lovely floral character to so many of the bouquets), except for a small proportion of clay-based premier and grand cru fruit—20% maximum. Yeasts are indigenous, handling is very gentle, extraction judicious, and all the wines age in 100% new wood for 11–18 months (the sole exception being the white Nuits-St-Georges, with only 30% new), ideally without racking or sulfuring, followed by three months in tank prior to bottling without fining or filtration. The resulting Burgundies are wines of outstanding quality, purity, and transparent beauty—benchmark examples across the hierarchy.
The 2022 reds are very different in style from the generosity and proportions of, for example, 2020 or 2018. (I didn’t taste the 2019s.) This is a supple, stylish, medium-bodied vintage; ripe-fruited, easy, not particularly tannic, but not lacking structure either. Think, perhaps, of the best of 1985, 2000, and 2002 for comparisons, and you will have a good idea. And the Comte Liger-Belair wines are, across the board, absolutely lovely. Not “grand” in terms of scale, concentration, or structure (not, for example, the dark colors, black-fruit ripeness, profound flavors, the often sumptuous density alongside fine structures of 2020 or 2018), but very, very good, with great beauty, all the exceptional class they usually have for their “appellation” levels, and given their harmonious balance, good medium- to long-term prospects alongside their immense immediate charm. They will be hugely rewarding for those lucky enough to have a few bottles.
Tasting 2022 Comte Liger-Belair
UK agent Justerini & Brooks at Pavyllon, The Four Seasons Hotel, London; April 18, 2024
2022 Nuits-St-Georges Premier Cru Clos des Grandes Vignes Blanc Monopole (bottled)
White-peach-fragrant Chardonnay; medium-full, supple yet fresh, beautifully balanced; ripe, peachy, gently racy white Burgundy, succulent, long, and graceful, clear premier cru length of flavor, both fine and delicious, and with excellent persistence. Not grand, but very good. Drinkable immediately, likely very good to 2030. | 92+
2022 Nuits-St-Georges Aux Lavières (bottled)
Lightly fruity, limestone-tinged, ripe red-cherry nose; medium-full, fresh, finely tannic, but with the commune’s typical slightly firmer feel, a lovely balance; sweet, fresh, very gently muscular, with nice length across the palate and on the finish. Complete, classy, in a somewhat leaner style by comparison with the Village Vosnes, a fine lesser premier cru quality in impression. Leave it a few years to “gloss” in texture. 2029–42+. | 91
2022 Vosne-Romanée La Colombière (bottled)
Rich, spicy, red fruit and clay suggestive nose—lovely, “wealthy”; medium-full, fresh, delicately dry in tannin; sweetly yet freshly ripe, long and pure, gently, transparently fruity, long and very fragrant to finish. A little more core-fruit richness than the Clos du Château, reflecting its more clay-like origin. A top-notch Villages beauty, which will be accessible very early. 2027–37+. | 91
2022 Vosne-Romanée Clos du Château Monopole (bottled)
That characteristic, slightly reductive nose, but also spice and red fruit, becoming ample and subtly mineral as it sits in the glass; medium-full, supple yet fresh, very fine-grained in its tannins; restrained, delicate, graceful Village wine, long and restrainedly perfumed to taste, long and subtle to finish, a gentle core fruit within the overall perfume. Lovely! A slightly fresher impression, with the emphasis more on fragrance than the Colombière’s fruit core. Very similar quality, the usual slight difference of style, the mirror of its more limestone-based soil. Preference will change from one moment to the next. Here, too, this will be accessible early, but with years of gentle serenity in hand. 2027–37+. | 91+
2022 Nuits-St-Georges Premier Cru Aux Cras (bottled)
A rich, ripe cherry fruit to smell, persistent, subtle, glass-filling, with faintly earthy, mineral elements, and so persistent in the glass after sitting for a few moments—a feature, it seems, of the vintage; rich, medium-full wine, very fine in tannin; long, pure, juicy, vital, sweet-red-cherry-cored flavor, restrained in fruit, with a warm-year succulence and lovely, gentle fruit and palate-coating fragrance on both palate and finish. Lovely Aux Cras. Drinkable relatively early, but a couple of decades no problem. 2029–42+. | 92
2022 Nuits-St-Georges Premier Cru Clos des Grandes Vignes Monopole (bottled)
A slightly darker color than the Aux Cras; an immediately impressive, rich, sweet, fruit-packed, imposingly glass-charging nose, with a light mineral/clay suggestion; a fairly ample wine, the first with a noticeable sense of structure—
a nice concentration, a finely firm, supporting tannin, a fresh, defining acidity; you sense the clay-based “matter” here, deep, long, sweet, and vital, close-grained across the palate, racy and tenacious, combining Nuits-St-Georges substance and premier cru finesse; a particularly graceful example, with great length reflecting both its fruit matter and its scent. This will benefit from a bit of time. A decade minimum, say? 2032–47+. | 93
2022 Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots (bottled)
A subtle combination of mineral-limestone scent and discreet, ripe, red- and black-cherry fruit, full of persistent scent in the glass; medium-full, fresh, and finely tannic, and as with all of these 2022s, so harmoniously balanced already. Freshly sweet, long, gentle, succulent, delicately fleshy and amply fruit rewarding, long and gently energetic to taste, very long to finish. Classy premier cru scope, full of grace, ease, Vosne charm and flesh. It won’t take long for this to mellow and blossom and seduce. 2028–47+. | 92+
2022 Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru La Croix Rameau (vat sample)
A strikingly individual nose, sweet, high-toned, floral, persistent; a perfectly balanced, supple yet fresh, medium-full wine, with a very delicate defining tannin. Juicy, vital, beaming, a graceful, gently spicy presence, insistent, long, sweetly red-cherry ripe. Not big; quiet-spoken but gently energetic all the while and with a beautiful, cherry-fruit-fragrant persistence to finish. A refined and most complete premier cru. Clearly a gorgeous addition to the fold. 2032–50+. | 93–93+
2022 Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Aux Malconsorts (vat sample)
A relatively dark color in the year, mirrored by the density of the nose, somewhat closed (the first so far), also the first to be really “black-cherry” in character, with a generous fruit emphasis, and a citrus-fresh definition. Rich, ample wine, with a vital, defining acidity, a very fine-grained yet firm tannin texture—deep and vivid, with its wealth of succulent fruit rendered complex and classy by its overall racy impression and underlying mineral-complex scent. A luxuriant, grand-scale, top premier cru, almost prosperous, one might say, with great Vosne-subtle, fruit-fragrant length. A splendid initial performance for Comte Liger-Belair. This is so harmonious that, like most of the year’s reds, it will be accessible early. But ideally, to mellow, to “bouquet” fully, to allow the firmish tannins to yield, 10–12 years. 2034–54+. | 94–95
2022 Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Petits Monts (vat sample)
Gentle, delicate, fragrant nose, a superfine combination of floral scents and limestone minerality; medium-full, vivid wine, defined by a light, fine tannin. This is very Vosne-restrained in proportions, modest in concentration, freshly sweet in flavor, moderately complex, a lighter premier cru in scope, but long and vital and easy, and with good, light length. Could drink with great pleasure at five years. 2027–37+. | 91+–92
2022 Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Aux Reignots (bottled)
A quite beautiful nose already, heady, scented, subtle; sweet, rose petal and peony-floral, just wonderful to slowly inhale, alongside a perfectly ripe, fresh, red-cherry fruit. On the palate, this is rich, ample, fleshy, vital—beautifully constituted, complete, and harmonious. Deep and profound to taste, without any suggestion of heaviness, mouthwatering in the vitality that defines and underpins its succulent fruit, and with a beautifully restrained, refined tannin. An absolutely top premier cru constitution of abundance on the one hand and Vosne restraint on the other. Grand cru in scope if not in proportions, teeming with gentle, inner energy as you contemplate it across the palate. And of course, a scented persistence to match all that has gone before. A quite splendid performance. Magical. 2034–52+. | 95+
2022 Echézeaux Grand Cru (bottled)
Discreet to smell, expansive, persistent, sweet, finely fruited and floral fragrant, beautiful and complete as it sits and unfurls—there is here an immediate difference of “presence” in the glass, by comparison with even the top premiers crus. As there is on the palate, not so much of concentration per se, as an inner dynamism, which is more evident to taste; ample, fresh to vital, its fleshiness defined by such a graceful tannin frame, perfectly poised. Deep, ripe black-cherry cored, racy and mouth-filling, a perfect combination of weight, flesh, freshness, containment—very 2022 in style, absolutely complete and harmonious. So long and mouth-coating to taste, so sustained without fading across the palate, and with a wonderfully resonant fruit and perfume aftertaste. A dozen years to allow these superb constituents to meld? 2035–62+. | 96
2022 Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru (vat sample)
Dense, firm-fruited, persistent, finely earthy, suggestive of its clay cradle—packed but closed. Rich, concentrated wine, vigorous in acidity, firmly tannic, a classic, muscular Clos de Vougeot constitution; deep, racy, and prolonged, a dense yet elegantly proportioned expression of its origin, beautifully sustained and with great length. Its relatively firm structure indicates a fairly long wait for the utmost reward. 2037–57+. | 94–95
2022 Grands-Echézeaux Grand Cru (vat sample)
As a grander wine in the hierarchy, from the same commune, this first formulation of Grands-Echézeaux by Comte Liger-Belair of course begs comparison with the domaine’s Echézeaux. Deeper in color than the Echézeaux, with a fine fruit presence on the nose but, as yet, without the subtlety and variety of the lesser appellation—denser, yes, but less complex. Full, vigorous, firmly and finely tannic, this is currently more muscular and ample in constitution than Echézeaux itself, larger and broader-scaled. Rich and packed with fruit, the Grands-Echézeaux is a wine of considerable presence and excellent length. A fine grand cru, no question, but in this initial CLB iteration, it lacks the class, detail, perfume, and finesse of the Echézeaux itself, at a slightly more reduced scale. But just give its vines, soil, and roots time to be fully understood—a score that needs close reading in the super-attentive biodynamic hands and eyes of Louis-Michel—and then it won’t be long. And surely before this wine begins to be at its best? 2037–60+. | 93+–95
2022 La Romanée Grand Cru Monopole (barrel sample)
Dark in color; tight and closed on the nose, but a great scented presence is clear to perceive, for the moment, a sort of muffled magnificence. Perfectly proportioned, gently concentrated, reminiscent of La Romanée-Conti (its immediate neighbor to the south) in its understated quality; full, superfine in its tannins, gently fresh in its delineating acidity; sweet, subtly spicy, almost creamy textured, transparent, and with such a volume of gently graceful fruit enveloping the senses in an absolutely effortless way. A marvel of liquid in the mouth, resonant, delicate, mesmerizing to contemplate and savor, and with prodigious, perfumed persistence. Not, perhaps, the absolute grandeur of 2020, but a wonder all the same! Great La Romanée—and you see the kinship, unquestionably, with La Romanée-Conti here: discreet delivery, endless to consider and contemplate, on the palate and then on the aftertaste. Remarkable… Humbling, in a way. And when to drink? Well, ideally start at 15 years, but doubtless an enormous pleasure at any time. And for 50 years subsequently? 2037–80+. | 98–100
