Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair: La Romanée 1865 – 2014

The phrase ‘once-in-a-lifetime,’ so often overused, has never been more apt. This tasting, held to celebrate Liger-Belair’s 200th anniversary, was the most comprehensive retrospective of La Romanée ever staged. When all was said and done, a group of thirteen tasters surveyed an eye-popping 74 different bottlings of the family’s crown jewel La Romanée going back to 1865. 

Louis-Michel Liger-Belair in his library

A keen student of history and one of the most thoughtful young growers in Burgundy, Louis-Michel Liger-Belair is the seventh generation to manage his family’s vineyards and winery. Liger-Belair invited just twelve people last June to be a part of an unforgettable journey spanning two centuries of family history and wine, starting with a small group of collectors who generously contributed a significant number of super-rare bottles. A handful of wine writers rounded out the invitees, including Michel Bettane and Allen Meadows, both of whom possesses a staggering knowledge of Burgundy and can tell more than a few good stories, most of them unsuitable for print. Neal Martin, Jeannie Cho Lee and yours truly represented the younger generation. It was both an honor and a privilege to be a part of a day that I will surely never forget. The collective knowledge assembled in the room was truly remarkable. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of time it took to track down all of these wines in what can only be described as a labor of love.

The Château de Vosne-Romanée, the family home and cellars of Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, as seen circa 1908

Wines were served in thematic flights conceived by Louis-Michel Liger-Belair, with input from Meadows and collector Doug Barzelay. Four New York City-based sommeliers flew in specifically for the event and did a remarkable job with wine service. Ned Benedict, Robert Bohr, Tim Kopec and Dustin Wilson coddled these rare, precious bottles with attention and made sure each wine was served in optimal conditions, all of which was especially challenging considering Burgundy was unseasonably warm and none of the rooms where we tasted had air conditioning. I am not sure exactly how they did it, but the sommeliers deserve to be recognized for what was a truly heroic effort.

La Romanée is nestled between Romanée-Conti and Reignots and shares a border with Richebourg to the north

One Family, One Vineyard

La Romanée measures just 0.8452 hectares (about two acres), which makes it the smallest Grand Cru vineyard in France. The present-day La Romanée was created between 1815 and 1826 from a collection of six separate parcels in what was then called ‘Aux Echanges.’ La Romanée is nestled between Domaine de la Romanée-Conti’s Romanée-Conti and Liger-Belair’s own Aux Reignots. The first vintage made from the newly established monopole was 1827. Phylloxera ravaged La Romanée, as it did most of Europe. The vineyard was replanted between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.  A subsequent redevelopment took place in 1952, when about 50% of the vines were replanted. About 15% of the vines, those on the lower section of the vineyard, were replanted in 1992. As of 2015, about 20% of the vines are 90-100 years old, 50% are those from the early 1950s replant and 30% are 20-40 years old. Average production is around 3,600 bottles, the equivalent of 12 barrels or 300 12-bottle cases.

Général-Comte Louis Liger-Belair (1772-1835), center, is flanked by his Belgian relatives, all members of the Bidault family

The Liger-Belair family once owned a number of the very best vineyards in Vosne, including parcels in Richebourg, Les Gaudichots, La Grande Rue, Malconsorts, Reignots, Suchots and Clos St. Jacques and what is considered to the original portion of La Tâche. Henri Liger-Belair, the fourth Comte Liger-Belair, passed away in 1924, leaving behind ten children, some of whom were still minors when his widow died in 1931. It was a bleak time in Burgundy. Still reeling from heavy casualties in World War I, Burgundy also has to deal with Prohibition in the United States and the loss of one of its major markets (the other was Russia). The large number of heirs, conflicting priorities and the technicalities of France’s inheritance laws forced the family to sell its vineyards at the now-legendary 1933 auction in Vosne-Romanée through which Domaine de la Romanée-Conti acquired La Tâche.

Priest Just Liger-Belair, one of Henri’s children, was able to purchase three vineyards at the auction (La Romanée, Les Chaumes and Aux Reignots) and keep them in the family. Up until 1933 the wines were made by C. Marey & Comte Liger-Belair, a négociant firm partly owned by the family. In 1933 Louis-Michel Belair’s grandfather and uncle ceased working with C. Marey & Comte Liger-Belair because of family squabbles and decided to sell the wines to various négociant firms, including Thomas-Bassot, Delauney & Fils and Lionel Bruck. Just Liger-Belair’s primary focus was his ecclesiastical career, so the vineyards were entrusted to the Michaudet family, who worked the land.

For three generations (1946-2001) the Forey family tended the vines and made the wines under a sharecropping arrangement, underscoring how ingrained family cultures were (and still are) in Burgundy. Henri Forey made the wines from 1946 to 1962, when his son Jean, took over. Régis Forey (who now runs his own domaine) made the wines from 1988 through 2001.

During this era, a series of négociants purchased, raised and ultimately sold the wines. Following standard practice, négociants dropped their barrels off at the domaine and picked up their wine after malolactic fermentation was complete. The négociants finished the élevage, bottled and sold the wines. None of the négociant firms vinified the wines. Occasionally, wines were re-sold to other négociants, which gave rise to multiple labels for the same vintage. 

Henri Leroy had an exclusive from 1950 to 1962. Bichot bought the wines from 1963 to 1975, and sold the wines under various labels in addition to their own, including Paul Bouchard, Château de Vosne-Romanée and Domaine de la Romanée (a label that was not related to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and was used only through 1969). In 1976, one of the Liger-Belair women married into the Bouchard family and thus was born Liger-Belair’s long relationship with Bouchard Père et Fils, which lasted through 2001. The domaine was managed by Comte Henry Liger-Belair (the sixth Comte Liger-Belair), and his wife, Anne, but their focus was first on Henry’s military career and then, later, on raising their four children.