2019 Vosne-Romanée Village

Thankfully Louis-Michel Liger-Belair greeted me at his winery. I say that because he had fallen victim to Covid a few weeks earlier. Now he is recovered and back to his normal self. “I like the freshness of the 2019 and the balance,” he told me. “They will be easy wines to taste young but will age because of the acidity. We had a bit of frost in March, flowering was long and we lost part of the crop so that we lost around 40% in total. Every month we had something that reduced yields by 10%. We started the picking on 14 September, three days earlier than expected and harvested over the next seven days. We used around 20% whole bunches across the range, which is a bit more than previous years, but less than in 2020. The vinification was super-easy because it was not too warm and that was good for the alcoholic fermentation. It was the first vintage in the new cuverie that helps in terms of space and cleanliness, though it has not changed the way we do things. I would say that 2019 was far easier to make than 2018 because if you picked too late, then you could have two degrees more alcohol. We did not have those issues in 2019. The alcohol levels are between 13.0° to 14.0°.”

These samples had been racked and finished and were ready to be bottled around November, so they were essentially finished wines. There is always a sense of plushness and luxuriant tannins with respect to Comte Liger-Belair’s wines. This was a strong set of wines as you would expect, crowned by a sensual La Romanée, though I was taken most by the Nuits Saint-Georges Aux Cras. The Aux Reignots and Aux Brûlées will tussle it out for the best Vosne-Romanée in show, though I was seeking a bit more complexity apropos the Clos Vougeot this year.