2023 Vosne-Romanée Village

Louis-Michel Liger-Belair, attired in his regulation red trousers, greeted me at the winery in the heart of Vosne-Romanée. Together, we tasted the complete range of wines, which expanded with the 2022 vintage after he took over some choice parcels within Domaine Lamarche. Before discussing the 2023s, he mentioned that he lost 80% of production in 2024 since Vosne was one of the worst affected by rot.

“It was the first time I have seen this kind of wide timeframe of picking. Usually there is one week when everyone picks, but in 2023, it was completely spread out. A lot of people were waiting. Some people did not manage their vineyards well, so they had to wait for ripeness, or they went very quickly from underripe to overripe. I started on September 4 until September 10. The heatwaves began on the first day, so we began picking at seven and finished at one or two in the afternoon. It was a slightly easier sorting than usual. All the wines are aged in 100% new oak.

Liger-Belair went on, “I think it is a vintage where you have people that picked before September 10 and those that picked after. The latter had a huge quantity and risked underripeness because the crop was too abundant. Some people could have double the volume. We made less 5% less in 2023 than 2022 by taking care in the vineyard and doing green harvesting on a wider range [of parcels] than usual.