2003 Clos Vougeot Grand Cru

According to Thibault Liger-Belair, this house was a major wine merchant in Nuits-Saint-George dating back to 1720, but its reputation for quality was destroyed during the middle third of the 20th century.The young Thibault, who was purchasing manager for Wine & Co., which owns retail shops in France and abroad, is now trying to bring the estate back to form, working with seven hectares of vines that reverted back to him after fermage agreements expired.The first vintage he vinified on his own was 2002.Thibault doesn't like the make-up that new oak brings, but he also noted that new barrels gave freshness to the fruit in 2003.He vinified with 20% whole clusters in 2003 and did only a single pigeage.Beginning with the 2004 harvest, Liger-Belair will vinify a higher percentage of whole clusters, which he can now move from the egrappoir to the vat by a conveyor belt.These are distinctly fat, supple, chocolatey, user-friendly wines.For his part, Thibault says, "I'm not sure I have a style.One has to remain flexible.I want people to have pleasure from the wines.I don't want too much extraction or overly austere wines." Incidentally, Liger-Belair also owns 0.6 hectare of Richebourg, but in 2003 a resin-based product used to seal a wood vat gave a slight off taste of petrol to the wine and so he will probably declassify it into a Vosne-Romanee villages or premier cru. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)