2006 Richebourg Grand Cru

When I told Thibault Liger-Belair that I was particularly impressed by the pungent minerality of his 2007s and 2006s, he agreed that his wines are getting more energy and precision but couldn't really explain why. After some reflection, he mentioned that he has put a lot of effort into forcing the roots deeper and that this might well be the explanation. He noted, for example, that there are about 30 centimeters of dark clay soil over calcaire in his Nuits-Saint-Georges La Charmotte vineyard, and that even in vintage 2005 he was not able to get much minerality out of this site. Liger-Belair did a painstaking ten-day pass through the vines in 2007 to reduce the crop load and aerate the grapes, and for that reason it was necessary to do less sorting at harvest time than in 2006. He carried out a very gentle vinification in 2007, using infusion to extract what the grapes had to offer before the temperature of the must rose much above 28oC. He views the wines as dense and opulent, with round tannins. In contrast, the 2006s are more austere, tannic wines. "They show the finesse of pinot but with rigor," he told me. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)

Thibault Liger-Belair describes 2006 as "a great surprise." He went on: "There were a lot of sugars in the grapes, especially with our low yields, and biodynamic farming is shortening the difference in time between sugar and phenolic ripeness." His cool, "soft" fermentations, relying more on remontage, with very little pigeage, in conjunction with the acidity of the vintage, yielded wines with purity and elegance. This was a tricky time to taste here, however, as a number of the important wines had just been racked, and most of the rest were in cuve. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)