2007 Richebourg Grand Cru

Less sorting was required in 2008 than during the previous harvest, said Thibault Liger-Belair, who told me that there was less rot in '08 than in '07 but more heterogeneous ripeness. Only the best clusters, mostly those that were tiny and well aerated due to millerandage, went into the cuve intact (the rest were destemmed), and even then it was Liger-Belair's most experienced pickers who were given the duty of harvesting the best fruit. Liger-Belair describes 2008 as "a vintage with richness and tension-denser and deeper than the more elegant 2007s." He planned to bottle in January to preserve their fruit, whereas most of the 2007s remained in tanks for five or six months and weren't bottled until July of 2009. Most of the 2008s had been racked during the week or two prior to my visit and thus were tricky to assess. (Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL)

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)