x
  • Weather

    9° C Broken clouds
  • Time

    09:55 AM
  • Wine average?

    95 Tb
  • Country Ranking?

    82
  • Region Ranking?

    25
  • Popularity ranking?

    90

History

Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair is a very recent domaine created at the beginning of the year 2000 by Louis-Michel Liger-Belair, agricultural engineer and oenologist, with those few parcels of vineyards remaining in family hands. In reality, the domaine is not at all recent ; Louis-Michel is renewing two hundred years of family tradition dedicated to the vines and wines of Burgundy in general, and to Vosne-Romanée in particular.

He created his domaine in 2000 by taking back 1.5 hectares of vineyards (Vosne-Romanée La Colombière, Clos du Château, 1er Cru Les Chaumes), and in 2002 je recovered another 1.6 hectares (Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Aux Reignots, La Romanée).

In 2006, he rent 5.5 hectares more, including a large parcel of Echezaux, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots, Les Petits Monts and Les Brûlées, Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru Aux Cras, Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-Saint.Georges.
With his wife, Constance, and their three children – Henry (2002), Brune (2003), and Pia (2006), he now manages 8.7 hectares of vines in Vosne-Romanée, Nuits St. Georges, and Flagey Echezeaux.

The following ideas represent the basic principles that Louis-Michel Liger-Belair, vigneron, applies to the care of his vineyards, and the production of his wines;

The quality of the wine lies in the vineyard (95 percent of the work is in the vines, 5 percent in the winery);
All vines and all wines deserve the same care, from village appellation to grand cru. From a qualitative point of view, it is without doubt more important to reduce yields in the most modest appellations than in the more prestigious appellations;
The vine is a living entity. It should not be, nor should the grapes it carries be subjected to that which we ourselves would not tolerate ;
In the winery and in the cellar, the less one does, the better one does ;
One should not seek to overextract the grapes. All that does not come naturally (tannins, color) cannot be durably ‘ fixed’ in the wines and will therefore not be stable in the long term once in bottle.


 

Close

Vineyards

 

The Domaine currently applies the principles of ‘lutte raisonnée’ or sustainable agriculture, tending towards organic farming, notably for the end of year treatments. Since the Domaine was established in 2000, the question of organic farming has been considered.

The springtime and the beginning of summer constitute the period when treatments against the development of oidium and mildew take place. Louis-Michel wished to ponder the problem in its entirety. Organic farming requires at least ten treatments , whereas more conventional methods limits these treatments to six. The greater number of treatments, the more often the soils are compressed. It is essential to find a method of treatment that limits the compacting effect before moving on to organic farming.

This could have been solved by acquiring a prototype of a tractor (now produced in volume) designed by a company in the Saone et Loire weighing only 1100 kilos as opposed to the traditional three ton tractor. This lightweight ‘three wheeler’ can both treat and prune. The problems of the soil being partially resolved, there is another concern in organic viticulture: the amount of copper put into the vineyards. Effectively, the element, copper, has a toxic effect on the life of the soil and the amount needs to be limited. New formulas for biological products seem to offer smaller concentrations of copper, a development that would permit the Domaine to envisage organic farming, or even evolving to biodynamic farming.

Current treatments are limited as much as possible. Once the clusters are fully formed, usually during the second week of July, treatments are stopped. This avoids two supplementary treatments as some domaines continue treating until ripening occurs in mid-August.

No anti-rot treatments are applied for the following three reasons:

- On one hand, the necessity for such a treatment is proof that one did not know how to master the vigor of the vines

- On the other hand, it is an anti-fungicide that is used and not only does it destroy the fungi, but also the least resistant yeasts. By doing so, one is harming the total effect of a particular terroir as each terroir has its ‘panel’ of yeasts, and each yeast contributes its part to the construction of a wine

- The last of these treatments (further compacting of the soil) takes place just before the clusters are fully formed. The cluster could contain a chemical phytosanitary product that is not washed away but will be found albeit in minute quantities in the vats. This could influence vinification.

Finally, concerning the devastating enemy of vines called ‘the cluster worm’, Eudemis and Cochylis, insects who lay their eggs in the grape bunches encouraging the development of rot: the biological method is applied in the village of Vosne-Romanée by placing pheromone capsules in the vineyards that prevent the males and females of the species from meeting and mating. This is called ‘sexual confusion’.

 

It is essential to plough the vineyards and not to weed them chemically in order to let the terroirs express their characteristics. This method protects the microbiological life of the soil essential in providing harmony to the different elements that constitute the soil.


In 2002 the Domaine decided to use a horse for ploughing and hired a company that provided this service. After three years it became necessary to find a better solution, and the Domaine purchased a horse in order to continue ‘in house’ instead of outsourcing. 2005 was a time of transition between the tractor and the horse. Certain modifications needed to be done, notably removing large blocks of stone on the surface of certain rows of vines, not at all a problem for a tractor but definite obstacles for a plough drawn by a horse.
The decision to use a horse has no relationship whatsoever with publicity. If this were the case, the Domaine would not have invested in the purchase of a horse, but simply ‘rented’ a horse for its most prestigious and visible vineyards.
 

The principal interest of using a horse is to limit compacting the soil. Whatever the critics of using a horse say, a horse compacts the soil far less than a tractor. Effectively, the step of a horse is random and never occurs in exactly the same place. Perhaps the compression is heavy under the weight of the horse’s shoe but it always occurs in a different place. In the case of a tractor, the pressure and weight are homogenous on the entire length and width of a row. The soil tilled by the tractor’s front wheels, is immediately pressed down by the tractor’s back wheel. One could consider that it is possible to weed mechanically using a tractor but never to plough.

Finally, it is noticeable that compacting is more evident in predominantly clay-ey rather than limestone soils. Clay soils are found principally at the base of the Côte d’Or slopes and in the plain of the Saône in village appellations. Therefore it appears to be important to plough in the village appellations rather than in the grands and premiers crus…

 

Domaine Liger-Belair is presently composed of twelve appellations, comprising 5.53 hectares,  situated in the communes of Vosne-Romanée, Flagey-Echézeaux, and Nuits-St-Georges. These include the monopole Grand Cru La Romanée (.84 ha.), and a parcel of Grand Cru Echézeaux (.6 ha.); a most impressive lineup of Vosne-Romanée, Premiers Crus — Aux Reignots (.75 ha), Les Suchots (.22 ha) ,  Aux Brûlees (.12 ha) ,  Les Petits Monts (.13 ha), Les Chaumes (.12 ha); 3 parcels of village-level Vosne-Romanée, totaling 2.26 hectares, including the monopole lieu-dit Clos du Château  (.83 ha.) , the lieu-dit La Colombière (.78 ha.), and a third village-leval parcel of .65 hectares ; together with two parcels of Nuits-St-Georges, the one a parcel of Premier Cru Les Cras  (.37 ha.) and the other a parcel of the lieu-dit Les Lavières (.13 ha.).     

Close

Winemaking

Louis-Michel believes that once the grapes are put on the sorting table at the entry to the winery, 95 percent of the work has been done. The remaining five percent is not a recipe but the application of certain basic principles, a dose of intuition, and an understanding of each vintage.

The Domaine hopes to bring in the grapes, once ripe, as quickly as possible and to avoid harvesting a single parcel over a two day period.

The grapes are brought to the winery in small perforated cases that hold fourteen kilos of grapes, the small size used in order to avoid crushing the bunches. Sorting is done by a team of eight on a sorting table, the grapes are entirely destemmed and arrive in the vats by means of a conveyor belt without being pumped or crushed.

As soon as the grapes are in the vat, they are lightly sulphured and cooled down to a temperature below fifteen degrees C°; this temperature is maintained for around a week. This enhances the aromatics , essential element of the Domaine wines. After a week, the fermentations begin naturally within a few days without the use of non-indigenous yeasts.

 

The fermentation is done in about ten days and concluded, if necessary, with a delicate chaptalization added over two or three days depending on the vintage. During the fermentation, pumping over and ‘pigéage’ are regularly carried out. When the fermentations are finished, the wines are devatted based on tasting them three times a day, and according to the characteristics of the vintage.

 

The grapes are then pressed.

The free run wine and the press wine are then blended and left in vats to settle the lees, a process that takes close to ten days, before transferring the wines into barrel when they are as clear as possible, since the wines are rarely racked during the aging process. Clarification enzymes are used to hasten the process should the vintage require this step. The wines are put into barrel by gravity in the cellar.

The wines are aged in new oak: two different cooperages and three different forests. Malolactic fermentations begin naturally either before or after the first winter succeeding the harvest. The wines stay in barrel with the least number of rackings possible and with no additional sulphur until the racking preceding bottling.

This racking is done without pumping, the wines being pushed by air and blended (by appellation) in bottling vats, usually 13 to 15 months after harvest. The wines are then sulphured and left to rest for two to three months in tank. There is neither fining nor filtration before bottling.

Bottling is done by gravity with the help of a small bottling unit at the bottom of the tank. The bottles are corked with a corking machine enabling the air to be evacuated in the compression chamber. The corks are not placed in a large funnel but one by one in a column so that each cork can be verified so that the best end of the cork will come into contact with the wine.

The wines are then stocked in pallets and are shipped after at least two months of rest. Most of the wines leave the Domaine in wooden cases. Each bottle is wrapped in tissue paper and straw protectors (when authorized).

Close

Inside information

HISTORY

The Liger-Belair family settled in Vosne when Louis Liger-Belair, napoleonic general, acquired the Chateau of Vosne in 1815. The domaine grew considerably under the general’s direction and that of Louis-Charles, his adopted son who was the son of his sister. Louis-Charles married Ludovie Marey, a well-known family who owned vineyards and had been negoçiants since the eighteenth century.

When the Comte Louis-Charles died, the family’s holdings covered more than sixty hectares principally in the Côte de Nuits with ownership of some of France’s most prestigious appellations: the monopolies of La Romanée, La Tâche, La Grande Rue, a large portion of Malconsorts, parcels of Chaumes, Reignots, and Suchots in Vosne Romanée, Saint Georges and Vaucrains in Nuits St. Georges, Clos Vougeot and Cras in Vougeot, Chambolle, Morey, as well as Chambertin. In addition, a domaine of fifteen hectares at Fleurie in the Beaujolais.

The Comte Henri Liger-Belair, grandson of the Comte Louis-Charles, the eldest child of the family and great grandfather of Louis-Michel died in 1924. He left a wife and ten children in possession of twenty-four hectares of vines and the chateau. The domaine held together until the death of the Comtesse Liger-Belair in 1931. The ten children were still there but two were minors and the law of that era required that all children must be of age in order to distribute the inheiritance or the estate must be sold. Three of the family members did not want to wait until the younger children reached legal adulthood and insisted that the entirety of the domaine be put up for sale. A sad August 31st, 1933 at the town hall of Vosne Romanée when the vineyards were auctioned off. The children witnessed the departure from their patrimony of La Tache, the Malconsorts, the Brulée…..However, two of the children, Just, a priest, and his brother, the Comte Michel, Louis-Michel’s grandfather, banded together to buy back La Romanée, Reignots, and les Chaumes. The vineyards were entrusted to local vignerons, and sales to Burgundian negoçiants.

The Comte Michel died in 1941, during the war before he could redevelop the Domaine. His son, the Comte Henry, Louis Michel’s father, enlisted in the army in 1949, pursued a brilliant career and rose to the rank of general following in the footsteps of his ancestor six generations earlier. He managed the domaine leaving vineyard work to sharecroppers, and commercialization to various shippers.

When he was eight years old Louis-Michel informed his parents that he intended to live in Vosne-Romanée when he grew up. His father informed Louis-Michel that he could not take charge of the domaine unless he became an engineer. Therefore, Louis-Michel majored in science, is a qualified agricultural engineer, has a degree in commerce, and a diploma in oenology from the University of Dijon.

Close

15 different wines with 119 vintages

People

  • Louis-Michel Liger-Belair

    Vigneron
    I have tasted some 1923’s, the last vintage of my great-grandfather. I felt there was a family style, even if I have never met my great-grandfather. I feel we have the same winemaking approach. What he did then is similar to what I do now. It is there, in the wine.
Incorrect Information
If you found some information that is wrong, let us know
UPGRADE MEMBER PLAN
Upgrade your membership now, it's quick and easy. We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards. Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal. You can cancel your membership at any time.
Thank you for your support!
 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

 

HOW TO USE TASTINGBOOK?

We recommend you to share few minutes for watching the following video instructions of how to use the Tastingbook. This can provide you a comprehensive understanding of all the features you can find from this unique service platform.

This video will help you get started



Taste wines with the Tastingbook


Create Your wine cellar on 'My Wines'



Explore Your tasted wines library



Administrate Your wine world in Your Profile



Type a message ...
Register to Tastingbook
Sign up now, it's quick and easy.
We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards.
Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal, where you can sign up for a free 7-day trial period. You can cancel your membership at any time. We wish you a rewarding journey to the world of Fine Wines.

Free 7 days Member trial

 

Member

 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

  Register