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Wine Description
The Story
The Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair is both ancient and modern: ancient because it was acquired by Louis Liger-Belair, Napoleonic General, in 1815; and modern in that it was re-launched by his successor Vicomte Louis-Michel Liger-Belair in 2000. Since 1827 the diamond in the crown of the estate has been the monopoly of La Romanée, one of the very few grand cru monopolies in Burgundy, and the smallest.
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).
Vintage 2006
2006 VINTAGE in Burgundy
The personality of Burgundy wines makes the difference
A charmer. Such is the epithet most frequently employed when Burgundy's newest vintage is evoked. Nearly two months after the grape harvest, and following a year typified by rather fantastical weather, Burgundy is finally catching its breath. The 2006 vintage, a preoccupying one which never allowed an idle moment, both in the vineyards and in the cellars, excels in its whites and surprises with its reds.
"Like the flowering of the vines which was concentrated over only a few days, the grape harvest did not follow its habitual course throughout the vineyards of Burgundy, " confided Michel Baldissini, President of the B.I.V.B.
Indeed, organizing the grape harvest was no simple undertaking, and choosing the optimal dates was particularly challenging as September's sunshine suddenly ripened grapes which had been previously languishing throughout August.
Even though a careful sorting of the harvest was required the result is now promising, particularly thanks to the knowledge and expertise of the winemakers. As such, even more than with other years, the choices made in the vineyard and during the vinification process were primordial for the creation of the wines of 2006.
2006 is a year that has never stopped surprising us, from its metrological conditions through to the wine that has finally been obtained. This wine is still being patiently worked with, and now shows the promise of many pleasant and memorable tastings.
The white wines
With their seductive nature, these wines promise to be excellent. Supple and fresh, they are already proving to be expressive and fruity in the mouth and boast considerable richness. Their aromas conjure up citrus fruits, white fruits and their flowers, with notes of sugared and stewed fruits at the more elevated degrees. Chablis expresses its typical minerality marvellously. We have noticed a very agreeable uniformity of quality from Chablis to Mâcon, as well as respect paid to the specificity of different wine districts.
The red wines
Burgundy globally presents high quality wines with nevertheless more uniformity in the Côte de Nuits and in the Auxerre district.
The wine boasts beautiful, intense colours. Indeed, thanks to analyses performed on the grapes to find out their "anthocyanes" quotient (this is the molecule contained in the grapes' skin which confers its red colour) and their extractability, the winemakers benefited from valuable indications which allowed them to choose the techniques best adapted to revealing the grapes' full potential. Just before the grape harvest, the longevity of the tannins was relatively high, but regular tasting during the maceration period allowed for the adjustment of these tannins so that more balanced wines were produced. The careful sorting of the grapes at harvest time, a determining factor this year, undeniably created the parameters of the red wines' quality.
Some are delicate and elegant, while we have found others to be robust and full-bodied, which indicated a fine capacity for ageing. Their aromas flirt equally with red fruits (raspberry, red currant) as with cherry, spices and cocoa.
As such, we find a concrete recompense for all the efforts made in the name of quality by the entirety of the players in the Burgundian wine industry.