2005 Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru

The domaine’s 2005 Clos Vougeot – around a third fermented with whole clusters – smells of beef jerky, ripe blackberry, and pungent herbal distillate. Grainy and substantial in the mouth, it stains the palate with salted beef and blackberry while contra-bass notes of roasted meat, medicinal bitter herbs, and wet stone lead into an impressively long, deep-massaging finish. This remarkably intense, fascinating Clos Vougeot (which had just been given its first racking when I tasted) will probably need a decade to show its full potential, although I hasten to add that the track record of this domaine is too short to support prognostications of longevity. In this his fourth vintage, and (like his cousin at Comte Liger-Belair in Vosne-Romanee) young, ambitious in the pursuit of quality, well-traveled, and in the process of taking back family property from rental and negociant contracts, Thibault Liger-Belair is ensconced in deep, ancient, and bitterly-cold cellars in the center of Nuits-St.-Georges. He has begun pursuing a biodynamic regimen in his vineyards and has inaugurated a rigorously-controlled negociant arm (its wines labeled “Thibault Liger-Belair Successeurs” and designated “S” in my listings). He says he approached 2005 with great caution lest the wines lose polish and finesse to over-extraction of tannins. Certainly the results have included some very powerful and formidably structured wines. Low sulfur and a significant inclusion of whole clusters (“depending on the circumstances and site,” he says, “- I have no system”) are among other prominent features of Liger-Belair’s approach in 2005. Also recommended: 2005 Aloxe-Corton La Toppe au Vert ($64.00; 86+?). Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980 8802

(vinified with 20% whole clusters) Bright, dark red. Perfumed aromas of black cherry, licorice and medicinal herbs. Distinctly firm and mineral, in a somewhat ungiving style. This is quite tannic and austere, with the stems contributing to the wine's early toughness, and requires longer elevage