Many have said the 2009 vintage is the best ever for Beaujolais. I’m not going to argue with that having enjoyed just about all of the 09s. Jean-Paul Thévenet and Marcel Lapierre’s wines have been my favorites to date, though each time I have a bottle of Lapierre it seems to distance itself from all others. That said, there are some wines downstairs still to be had — Foillard’s Morgon Cuvée Corcelette Vieille Vigne and his Morgon Côte du Py, Lapierre’s Morgon Cuvée Marcel and others.
Last night I opened a bottle of the Thibault Liger-Belair Moulin-à-Vent La Roche. The wines from Thévenet and Lapierre show a more feminine side, while this is more masculine. A bit more body and fruit as well as a bit darker, but also focused and soft. I can’t say this appealed to me at the same level as the Thévenet or Lapierre (which isn’t a fair comparison), but it is well made and definitely has a delicious factor. To make it even more impressive, this is the first release since Thibault Liger-Belair bought a piece of property in Beaujolais.
He owns 8 acres in Moulin-à-Vent and the average vine age age is 60 years. He sold-off the grapes in 2008, as Thibault contended it would take more than a year of working with the vines to perform to his desired standard. Thibault is currently transitioning the vineyards to be farmed biodynamically.
The Thibault Liger-Belair domaine is located in Nuits-St.-Georges and has almost 18 acres under vine. The domaine has been in the Liger-Belair family for 250 years, having been passed down through the family for the next 5 generations. In 1982 Xavier Liger-Belair died and the business was sold. That same year Xavier’s son, Vincent Liger-Belair, took over the buildings and restructured the domaine by having three sharecropper winemakers handle the work. Then in 2001, Vincent’s son, Thibault Liger-Belair, took over the vines as the winemaker and created Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair. His wines are imported to the U.S. by Vineyard Brands.
Related posts
Thévenet Morgon Vieilles Vignes 2009
Jean & Agnes Foillard — Morgon Cuvée Corcelette Vieille Vigne 2007
Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py 2007
personalwinebuyer.wordpress.com 