Vosne Romanee Suchots, Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair 2007

Note: from a .22 ha parcelProducer note: Louis-Michel Liger-Belair told me that 2007 is a vintage of "extreme precociousness. Unfortunately, after May 15th we had one good day followed by a bad one and as a result, rot pressure was substantial. It was interesting to see that the vineyards that I took over in 2006 had more problems handling the rot than those that are mine and thus used to my viticultural approach. Exactly why I am not sure but I believe that mine are used to fending more for themselves. With the cool weather you absolutely had to have relatively low yields to obtain good phenolic ripeness. We began picking on September 1st and picked quickly, finishing on the 5th. We had excellent sugars at between 12.5 and 13.5% though yields were fully 30% less than a normal crop. I vinified the '07s about like I normally do. As to the wines, it's a good vintage to have after the more substantial vintages of 2005 and 2006 as the wines are generous, approachable and should drink well early." As the scores and comments suggest, the in-bottle '06s have turned out very well and while most of the wines in the range were not there in 2005, those that are were not far off the performance achieved in that great vintage, a high compliment to the quality of the Liger-Belair '06s.

This is very Vosne in character with a beautifully spicy and exotic nose of ripe and layered black pinot fruit that is very much in keeping with the round, generous and very rich full-bodied flavors that possess more impressive volume than complexity before culminating in a delicious and solidly persistent finish. This is certainly very good but it is not as refined or classy as the best of the 1ers.