Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022 - 72

Burgundy
Santenay where the soils are rich in oolite
limestone. In 2019, this wine is laden with
cherry fruit, dense in its color, with Santenay's
freshness and simple lines emerging
as the wine settles with air. Decant this
if you open it now, to serve with a salad of
duck confit. §
THIBAULT LIGER-BELAIR
Part of a renowned dynasty that once controlled
many of the greatest vineyards in
Burgundy, Thibault Liger-Belair founded
his domaine in Nuits St-Georges in 2001,
adding to it in 2009 with the Domaine des
Pierres Roses in Moulin-à-Vent. Imported by
Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL
REDS
93 | Thibault Liger-Belair $340
2018 Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru
Aux Charmes ^ Thibault Liger-Belair's parcel
in Aux Charmes was planted in 1946, threequarters
of an acre located at the top of the
vineyard, just below the border between
Chambertin and Latricières. " That's perfume
I can't afford, " said Jenna May Cass, of
Départ Great Barrington, acknowledging the
greenness of the scent as an integral part of
its beauty. That also ties to the cool feel of the
wine, earthbound, like low-growing blackberries,
the fruit youthful and primary, the
textural pleasure already apparent. Grand
and supple, this has a long life ahead. §
92 | Thibault Liger-Belair $225
2018 Nuits-St-Georges 1er Cru Les St.
Georges ^ The domaine farms five acres of
this 1er cru, the vines planted in 1944, growing
in deep, stony, brown limestone soil. Fermented
with 40 percent of the whole clusters
and aged in barrels (half of them new) for 22
months, this wine's concentration presents
a wall of richly textured dark fruit, slow to
reveal the details of black mission fig, blackberries
and black currants. There's an herbal
freshness, layering in lavender and thyme.
Built for long-term aging, this should begin
to reach its drinking window around 10 years
from the vintage. §
91 | Thibault Liger-Belair
$44
2018 Moulin-à-Vent Les Vieilles Vignes ^ A
blend from six parcels, 15 acres in all-half
of the domaine's holding in Moulin-à-Vent-
this is the fruit of vines planted between 1910
and 1955. It needs plenty of air for the fruit to
take precedence over the barnyard notes, but
when it does, the wine is lovely, with strawberry
notes and floral highlights. Lean and
72
WINE & SPIR IT S
firm, this will benefit from several years in
the cellar and the company of a rustic country
pâté. §
OTHER RECOMMENDED
THIBAULT LIgER-BELAIR
REDS
91 | 2018 Chambolle-Musigny
Vieilles Vignes ............................. $133
90 | 2018 Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru
La Toppe au Vert ......................... $130
DOMAINE FRANÇOIS
LUMPP
François Lumpp has built his 22-acre
domaine exclusively in Givry, working with
vineyards he planted himself. He ferments
his red wines in stainless steel, then ages
them for a year in barrels (70 percent new).
Imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant,
Berkeley, CA
REDS
90 | Dom. François Lumpp $64
2019 Givry 1er Cru A Vigne Rouge ^ This
is Lumpp's largest holding, with 6 acres
planted 15 years ago. A portion faces southsouthwest,
another part east-southeast. The
come together in a happy Burgundy, a wine
that feels unadulterated, saturated with beeswax
scents and fleshy, youthfully purple fruit.
Tart and clean, with lasting fragrance, this is
a friendly wine for pâté en croûte. §
90 | Dom. François Lumpp $68
2019 Givry 1er Cru Clos du Cras Long ^
This wine hides behind a feral earthiness
when first poured, its black-currant depths
of flavor gaining finesse and fragrance as it
opens with air. W&S Associate Editor David
Paradela described the wine as " naked, as if
you were tasting the actual earth through
the wild-berry flavor. " Lumpp describes that
earth as " Oxfordian Nantoux limestone, fine
marl and clay. " §
DOMAINE MATROT
Sisters Adèle and Elsa run this family
domaine, based at their great-grandmother's
estate in Meursault. Their father, Thierry,
stopped using chemical fertilizers in
1976 and started farming the domaine organically
in 2000. Imported by Vineyard Brands,
Birmingham, AL
WHITE
91 | Domaine Matrot
$57
2018 Meursault ^ From two parcels at the
base of Volnay Santenots, the vines an average
of 20 years old, this is a fresh young
pinot, light in body and luscious in texture.
It gives a lot of flavor without going broad
or fat, the succulent fruit tasting of raspberries
and cooked plum skins, juniper and sage. §
REDS
93 | Domaine Matrot
$86
2018 Blagny Rouge 1er Cru La Pièce Sous
Le Bois ^ This pinot noir grows in the same
block as the chardonnay vines for Matrot's
Meursault-Blagny 1er Cru, high up the hill, at
the border with Puligny. The thin soils leave
the vines in close contact with limestone,
providing a wine with buzzing energy and a
delicate frame. This is a beautiful, old-fashioned
Burgundy, its scent parallel to equally
old-fashioned roses, its sleek raspberry and
black-cherry flavors lasting with textural
grace. The silken weave draws you into a
wine that feels completely integrated, lovely
to drink now and over the next five years. §
91 | Domaine Matrot
$54
2018 Monthélie ^ The average age of Matrot's
vines in Monthélie is 60 years, their fruit
cold-soaked, then allowed to ferment with
ambient yeast, the extraction managed by
foot treading twice a day. This is a lithe wine,
delicately structured, clean in its raspberry
and sour-plum flavors. Rather than assertive,
it's earthy and accommodating, the kind of
wine you could drink long into the night. §
OTHER RECOMMENDED
MATROT RED
90 | 2018 Auxey-Duresses .....................$47
PROSPER MAUFOUX
Founded in Santenay in 1860, this firm is run
by Eric Piffaut, who appointed Nadine Gublin
to make the wines. The Piffaut family purchased
the Domaine Vigne au Roy in 2000,
an 89-acre vineyard in the Hautes Cotes de
Nuits. Imported by Winesellers, Niles, IL
90 | Prosper Maufoux
$25
2020 Hautes Côtes de Nuits Domaine
Vigne au Roy ^ Originally a site for sparkling
wine, this vineyard is now producing tart,
berry-scented pinot noir. Grown in Bévy, in
the hills above the Côte d'Or, the wine tastes
a bit like a rustic Vosne-Romanée, the someS
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