2010 Chambolle Musigny Les Gruenchers

The 2010 Chambolle-Musigny Les Gruenchers is soft, feminine and gracious. It shows good definition in its fruit but comes across as a bit light for the year. The ethereal, fleeing finish suggests this is a wine best suited for drinking over the next handful of years. The Gruenchers is made from purchased fruit. Anticipated maturity: 2013-2020. I was deeply impressed with the wines I tasted with Thibault Liger-Belair. Thibault’s core holdings are the remaining vestiges of his family’s portion of the original Liger-Belair estate that was sold in the early 1930s. In recent years, Liger-Belair has added a few negociant wines to augment his range. Thibault Liger-Belair is the largest owner of the Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les St. Georges and the leading proponent of the movement to have the vineyard classified as a Grand Cru. Liger-Belair’s decision to taste his Les St. Georges in between the Clos de Vougeot and Richebourg makes an eloquent case. In fact, words are pretty much superfluous at that point. I will report on Liger-Belair’s 2009s in the April issue. Importer: Vineyard Brands, Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 980-8802

Quite vegy nose and then crunchy, wild-flower aromas. Lots going on here but it’s a sort of jazzy version of Chambolle. Lots of grunt. (JR)

(45-year-old vines; from purchased grapes; all destemmed): Bright, dark red. Black raspberry, minerals, flowers and a whiff of peppery spices on the slightly reduced nose. Elegant, silky and sweet, offering lovely detail, excellent fruit intensity and a whiff of game. Finishes firm and floral. Liger-Belair told me he encourages some volatile acidity during elevage , working with very little sulfur dioxide but keeping a lot of CO2.