2007 Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair La Romanée Grand Cru

Tasted at the La Romanée vertical at Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair. The 2007 La Romanée Grand Cru is in keeping with the vintage, very open for business with plush strawberries, red cherries and rose petals. It is not the most complex aromatics that Louis-Michel has overseen but it is utterly charming. The palate is beautifully balanced with fine tannin, very pure red cherry and cranberry fruit, a dash of orange sorbet and plenty of mineral notes on the tensile finish. I would actually broach this now to revel in its youth and joie-de-vivre but it clearly has the substance to last two decades. I'll leave it to you. Tasted June 2015.

A wine of nuance and striking aromatic lift, the 2007 La Romanée speaks to finesse above all else, making it one of the most sophisticated, polished wines in this tasting. Hints of sage, white pepper, mint, rose petal and sweet red cherries all soar from the glass, leading to a beautifully textured, persistent finish that invites a second taste, and then a third. This is an immensely pleasing young La Romanée that will drink well with minimal cellaring.

Good medium red. Reticent aromas of red berries and minerals, with an overlay of spicy oak. Large-scaled, creamy-sweet and rich; a real essence of pinot noir. Wonderfully suave and spherical wine with intriguing minerality and lovely length. Showing a good bit of smoky oak today, which Liger-Belair says is typical for this wine in the early going. My score may prove to be conservative.