Domaine Thibault Liger-Belair

This is quite a new estate, especially compared with others in this offer, but the history of Thibault’s family in wine, direct or otherwise, is quite layered and complex, dating back 300 years! But jumping three centuries of different generations, we arrive in 2001 and find a young but highly driven Thibault taking back various family parcels that had been contracted to other local vignerons. As well as buying some extra selective parcels, he also set up a négoce business in 2003 and entered into some contracts of his own to buy grapes, often from old vines.

Success came quickly and easily, although he worked hard to achieve it. In 2008 he bought vineyards in Moulin à Vent. He farms biodynamically and works in similar fashion in the cuverie. He is not afraid of new oak and chooses the trees from which his barrels are made. He is an advocate of whole bunch, too, though he varies it enormously, being dictated to by either the vintage or the parcel (or both) rather than the other way around.

He even recently designed his own stainless-steel vats so they would have the right natural flow of juice within them. In much the same way as Cyprien Arlaud’s wines have gained in precision and finesse since changing to biodynamic farming, so have Thibault’s. They still have plenty of fruit, but the quality of tannins and the lacey details of the wines have become more pronounced, reaching their zenith with the 2022 vintage. These are really lovely wines, and as engaging and charming as Thibault himself.