Charmes Chambertin Thibault Liger Belair 2011 (OWC 6)

Description

By Allen Meadows of Burghound  in 2013 (AM93)

Here the nose is exceptionally fresh with a distinctly floral character to the earthy and slightly sauvage red currant and underbrush suffused aromas. The broad-shouldered flavors also exude a distinct earthiness that carries over to the intense, precise and tension-filled finish that delivers excellent length. This is complex, serious and powerful yet the dense tannins are relatively refined. Drink 2021+.

By Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar in 2013 (ST93)

(true Charmes: a lot of millerandage here): Good bright, deep red. Explosive aromas and flavors of black raspberry, licorice, leather and game; this hits most of the main Gevrey food groups. Sweet, fine-grained and concentrated; dense with extract. Finishes very long and ripely tannic, with a noble rusticity. Liger-Belair began working these vines in 2008; he cut off the best 20% of his clusters with scissors, noting that he did more of a whole-berry fermentation than an actual vinification with stems. And the barrels he used for this cuvee were “barely toasted.”

By Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate in 2017 (RP93)

There must have been some divine intervention on the 2016 Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves Vignes de l’Enfant Jesus because it was less affected by frost than surrounding vineyards. It has a really quite beautiful, very pure bouquet with abundant blackberry, raspberry and crushed strawberry scents laced with crushed violets and rose petals. The palate is medium-bodied with silky smooth tannin, still a little oak to be subsumed but there is superb substance on the sumptuous finish. I bet this is one of the best quality-to-price ratio wines in 2016. Bouchard Père & Fils is a Burgundy stalwart that has been part of the furniture since 1731. It is easy to presume that such merchants as Jadot, Bouchard and the like have been overtaken by new producers not hidebound by history. On the contrary, these historical merchants have really upped the quality of their wine in recent years. They had to, in order to survive.