Clos de Vougeot, Thibault Liger Belair 2005

Reduction. The rich, full and sweet flavors possess excellent volume and real grip as this is a powerful wine that is classic young Clos de Vougeot replete with a distinctly austere finish. This is an understated and still very primary, even backward effort at present but one with excellent potential, just be prepared to have patience as this is not an early drinker. Drink: 2015+

The domaine’s 2005 Clos Vougeot – around a third fermented with whole clusters – smells of beef jerky, ripe blackberry, and pungent herbal distillate. Grainy and substantial in the mouth, it stains the palate with salted beef and blackberry while contra-bass notes of roasted meat, medicinal bitter herbs, and wet stone lead into an impressively long, deep-massaging finish. This remarkably intense, fascinating Clos Vougeot (which had just been given its first racking when I tasted) will probably need a decade to show its full potential, although I hasten to add that the track record of this domaine is too short to support prognostications of longevity.