2015 Thibault Liger-Belair, Nuits-Saint-Georges Premier Cru, Les Saint-Georges

The 2015 Nuits Saint Georges 1er Cru Les Saint Georges contains 30% whole bunch fruit this year. It has a refined and very composed bouquet, detailed with scents of blackberry, raspberry preserve, touches of undergrowth and pressed rose petals. I appreciate the manner in which this gently unfurls with each swirl of the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a grainy texture, very well-judged acidity, a little "distant" at first but it gradually opens up in your presence, offering fine structure and spice-tinged raspberry and cranberry notes towards the finish. This is a complex and intellectual offering from one of the appellation's greatest vineyards.

(40% vendange entier ; 50% new oak; Liger-Belair owns 2.1 hectares of this great premier cru, out of a total of roughly 7.5): Deep ruby-red. Superb lift to the aromas of blackberry, violet, licorice and graphite, plus complicating notes of iodine and squid ink. Densely packed and utterly smooth, displaying youthfully imploded fruit and mineral flavors lifted by a floral element and complicated by a saline quality. This wine is getting more vertical every year, according to Liger-Belair, but this 2015 also saturates the entire palate. Finishes with outstanding incipient sucrosité , firm tannins and terrific length. Liger-Belair has been leading the bureaucratically challenging effort to have Les Saint-Georges elevated to grand cru status, and this wonderfully vibrant wine boasts grand cru class.

Cask sample. Crunchy, tight black fruit, sweet but with a savoury snap to finish. Chinese spice aromas. Malleable tannin, fragrant palate. (RH)