Terroir Insight: Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Aux Brulées

Aux Brulées is pretty fragmented and the production of some of the fine wines made from this lovely 1er cru is sadly very limited indeed.

One of the rarest birds is the Aux Brulées from Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair. Firstly the production is very limited, secondly and more importantly the wine is not sold commercially.

It’s nevertheless a part of the Liger-Belair range – just as the Batard-Montrachet is a part of the DRC portfolio.

So let’s go to the eastern end of Aux Brulées.

Brulées – three vineyards in one

Vosne-Romanee Aux Brulées and the 1er cru part of Vosne-Romanee La Combe Brulée is often considered as one vineyard, as very few wines are labelled La Combe Brulée. 

But in fact there are three sections – the southern section of Aux Brulées (1), the northern sections of Aux Brulées (2), and lastly the 1er cru section. of La Combe Brulées (3) – see map below.

The Liger-Belair plot on Aux Brulées

The Liger-Belair Aux Brulées is produced from a 0.1157 ha plot (cadastre no 75) located in the eastern end of Aux Brulées – see map below.

The plot is owned by the Lamadon family but has been leased by Louis-Michel Liger-Belair since the 2006 vintage.

It’s located just south of (across the road) the Domaine Leroy plots, and just next to the holdings of Michel Gros.

The plot is located in the southern section of Aux Brulées but is slightly north facing as the vineyard is sloping down towards the road and the northern section of Aux Brulées – see photo below.

The history of the Lamadon plot

The history of the Lamadon estate is not very well documented –
Until 2006 the Lamadon family produced wines themselves from these plots, and the family has, apparently, a history as sharecroppers for the Liger-Belair family.

When the two brothers Francois and Pierre Lamadon retired Louis-Michel Liger-Belair had the opportunity to enlarge the vineyard portfolio with plots in Nuits-Saint-Georges Lavieres, Nuits-Saint-Georges Aux Cras, Vosne-Romanee Aux Brulées, Vosne-Romanee Les Petits Monts, Vosne Les Suchots and last but not least Echezeaux. In total of 5.5 ha new vineyards rented from Lamadon ^{1 + 2}.

The earlier history of the plots is relatively unknown, but Lamadon is related to the Sirugue and via that to the Jayer family – on the Jean-François Jayer side of the family ⁵.

There were four Jayer brothers in the generation before Henri Jayer; Jean-François, Adolphe, Edouard and Eugéne (the father of Henri Jayer). Jean-François Jayer (1869 – ?) was married to Jeanne Marchand (1870 – 1953), and they had a daughter Jeanne who married a Sirugue, and their daughter, Marthe, married a Lamadon^{5 + 8}.

Looking at Rodier⁴ we find a Jayer-Marchand among the owners in 1920, and this most likely means that the current Liger-Belair plot was under Jayer ownership in 1920.