Terroir Insight: Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair Vosne Les Chaumes

Vosne-Romanee Les Chaumes is a large 1er cru, and while its well know the quality produced from this vineyard is still rather mixed.

As new generations take over – more and more fine examples of Les Chaumes does however reach the market. One of the best I have tasted recently is the 2015 from Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair. This was a bit surprising as Les Chaumes normally have a hard time to overshadow the excellent village wines made by Louis-Michel .. but the 2015 Les Chaumes have a tremendous energy and really offer true 1er cru quality in this vintage.

The Chaumes plot is a part of the original Comte Liger-Belair heritage – and therefore also one of the wines began to produce when Louis-Michel took over with the 2000 vintage.

So lets take a closer look at the Liger-Belair plot on Les Chaumes.

Vosne-Romanee Les Chaumes

Les Chaumes is one of the larger 1er crus in Vosne with around 45 cadastre plots and a total area of 6.46 ha. Les Chaumes is located below Aux Malconsort and La Tâche, and just south of the village – see map below.

Les Chaumes is a generous terroir with rather full-bodied wines – that are supple and with a charming sweet fruit. The risk is however that the wines from Les Chaumes sometimes lack some definition and focus compared to the better 1er crus higher on the slope.

The Liger-Belair Les Chaumes has in my view often been overshadowed by the more defined, expressive and vibrant Clos du Chateau … yes, Les Chaumes is the bigger wine, but in terms of complexity it’s matched and even surpassed by Clos du Chateau .. even though the soil of the two vineyards is quite comparable.

I do however love the hedonistic qualities of Les Chaumes and the 2015 edition really show how good a Les Chaumes can be. The recent vintages of Les Chaumes from Domaine Georges Noëllat also shows that this terroir has a fine potential – especially if the plot is located in the top northern corner.

The Liger-Belair plot on Les Chaumes

The Liger-Belair plot on Vosne-Romanee Les Chaumes is located in the top part of the vineyard just below the border between Malconsorts (the Montille Cuvée Christiane plot) and the original part of La Tâche.