Terroir Insight: Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair, NSG Aux Cras

One of my favorite wines from the Nuits-Saint-Georges is the Aux Cras made by Louis-Michel Liger-Belair. 

It has all the qualities I look for in a Burgundian wine – it’s very enjoyable, it’s pure and transparent and first and foremost it offers a lovely expression of the “almost” Vosne terroir. 

Aux Cras or Les Cras was somewhat overlooked, but since Louis-Michel Liger-Belair began to produce a wine from this vineyard in 2006 … the attention and focus on Cras has increased. Interestingly the first vintage from Liger-Belair was labeled Les Cras – but since the 2007 vintage the name Nuits-Saint-Georges Aux Cras have been used.

So lets take a closer look at the terroir behind the magnificent Aux Cras from Liger-Belair.

Aux Cras – close to Vosne and close to Malconsorts

Aux Cras is located in the northern part of the Nuits-Saint-Georges appellation – just south of Aux Boudots (the southern neighbour of Malconsorts) – see map below.

Cras is on the middle of the slope, and it’s a relatively small 1er cru with a total area of 3 ha. There are four well known producers that makes Aux Cras – Bruno Clavelier, Domaine Georges Noëllat, Domaine Lamarche and Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair.

Aux Cras was classified as 1^re Classe in the 1861 Classification², and the area back then was quoted as 3.1225 ha. So as a vineyard it was higher regarded than Les Suchots in 1861².

The Aux Cras vineyard have remained almost unchanged from the first cadastre maps made in 1827 – see map below.

The Liger-Belair plot on Aux Cras

The Liger-Belair plot is 0.3745 ha and is located in the southern end of the vineyard – see map below. 

The plot is owned by the Lamadon family, and Louis-Michel Liger-Belair has rented the plot alongside with other Lamadon vineyards since 2006 (first vintage).