2009 Thibault Liger-Belair Moulin-à-Vent Vieilles Vignes

Community Tasting Notes (42) Avg Score: 89.0 points

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  1/11/2024 - thesternowl wrote: 91 Points

  Brought to Au Courant from our cellar to celebrate our daughter’s 15th birthday. As far as I can tell, 2009 was the first commercially available vintage of Thibault’s foray into Moulin-a-Vent so this was fun to try since I’ve been a big fan of his work there.
  
  Poured into a decanter about an hour prior to service. The 2009 VV pours a deep ruby/purple with a near opaque core; medium viscosity and some light staining of the tears. There were some signs of sediment but most had been decanted off. On the nose, the wine is…well…pretty wild with notes of horse blanket and there’s just a touch of varnish in there too. For me, it’s teetering on the edge of, “is this charming or is this overbearing”? However, since there was more there than just a cow pasture and I don’t get any gerbil cage, I’ll leave this in the “charming” camp but I digress…back to the notes from the nose. The wine is developing, with dark crunchy berries, dark cherries, sandalwood...some pepper, some leather and light notes of potting soil. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium tannins and medium+ acid. The first glass showed a touch of effervescence like there could have been a slight refermentation in the bottle. Confirming the notes from the nose though it seems cleaner on the palate with some granite minerals on the finish. Interesting, it’s almost like this was semi-carbonic but as far as I know, Thibault has been making these wines using the same methods as he does his GC wines in Nuits-Saint-Georges so I don’t know. And this is why I like this wine. It’s making me think...and it’s been enjoyable throughout the meal, working particularly well with our strip steak. Yum! A really fun wine for those that enjoy something a little more rustic. That being said, I know it wouldn’t have pleased everyone. There is plenty of gas left in the tank and while this drinks very well now, I would expect that this will continue to drink well through 2029 with ease.

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  10/3/2022 - gbanks wrote:

  An interesting bottle, and shows as much of the style of the producer as the vintage and location. I don't mean this as a knock; it's unquestionably Thibault here and I think he always an interesting perspective. After an hour or so of air this was ready to go, with a decent amount of acid but also hella dense without being, I think, too heavy. It's plenty earthy but also smooth. J found it just this side of too funky; that mostly resolved with air and another day in the bottle. Ultimately I think it's a pretty neat balancing act, and while age isn't hurting it I don't feel this will really get much better either, and personally, I probably would have enjoyed this more a couple years ago.

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  12/30/2021 - sleepyhaus wrote:

  Look, I'm not brett intolerant. Hell, my favorite novel is The Sun Also Rises. This, however, is just pushing the limit. Brett bomb, but underneath I'd agree with the prior taster that this is WAY more pinot in nature than gamay. Interestingly, there seemed to be a trend around the time this wine was made whereby Burgundy producers bought land in Beaujolais crus and made Beaujolais in a truly Burgundy style. At first I thought it was interesting and bought a few, but I've since abandoned that type of project in favor of buying more from the traditionally great Beaujolais producers and new wave winemakers. That said, with climate change I'm buying a lot less Beaujolais overall, finding the region ill-suited to the hotter vintages. Ironically, the 2009s were derided as the progeny of a hot vintage when released but seem positively refreshing compared to 2015 or 2018. *Deep sigh*

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  7/11/2021 - Pverd wrote: 91 Points

  Lovely powerful MaV. Not your typical rel high acid, crunchy refreshing bojo. Powerful but beautifully balanced mid weight palate, lovely long palate - more burg in many ways in structure than traditional bojo. Will go another 5-10 years without any problem. Very impressive.

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  2/16/2020 - WhatsSamSipping Likes this wine:

  Find the Pinot in the Gamay: An aroma full of garrigue. Dripping wet earth and less pronounced fruit. This also had the lowest fill level. Certainly aged faster than the others. Could mistaken this for a dark fruited Burgundy.

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