Waking up Old Burgundy

My July foray in Burgundy ended with a visit to what I expected to be the staid Chateau Vosne-Romanée and the current Chateau-born and bred Count Louis-Michel Liger-Belair.

Despite all the hyphens and neighbors like Domaine De La Romanée Conti I found Louis-Michel to be breath of fresh air in these parts. At 47 this engineer and enologist is smart, humble, biodynamically minded, a fanatic for quality and hankering for some change in the neighborhood.

In the last 20 years, he has led the rebirth of his family property that had dwindled to near nothing.

Now, among his current projects is a plan to enliven sleepy Vosne-Romanée with a wine-bar and café and organic local grocery in an old farmhouse across the street from the chateau. In Burgundy its practically a revolution.

As I greeted him for our appointment, he began with a grin and said “Let’s go visit the zoo.” The zoo being the underground cellars where he makes small quantities of elegant and nuanced cuvées from 300 to 3,000 bottles apiece.

Read about this encounter in my latest Robert Camuto Meets… column at winespectator.com