Beaumes-de-Venise exploration: Domaine La Ligière
Website: https://laligiere.fr/
I visited La Ligière with owner Philippe Bornard. This is his parents’ and grandparents’ estate. His father was selling grapes to the coops in Vacqueyras and Beaumes-de-Venise until 2008, which was Philippe’s first vintage.
He’s got 60 hectares of vines, of which 10 hectares make Beaumes-de-Venise, 30 hectares make Vacqueyras and then the remainder are Gigondas (0.5 hectares), Côtes de Rhône and Vin de Pays.
In addition, Ligière have a nursery business, and grafting was in full flow at the time.
Philippe has converted to organics, and has also stopped ploughing.
As a nursery owner, he has a good perspective on what is happening in vineyards around the region, and one thing he’s noticed is that vineyards seem to be dying after 30 years. There are lots of diseases, and lots of differences in yields.
‘We are now in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation of vines in some parcels,’ he says. ‘They use the same way of working, avoiding weeds by ploughing or using herbicides, all the time killing things to have clean vineyards. I think this is part of our problem: nature sees an empty space. Every time we kill something, it brings something else in.’
So he’s not killing his cover crops, but crimping them. ‘By not ploughing we reduced by about a third our tractor use, saving fuel and causing less compaction.’
Crimping the cover crop results in more space in the soil for worms and water.
They’ve also stopped exposing the fruit zone, and the wines are much fresher and brighter as a result. In the last couple of decades harvest has come from October to the beginning of September. So a change has been necessary. ‘My goal is that when you finish the first glass you want to go back for the second one,’ says Philippe.
A short film of the grafting process:
La Ligière Sud Absolu Blanc 2023 Vin de Pays Mediterranae, France
13% alcohol. Crisp and fresh with nice grapey fruit, showing good texture and a touch of herb and mint. Nice weight and freshness, with some texture. Expressive. With the Muscat he blends (this adds: sandy soils, clay soils and then sand and clay called gresse, and the combination is better than the individual terroirs, unlike the red).
La Ligière Les Garennes 2023 Beaumes de Venise
14% alcohol. Grenache, Syrah and Carignan from sandy soils. In concrete. This is rounded and supple with black cherry and blackberry fruit with some savoury spiciness and a bit of meatiness. So expressive with ripeness but also elegance. This is quite lovely. 93/100
La Ligière Muscat de Baumes de Venise ‘Chante Coucou’ 2023
15% alcohol. Blend of the three Muscat terroirs. Direct press, settle, then start fermentation, and the moutage is done at the last moment to have the minimum of sugar allowed (100 g/l with 10% tolerance), then add the alcohol in three stages. If you add the alcohol all at once it makes a distinct alcohol character in the wine that stays for longer. Fresh, tangy and grapey with some marmalade and mandarin notes as well as lemon and table grapes. Has nice freshness and acidity, with lovely purity. Nice complexity, too. 93/100
La Ligère Muscat de Baumes de Venise Chante Coucou Rosé 2024
15.5% alcohol. Red and white Muscat, pressed together. Rose petal, tea and herbs on the nose with some cherry and pear fruit. The palate is sweet and herby with nice strawberry and table grape notes, as well as some cherry. Supple, fresh and stylish with nice complexity and a bit of structure. So lovely. 94/100
La Ligère Muscat de Baumes de Venise 2014
15% alcohol. 8 years in barrel, without topping up, bottles in 2022. Muscat Blanc. Orange/gold colour. Spicy, grapey and rich on the nose with a hint of raisin and some spice. Rich, bold, spicy and intense on the palate with raisin, dried herbs. Lots of sweetness with amazing savoury, spicy presence. Quite lovely. 94/100
La Ligère Je Veux des Bulles Dans ma Vie! 2025
5.5% alcohol. Muscat, harvest 4 August at just below 10% potential alcohol, stopping fermentation at 5% by filtration, made in closed tank to keep bubbles, reinforcing these at bottling. Juicy and bright and grapey, with nice acidity and some sweetness. Light, easy but with good definition. Really enjoyable and bright. 88/100
