When Constance Liger-Belair first traveled from Paris to Vosne-Romanée in Burgundy, she was surprised to find the hometown of her husband’s esteemed family vineyard to be so remote. “She joked she was going to become the town bartender—there was nothing here,” says Louis-Michel Liger-Belair, who took over Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair in 2000.
Vosne-Romanée, in Burgundy’s Côte-d’Or, may be small (it counts only a few hundred residents), but it claims some of the region’s most prized pinot noir producers, like Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Méo-Camuzet. “We’re in the center of the wine world, but there was nowhere to have a glass of Vosne-Romanée wine in Vosne-Romanée,” Louis-Michel says, adding that before they opened La Cuverie—a combination market, cafe, wine bar, post office and four-suite inn—the area was a ghost town in the evenings.
Louis-Michel, an agricultural engineer and oenologist, and Constance have placed community at the core of the winery’s driving philosophy since taking the helm of the more than two-century-old family estate. They’ve expanded the domain from around 3.7 acres of family vines to nearly 26 acres across the villages of Vosne-Romanée, Nuits-Saint-Georges and Flagey-Echézeaux, and they now produce 15 cuvées. All are certified biodynamic, a holistic approach to farming and winemaking that goes a step beyond organic practices, with vineyard growing processes rooted in a balanced ecosystem between soil, plants and animals. “I have a team working all day in the vines, and my children grew up here—I didn’t want them growing up in a community pressured by chemicals,” Louis-Michel explains. The vintner converted the estate to follow biodynamic practices in 2008.

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Comte & Comtesse Liger-Belair chateau
This year’s NWWF Honored Vintners work to shepherd their family’s 200-year-old vineyard, with innovative practices and a community- driven mindset.
Other wineries in Burgundy are catching up. While there were few organic producers in the late 1990s and early 2000s, about a quarter of them are certified organic today, he says. “Now people don’t look at you like you’re a foreigner if you’re farming organically—there’s a market demand, especially from the younger generation,” he says. “If you have to use chemicals to produce wine and play with nature, sometimes you win, but sometimes you lose—but with organic farming, the quality of the fruit will always be better.”
At this year’s festival, Louis-Michel showcases his family’s wines at the pre-festival The Vintage Cellar tasting and luncheon. At the tasting, he pours three Domaine du Comte Liger-Belair wines (Nuits-Saint-Georges, Vosne-Romanée Clos du Château Monopole and Vosne-Romanée La Colombière) spanning three years, from 2017 to 2019. The tasting showcases the differences in vintages and how the wines evolve in the bottle.
Constance and Louis-Michel are as philanthropic as they are committed to bringing their family legacy into the future. This year’s NWWF Honored Vintners often look to support small, local charities, many within a 20-mile radius of the vineyard. Two key projects for the couple include a food market and delivery service for impoverished individuals in the countryside and a job placement agency and vocational school for people living with disabilities. And, they’re always willing to travel for a great cause. This year, Louis-Michel returns to NWWF for the second time. The vintner appreciates how the festival unites major figures in the wine world from around the globe toward a common, impactful purpose. “We know the money raised will go to the local community in Florida, and that’s what’s important to us.”