Famille Lieubeau, 2022 Update
The last opportunity I had to call in on the Lieubeau family was late in 2019, just a few years ago, and yet it seems like another age. The full effects of Brexit had yet to be felt, as the UK bumbled along in a transition phase. There was no viral pandemic, and people were largely free to do, travel and wear what they wished. And there was no war in Eastern Europe.
Indeed, the worst I had to deal with during that trip was an air traffic controllers’ strike, a cancelled flight, and a few rioting gilets jaunes (remember them?) who were merrily setting fire to Nantes.
Ahhh, happy times.
A little more than two years on (I know, it feels longer) I was delighted to meet up with the Lieubeau siblings once more, to check out their most recent releases. I took a look at a handful of classic sur lie styles, from the high-quality Plot Selections range followed by half a dozen examples of the domaine’s cru communal wines, including the very latest releases. First, through, a few words on recent developments on the domaine.
The Domaine and The Vintage
The domaine’s history stretches back several generations to the time of Joseph Grégoire Lieubeau (the reason why, in a recent overhaul of the portfolio, the family rechristened one of their cuvées ‘Générations’) but it was really under the direction of Pierre and Chantal Lieubeau that it took off. It was they who moved from La Haye-Fouassière to Château-Thébaud in 1982, before then expanding the domaine towards the size it is today, with the acquisition of Domaine de la Fruitière in 2005.
