Echoes in the Limestone: Liger-Belair Les Suchots 2015 Sits on the Edge of Beauty and Backslide
Bacchus once unlocked Vosne’s hidden catacombs with a strike of his thyrsus - now that same subterranean hush murmurs through a Premier-Cru bottle investors must read like cave runes.
A night the caves began to breathe
During the heat-soaked 2015 harvest, Vosne-Romanée’s vines panted beneath still air. I - Bacchus - slipped into the forgotten limestone tunnels beneath Les Suchots and cracked my staff against the rock. The walls shivered open, exhaling chilled mineral breath that drifted upward like invisible fog. Pinot berries tightened, sugars slowed, and a scent of wet stone settled into the skins. Comte Louis-Michel Liger-Belair later drew that underground calm into barrel, bottling Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots 2015, a wine that now drips cave-cool perfume into every glass while its market price gropes for daylight.
Where the numbers stand
Exchange data from Liv-ex shows recent trades around $636 a bottle, a mid-range figure for blue-chip Premier Cru. Traditional retail is far steeper - global listings hover near $3,200, proof that scarcity and brand aura inflate shelf tags when allocations are thin. Auctions split the difference: Christie’s moved a three-bottle lot this spring at roughly $700 per bottle after fees - healthy liquidity, but hardly liftoff.
During the last five years the wine has crawled forward at 4.2 percent CAGR while whipsawing with 121 percent volatility; the worst drawdown clipped a quarter of its value. Predictive models now warn of a five-to-ten-percent sag by 2027, largely because 2015s are sliding into peak drinking (2025–2035) and buyers may shift from hoarding to popping.
Why collectors still probe the tunnel
Premier-Cru status in Vosne’s holy postcode, plus the magnetism of the Liger-Belair name, underpins enduring demand even in bearish stretches. Critics sit mostly in the 90-to-94 band - high enough to steady a floor - with the occasional 98-point gush sprinkling upside hope. The wine’s style fits modern taste: generous red fruit woven around limestone tension, already delicious yet not fully unfurled.
Risks carved into the stone
Momentum is negative for the near term; entering now at retail prices courts quick paper losses. Burgundy’s high-beta nature means mark-to-market jolts, and counterfeiters prowl any label this coveted. Finally, once the community begins uncorking bottles in earnest, secondary-market supply contracts more slowly than demand, capping resale ceilings unless broader Burgundy enthusiasm reignites.
Storing the echo
Treat bottles like the caves that birthed them: 52-to-55°F, 70 percent humidity, total darkness. Mid-shoulder fills are normal for Côte de Nuits; color should stay vivid ruby, never brick. Expect fine sediment from 2028 onward and decant with care to preserve the flinty whisper.
Bacchus’s verdict
Les Suchots 2015 carries the chill of Vosne’s catacombs - violet, cherry, a flicker of struck flint - yet its price wanders dim corridors. For drinkers, it is already spellbinding; for investors, it is a cautious spelunk, worth exploring only if you can snag bottles near the $550 mark and stomach a winding path. Secure a few, cellar them deep, and decide later whether to trade the echo or drink the night air itself.
