Thursday 27th January 2011

Domaine Hubert Lamy

On a recent visit to Burgundy our Head of Fine Wine Kenny Stewart dropped in on Domaine Hubert Lamy where he met up with the winemaker Olivier Lamy.

Olivier is a lovely chap – shy but serious and one gets the impression he knows that he is pretty damned good without ever revealing anything other than a slightly bashful modesty.  The other wine makers in Burgundy of note certainly know he is good and name-check him accordingly.  He makes beautifully linear and pure wines.  Were he based in Puligny or Meursault his name would be on everyone’s lips possibly like a Carillon or a Coche.  The minerality of his specific-site cuvees is his thing and one can see it excites him to talk about it.  He has experimented with really high density plantings in the last few years – in some cases with 30 000 vines per hectare.   The vines are packed into the rows like early morning London Underground passengers but the results are decidedly more palatable.  Startling, in fact, bursting with mineral complexity and well defined bright citrus fruit flavours – these are outstanding wines.  

The Domaine was initiated by Olivier's father Hubert in 1973 as a small 8 ha concern but expanded gradually until the 1990s.  It was then that they started to plant and rent more vines and in many cases exchanged Chardonnay for Pinot Noir as the terroir dictated.  In 1995, after some years spent studying wine, working in other domains and tasting wines from around the world, Olivier joined the Domaine and started working with his father.  His new approach helped modernise the viticulture and cellaring of Domaine Lamy and produce their trademark classic, pure wines.

Today the Domaine has 17 ha of vines - 3/4 under Chardonnay and 1/4 Pinot Noir.  The vines are in several appellations; Saint-Aubin, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet and Santenay.  There are 18 appellations in total and the Domaine produces around 100,000 bottles per year.

St Aubin 1er Cru En-Remilly, Domaine Lamy

This particular beauty comes from a vineyard site just over the top of the hill  from one of the great Burgundy Grand Crus -  Chevalier Montrachet.  It offers supreme quality white Burgundy for a tiny fraction of the cost of the Chevalier .  The tasting note and rating below comes from one of the hardest markers amongst the wine critics - Steven Tanzer.  It is a huge score for a wine from St Aubin making the wine a relative snip!

Big, rich aromas of citrus and spices, with a rocky nuance. A step up from the foregoing wines in volume but without loss of energy. Really quite full for Saint-Aubin. Finishes very long and bright, with serious weight and structure.