Tasted in Saint Aubin with Olivier Lamy, 21 November 2023.
Domaine Hubert Lamy
20 rue des Lavières
21190 St.Aubin
Tel: +33 3 80 21 32 55
http://www.domainehubertlamy.com
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Domaine Hubert Lamy is one of a growing list of domaines that has chosen to show wines only after bottling, hence, one year behind here.
Olivier today on 2021:
“17th September was the start of our harvest – we finished only on the 28th. July-August bottlings after 24 months elevage. Some areas made 40 hl/ha others where it was -8°C and also some snow – the difference between clay and limestone soils was massive so there were big losses but the rest of the year’s averages – rain and sun – were quite classic. But unlike some others I decided to go for my full elevage. It was complicated in barrel to start – the wines were all over the place – unlike 2020 or 2022 – but the second winter and summer really brought us some harmony. All my usual cuvées were made but some from only 10 hl/ha…”
The wines…
Benchmark. There is nothing else in white burgundy to match the crystalline character of Olivier’s HD cuvées. The rest of his wines are really not so far behind too!
From hill above St.Aubin – vines that are too high for the Côte d’Or label. Lots of 1er cru juice included in this vintage.
Ooh, that’s already really complex – there’s already a really wonderful agrume complexity here. Silky width, complex, mineral, and really quite broad and concentrated – lovely, lovely wine and clearly a great Bourgogne…
2021 St.Aubin La Princée
10 different parcels of multiple exposures and vine ages.
That’s a narrower but deep nose – hiding some of its complexity. Fuller, more clarity and also more salinity here – lightly reductive but broad – beautifully vibrational in the finish – half a harvest here…
2021 Chassagne-Montrachet Le Concis du Champs
Young vines, only 18 years old and one of the earliest vineyards to ripen here – the last two are usually amongst the last harvested but this is one of the first.
More depth here, muscular but really attractive. I love this in the mouth – cool, full, sensual, textural. A larger wine but completely delicious, classy wine – with salinity & concentration too.
A blend of 40-year-old and 70-year-old fruit – more of the 40…
A more ary width of aroma despite a slightly reductive accent. Hmm, cool, wine that melts over the palate – super complex and intense in the middle and finishing flavours – like with many of these there’s an obviously saline complexity in the finish. Top Puligny villages.
2021 Santenay 1er Clos des Gravières Blanc
Very young vines in a sort of continuation of the Clos de Tavannes. A mix of two vine-ages, one large part (actually 90%) only 11 years old. “Historically, in Santenay they planted what they could sell – so there was a lot of red – the white plantations were often for personal consumption but seemingly in soils were properly suited to white.”
Not just larger, it’s broader too – 20 hl/ha – that’s a beauty! More direct, melting over the palate, slightly softer but larger than the Puligny, finishing with more sucrosity vs the zestiness of the previous wines.
2021 St.Aubin 1er Clos du Meix
0.7 metres planting distance here – so 14,000/ha planting density. Vines are sited below the church.
A sweeping yet direct nose with a little accent of reduction – that’s a great invitation. Broader with electric energy – more reductive in the middle tday – but this is still hyper-attractive.
Not the ‘hd’ cuvée, but this is still planted at 14k/ha
A classy silky nose. Cool, direct – super clarity. Wow – that’s a fabulous combination of clarity, silken texture and a faint salinity. Broad, fading in the width – Bravo!
80 and 11-year-old vines.
Deeper and broad in this depth. Also a wonderful clarity but we see more intensity – a bit more structure too – keep this a couple of years if you can – a finish that saturates the palate – great wine again.
2021 St.Aubin Clos de la Chatenière
South-facing and warm here. 60-year-old vines always with small grapes. This was badly hit by the frost – 15 hl/ha
Hmm, deepened by a small reduction. Again some mineral, structural attack but here with extra width – melting over the palate just a little easier as it does so. Wide, long and so lingering…
From two parcels.
A larger nose and possibly the first with some obviously floral aspects. Great structure – I love the architecture of this. Bursting with flavour energy in the middle and finishing flavours. What a great wine!
Old vines that produce small berries, ‘more character.’
A silky nose of width but much less communicative than Remilly today. Hmm – super scale here – supple but detailed and ultra complex – more generous today than Remilly – very classy finishing bitters – almost zesty. That’s another great wine – it will be more obviously so with more aromatic effort – but another world from the Remilly.
Like the Dents a more shy nose but with some very interesting layers in the depth. Wonderful width and silky texture. So broad and attractive – generously flavoured but not in shape and concentration – I love this – bravo!
Red soil but vines virtually rooted on the mother rock, young vines. Some co-planted HD ‘so I see a small change each year’ says Olivier.
Another shy nose – but with very pretty yellow citrus complexity. Cool and vibrant – almost electric – energy. So broad, mineral and mouthwatering. Great wine.
20k/ha planting density.
More pungent depth of aroma – this one is open – what a super nose! Crystaline clarity and fluidity – behind is a growing intensity but never sharp or hard. What a wonderful glass – bravo!!
This nose grows in the glass – ever wider and fuller. Like the last in terms of crystallinity but more overtly mineral and direct – and for keeping! Great, great wine for the patient!
This grand cru is now planted at high density – 24 thousand vines per hectare! 2013 was the first vintage labelled ‘HD’
Here’s a nose that already has scale with a slight lime extra complexity that’s shared across the HD wines. More of this direction. Lime, minerality in this length of flavour too. In many respects this wine is not superior to the othe HD wines – except – the finish sticks, it’s unending – I can only compare this finish to 2002 Montrachet of DRC. It’s a really great wine, and largely, it will live longer than that 2002 ever did too!
Les Reds:
2021 Chassagne-Montrachet Clos de la Goujonne
From 65 year-old vines.
Ooh – wow – that’s a beautiful and quite forward width of airy, beautifully fine red fruit – gorgeous. Just a mm or two of cushion here – so wide, faint bitters accent clean red fruit and a finishing bitter that really helps push the length of this mouth-watering wine. So long – what a beauty!
2021 Santenay Clos des Hâtes
‘A nice genetic selection here’ about 20 years old.
A nose with more colour and also more depth of aroma. More mouth-filling energy and clarity almost a mm of cushion brings comfort to this fabulous wine
From 60-year-old vines on a steep slope.
A narrower but deeper nose with more density of fine fruit. So concentrated but at the same time fresh and energetic – tons of finishing bitters but still so silky. A giant of a wine – wait 10 years!
A warm area that matures very fast – it’s steep, with hard limestone here. 55-year-old vines and starting with some high-density too.
Larger – what a perfumed, great, nose – yes! Clean, pure direct – the crystalline equivalent of some of the whites. Wide finishing. Simply a great wine!!