Tasted in Saint Aubin with Olivier Lamy, 18 October 2019.
Domaine Hubert Lamy
20 rue des Lavières
21190 St.Aubin
Tel: +33 3 80 21 32 55
http://www.domainehubertlamy.com
Olivier on 2019:
“This year we had frost here in the Spring – it didn’t seem so important but the effect was lasting; the late pruned vines had almost normal volume but the others lost. On the hill I suffered from the dry, and on the flats from the frost – so, in the end, low yields virtually alround; 30 hl/ha for the red, 35 hl/ha for the white, roughly. It was hot to start the summer, dry to finish it, but wines without the characteristics of either of those – hardly. It was harder to determine maturity as the sugars were concentrating due to wind and volume loss, rather than true maturity.”
Olivier on 2018:
“It rained virtually every other day in the Spring – so we had about 30% more rain than average for that period, but then it was sunny and then dry – less rain – the average amount of rain was still good though! We had lots of light so we started harvesting very early but also finished very late with some parcels – multiple passages were needed to follow the ripening, even in the same cru the maturity of different vine ages. We harvested some very fine, classic vintage things – the high-density wines in particular. The darker grapes took on the sunshine more than the lighter ones. We waited for the reds, we had to, but the maturity grew and grew very quickly! A vintage volume like 2013 or 2014 here, so 40-60 hl for the whites, not the highs of some places.”
The wines…
Re ‘seals,’ Olivier is changing his approach quite quickly – it is now approximately 80% DIAM use here – “You simply have such limited control over the cork and some corks eat the sulfur much faster than others…“
Great wines. For the combination of great red and white together, perhaps an even more important cellar than Roulot for 2018s.
None of the wines had been sulfured so far this year…
2018 Santenay Clos des Hâtes
‘A nice genetic selection here’ approaching 20 years old. Racked 1 week.
Deep colour. Wide, faintly spiced but certainly concentrated. Hmm, full, concentrated but with such a depth of flavour. The tannin is framing this for now, but here’s a big wine in preparation!
From 65 year-old vines. Will have 2 years of elevage
A reduction that lifts very quickly, very fine fruit the result, more balanced today than the Hâtes, comes to the fore. Wide, supple, concentrated but open, this is beautiful over the palate – slowly arriving tannin but ultra-fine. Ooh – so round and generally excellent. Bravo villages!
2018 St.Aubin 1er Derrière Chez Eduard
From 58 year-old vines on a steep slope.
A whiff of reduction is (again) quickly gone – fine, higher-toned fruit here – very inviting. Fresh, open, there’s concentration but also openness and clarity. I love the perfumed finish!
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.
Like all, a little starting reduction that starts to fade – then ‘pops’ with a lovely burst of fruit-flower perfume. Ooh, that’s really something super – perfumed, delicate yet at the same time concentrated. Clearly bravo wine here – but be patient! Chewy finishing flavour!
Les blancs…
All the whites a little cloudy – and it’s still quite early in their elevage:
From hill above St.Aubin, Frost in some parts here.
Some grapefruit agrume here. The palate even more delicious than the nose suggests – Ooh that’s a nice, not overt, energy. Delicious – bravo Bourgogne!
2018 Chassagne-Montrachet Le Concis du Champs
Young vines, only 15 years old and one of the earliest vineyards to ripen here.
A calmer nose but wider too – lots of vibration. Fuller, with roughly the same energy, today as the Bourgogne, which is today slightly more interesting for the label, but the overall quality is comparable here – today – except for the finish – this is longer!
2018 St.Aubin La Princée
10 different parcels of multiple exposures and vine ages.
A fuller nose, less wide. A little extra freshness and lots of volume. Always the fine, mouth-watering, bubbling, juicy acidity. Excellent!
2018 Puligny-Montrachet Les Tremblots
A blend of 40 year-old and 70 year-old fruit – more 40…
The least ready aroma. Lots of gas too, but vibrant wine – tension is too small a word – but this needs more time. A great, juicy finish though!
2018 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 8 years old.
Here some agrume fruit complexity. Fresher, less directly sweet but there’s such a lot of favour interest too. Mouth-watering almost chalky finish – ooh that’s so appealing!
2017 St.Aubin 1er Clos du Meix
0.7 metres planting distance here – so 14,000/ha planting density. Vines sited below the church.
A narrow but deep nose – high toned too – vertical and very appealing. Round but only in the mouth-filling sense, some softness but lots of energy – concentrated indeed layered finishing – this is quite different. Delicious finishing again.
80 and 8 year-old vines.
Wide, a very wide nose, but tighter below. Ooh. Fresh, direct but like all these with a modest textural cushion. Lovely energy. So juicily mouth-watering again – and so long. Bravo!
Not the ‘hd’ cuvée, but this is still planted at 14k/ha
A relatively tight nose here. Electric freshness, very grapefruit agrume style – it lights up my palate. So fresh but it makes you beg for more – wow!
South-facing and warm here. 60-year-old vines always with small grapes.
Starts tight but this wine opens with swirling – a classic bowl of agrume is the resulting aroma. Fresh though calmer than Eduard! Full, more obvious concentration, a flavour that stains the palate more, here just a hint of oak – but it will be transient! Great wine potentially.
From two parcels.
Good energy, a mineral aroma of distinction. Full but energetic, layered flavour in the middle – almost a hint of warm ginger spice but clearly not Meursault. Great length. Special!
Old vines that produce small berries, ‘more character.’ Now the samples are all from barrel, so there’s more clarity, better texture but more reduction – normally.
Yes, faintly reductive. This is full, rather more contemplative – concentrated, then bursts with energetic complexity – ooh, that’s really something. This could be great!
2018 Chassagne-Montrachet Le Macherelles
Depth of slightly reductive aroma that slowly releases a fine fruit perfume. Lots of gas – mouth-filling but pushed by the gas. Clarity and energy – ooh, with just a bit more freshness than the last I prefer the finish here. Just super again!
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.
Very faint reduction but a silky depth to this nose anyway. Lots of gas but energy and clarity combine again here. Really a concentration that rests very long on the palate. Pure and incredibly persistent – like this, the bottle should last longer!
20k/ha planting density. Finished fermenting only just before the harvest.
More yellow fruited, fresh, some fermentation aroma. Also very gassy, but what intensity – tension and intensity combining here. Ultrafine and complex finishing.
The reduction is quickly gone here, slowly growing with a good agrume note. Ooh – here is such a great combination of volume, energy and complexity with very little CO2 to complicate matters. Beautifully mineral without any mineral rigour. A touch of creamy oak only – but actually it’s a barrel from 2007! Bravo!
This grand cru is now planted at high density – 24 thousand vines per hectare! 2013 was the first vintage labelled ‘HD’
A reductive, mineral nose. Bubbling with energy, not with any fat – mineral at the base – but what a complexity – this is more complete – wow. I remember that this wine was once the fatter, more heavily perfumed wine in the cellar – today it’s transformed to something more airy, certainly more complex – and at the same time more complete!
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