A 10 ha domaine in Vosne whose jewel in the crown is the monopole La Grande Rue, which was elevated to Grand Cru status in 1992. After years of neglect by previous generations François oversaw a steady improvement in quality throughout the 1990s and in the last few years his daughters have helped raise the qualitative bar further still. As of the 2007 vintage the François' daughter Nicole has taken total control of the winemaking. The approach is fairly hands off in the winery and hands on in the vineyard. Grapes are feremented with a large proportion of whole bunches, depending in the vintage this could be up to 40-50%, and extractions is super gentle, more of an infusion. For élévage very little new oak is used - 20% for the Villages rising to 40% for La Grande Rue. These are delicate, high-toned and resplendent Burgundies of great caliber.
2017 Vintage
Lamarche’s eleventh vintage and both she and the wines are displaying all of the confidence that comes with experience. These are some of the most delicate, racy wines in the Côte d’Or. Fine and self-assured, breezy with an unashamedly light touch. Extractions are more like infusions here and as usual 30% whole bunch fermentation have been used for all of the wines, helping add a bit of sappy freshness to the wines. Harvest began on the 7th September but was interrupted by a day of rain, something Nicole was waiting for; something she felt was very important for the grapes after such a dry year. After using no new oak last year, there is a return to 50% for the Grands Crus, down to 20% for the Villages.
2018 Vintage
Speed was of the essence in 2018, according to Nicole Lamarche: “We started on the 7th September but we had to be quick to avoid picking overripe fruit. We covered 11.5ha in 6 days!” Other than employing a little bit more whole-bunch fermentation (40%) to give an added feeling of freshness, methods here are otherwise the same as usual “I have kept my style!” in Nicole’s own words. This means picking early on, a red fruit profile more than black fruit, infusions not extractions and little new oak (20% new oak for village, 30% for Premiers Crus and 40% for Grands Crus.) The 2018's are typical of Lamarche wines over the last five years or so – delicate, slender and gentle with crisp, vibrant red fruit character. The impressive thing here is, as you go up the scale, the style is not compromised - the top wines (whilst offering more depth and intensity of flavour) retain great lightness and transparency.
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