Hubert Lamy

The Lamys are a celebrated Burgundian family who have been working in vineyards since 1640. Domaine Hubert Lamy itself was first created in 1973. The course of the domaine’s history began to change in 1995 when Hubert’s son Olivier joined, bringing with him ambition and ideas. Contracts to sell grapes to negociants were terminated, new vineyards were bought and rented, quality soared. Olivier is the vigneron’s vigneron: Passionate, obsessive, even, about his work in the vineyards. He prunes famously short and late, a key factor in saving a large part of his vineyard from the notorious 2016 frost. Other winemaking features he is renowned for are his sparing use of new oak (20% at the most,) favouring of 600l demi-muid barrels over the 225l barriques and a typically early harvest. After a long slow fermentation the wines are aged for a year in barrel followed by a year in tank. Sulphur is added when required as a result of analysis rather than systematically, so doses tend to be low. Lamy has become a benchmark Burgundian domaine, celebrated for the energy, focus and purity of its wines. These are livewire burgundies you won’t forget in a hurry.

2019 Vintage

Vintage began here on the 7th September with young vine Chardonnays and ended on 18th September with the old vine Pinot Noirs. Olivier Lamy remarked how healthy but how tiny the crop was – small bunches with few berries on them. Frost on the 5th April played its part, unfortunately, killing off a lot of buds; extended and uneven flowering compounded this, and then the dry summer reduced and concentrated the berries. The crop is as small here as it was in 2016 and 2017 for the whites and is even smaller for the Pinots. For the whites Olivier considers them to be “A balance of ripeness and freshness, they have a lot of energy which is something we like... Each wine transmits its terroir well and with the small yields you have a great density in the mouth.” As usual the whites will be aged in barrel, without any new oak at all, for two years. Regarding the reds, Olivier noted “we picked them fully ripe and kept a large proportion of whole bunches for fermentation. In the wines you can find floral and red fruit with ripe tannins and finesse on the finish.”