Wine Advisor
Hubert Lamy, Criots Batard Montrachet Grand Cru 2012
View analysis
Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The 2012 Criots-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru is a significant release for Olivier Lamy as it is the first “high density” release, even though that is not stated on the label. His 500-meter square holding of short-pruned goblet vines lie adjacent to Lalou Bize-Leroy’s, someone who Olivier cited as a great influence on his thinking ten years ago when he conceived the project. Naturally, he could not do everything in one fell swoop and therefore he interpolated the old vines planted in 1975 with fledglings over 300-meter square and the remaining 200-meter square five years later. It is only now with the 2012 that both have come “on-line.” It has a very precise, crisp nose with subtle scents of gypsum and flint that unfurl beautifully in the glass, later joined by estuarine hints. It is bridled with astonishing delineation. The palate is clean and very fresh on the entry with perfectly judged acidity and it feels just so endearingly harmonious in the mouth. It is supremely elegant with almond and hazelnut at the front of the mouth and a hint of shaved ginger on the finish that fans out like the Amazon delta. This is just fabulous. Arriving on a sodden, overcast Tuesday afternoon at Domaine Hubert Lamy, I stumbled upon Olivier Lamy shovelling a large pile of grape skins onto a moving conveyor. In stark contrast to the idyllic vistas of sun-kissed vineyards and smiling vignerons, it was a pertinent reminder that great wines are the product of hard labor, often tedious, backbreaking, laborious work. Once he had finished we retired to the red wine barrel cellar, only to find so much carbonic gas from the fermenting 2013s that I found it difficult to breath. There was nothing to do but type my observations for the reds al fresco and under a light drizzle. Despite all this, it was a pleasure to visit a winery that is functioning instead of standing idle, to hear the whisper of fizz-popping fermenting barrels next to me, perhaps waiting for their turn next year. I have been following Hubert Lamy’s wines for around a decade now and in that time, I have grown to appreciate him as one of the leading exponents of Cote de Beaune whites. Who else would labor over increasing the density of some of his vineyards to 20,000 plants per hectare? I asked what he had gleaned from this experiment. Olivier told me that the vines tend to ripen a little quicker than the regular plantings with better natural acidity levels. He is also expanding his holdings, having recently acquired parcels from Vincent Jolin (the cousin of Aubert de Villaine) that include Clos des Gravieres in Santenay. I tasted his 2012s from barrel apropos the reds and from stainless steel vats for the whites. Olivier commenced picking from September 16 with the young vines and September 18 for the “grown-ups,” completing the vendange eight days later. While I would not ascribe superlatives for every single one of his crus, they are (as usual) intermittently brilliant and often intellectual. Though his quartet of reds is commendable, it is his whites that truly excel, from his entry-level Bourgogne Blanc up to his impossibly rare Criots-Batard-Montrachet. As I expected, Olivier’s range of Saint Aubin village and premier crus are particularly strong, certainly representing more affordable alternatives to Puligny-Montrachets from other growers. His “Haut Densite” bottlings have expanded from one to three crus, including the aforementioned Grand Cru for the first time. They are definitely worth seeking out for expressions of Burgundy terroir are high-density plantings of 20,000 per hectare, though they will not be easy to track down, limited as they are to just one barrel each. Importer: Becky Wasserman Selections (Le Serbet) and through various US importers (see www.leserbet.com for full list.)
About the Producer
Hubert Lamy / Hubert Lamy Saint Aubin, Côte de Beaune Puligny Montrachet / Chassagne Montrachet / Santenay French magazine selected as 10 winemakers to support Burgundy for the next decade The Lamy family's history of growing grapes in Saint Aubin dates back to 1640. Hubert learned management and brewing from start to finish with his father Jean. It was renamed Hubert Lamy in 1973 and only holds 8 hectares of vineyards. The young owner and winemaker Olivier Lamy has experienced the baptism of wine-producing countries in the world, and followed Jean-Nicolas Méo in the famous winery Méo-Camuzet to learn the cultivation of natural dynamic methods, and has very high strictness on the quality and yield of grapes standard. In 1995, he returned to the winery to take over the brewing work and inherited the mantle. The vineyard area has now been expanded to 17 hectares. At the same time as the expansion of the wine cellar, it was also changed to the design of natural gravity. The winery has long become the leading liquor maker in Burgundy, France. 70% of the production is sold out by foreign buyers, which is a testament to the high level of Lamy's wines. In terms of planting, the winery adopts the home-style leading branch, and from May to August, green harvesting is carried out every month to take into account the possible changes in the climate and gradually reduce the yield. And it has already been changed to an organic method to strengthen the ecological constitution in the vineyard. The special thing about Hubert Lamy is that he abandoned the small oak barrels of Barrique (225 liters) commonly used in Burgundy, and used a small amount of 300 liters, most of which were fermented and stored in large oak barrels of 600 liters, and almost no longer stirred the barrels after completion. And no filtration and clarification are carried out to maintain the natural pure and dense flavor of the wine, amplifying the terroir flavor to the extreme, which is impressive. Another special feature of the winery is that the highest record per hectare is an ultra-high planting density of up to 30,000 grapes (usually about 12,000), so that a vine often leaves only 2 bunches of fruits, and all the flavors are preserved. Concentrated in fruit grains. In addition, Saint Aubin village is relatively poor and full of soft calcareous soil soil conditions, so that each grape must strive to take root in order to seek nutrients, and thus absorb rich minerality, maintaining the unique concentration and density of the winery. Degrees, like ancient Sparta-like rigorous training, bear the perfect fruit of healthy concentrated concentration. The winery style has a distinctly sharp acidity and at the same time feels the impression of a concentrated and dense fruit, which develops over time as the flavour layers emerge. Bold planting and brewing techniques have created a great Burgundy that is pure, neat, and terroir-led.
