In the world of white Burgundy, there are a few elite growers who rise above the pack every vintage, and Domaine Hubert Lamy is one of them. Lamy’s whites wines can go head-to-head with the finest producers in all of Burgundy.
If you are not familiar with these stunning wines, this is your chance to understand what all the buzz is about. In the past 3-5 years, these wines have begun to be tightly allocated, due to fierce demand among both sommeliers and collectors; many restaurants don’t receive a single bottle.
We talk quite a bit about the hyper-codified vineyard landscape in Burgundy, and how seemingly minuscule differences from one site to the next often have a dramatic impact on price. There may not be a better wine in all of Burgundy to illustrate this phenomenon than Hubert Lamy’s Saint-Aubin 1er Cru “En Remilly”—an opulent white to rival the assorted ‘Montrachet’ Grand Crus of Chassagne- and Puligny-Montrachet, which are all about a nine-iron away over the hill. Yes, En Remilly is a touch higher in altitude than Le Montrachet, for example, with other subtle differences in soil composition and aspect, but in the hands of a proven talent like Olivier Lamy, the lines are blurred that much more. There’s something immensely satisfying about acquiring a wine like this; it makes you feel like you’ve beaten the system, a reward for your careful study of a complex market. Blessed with a touch of bottle age and starting to really kick into gear, Lamy’s 2013 “En Remilly” is exactly what I crave in great white Burgundy: intense perfume, rich texture, and incredible freshness.
Many Burgundy observers characterize Saint-Aubin as an appellation to watch, because of its steeper, higher-altitude vineyards and cooler temperatures in relation to Chassagne and Puligny (these observers obviously believe that climate change is real, and thus believe Saint-Aubin is better equipped to handle rising temperatures). Although his holdings now total about 18 hectares across 20 appellations, Olivier Lamy’s physical and spiritual home is Saint-Aubin, where he farms or rents pieces of most of its top Premier Crus. There are two slopes that fan out on either side of the villages of Saint Aubin and Gamay: to the east are Montrachet-adjacent Premier Crus such as “En Remilly” and “Les Murgers des Dents de Chien”; to the west are a cluster of higher, cooler sites that include the unusually named Premier Cru “Derrière Chez Edouard.”
Lamy, whose total production is 80% white, has rightly become a star in Burgundy—right up there with another champion of the Saint-Aubin appellation, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey—and his wines deliver both serious depth and great precision. The wines are fermented and aged in 300- and 600-liter demi-muid barrels of varying ages, and while they display the kind of leesy, creamy texture that comes from barrel fermentation, they are otherwise not “oaky” in the least. They’re characterized more than anything by clarity of fruit—lots of bright yellow apple and citrus flavors buttressed by salty minerality.
This 2013 is a full-throttle expression of a cooler vintage—it has begun to add flesh to its well-structured frame. In the glass it’s a deep, reflective yellow-gold extending to the rim. The wine is shy for the first 10-15 minutes, but once it sees enough air, it explodes with an intense perfume only found in the greatest wines in Burgundy: white truffle, yellow apple blossoms, bosc pear, dried lemon, honey, crème fraiche, raw hazelnut, and crushed stones. Nearly full bodied and perfectly balanced with acid, this just radiates breed—it is a classic, clean, luxurious expression of white Burgundy. If you’re enjoying a bottle now, decant it 30-45 minutes before serving in large Burgundy stems. As always, I’m suggesting a warmer temperature—about 55 degrees—to allow its texture and aromas to really blossom. This will most definitely reward extended cellar aging; it’s structured for the long haul, and I anticipate it’ll start peaking around its 10th birthday. And while I’ve been trying to hold off, I simply can’t resist going with a roast chicken pairing here. It’s just too darn good. Cheers!
