We’re offering an opportunity to get to know a great winemaker—Olivier Lamy of Domaine Hubert Lamy in Saint-Aubin. We increasingly find ourselves drawn to Saint-Aubin, which borders Chassagne/Puligny-Montrachet to the west, mostly thanks to Lamy and another rising Burgundy star, Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey. Both vignerons have elevated Saint-Aubin well past ‘second-banana’ status in the Côte de Beaune hierarchy, but then again, maybe the village’s greatness has simply been under-appreciated.
As the estimable British wine writer Jancis Robinson put it in her own assessment of the Lamy wines, “Climate change has played into the hands of this relatively cool commune…particularly in the warmer vintages…but the ambition of the likes of Olivier Lamy has helped enormously too.” This unique 3-pack includes a village-level blend called “Le Princée” (a perennial great value) and two Premier Crus, “Derrière Chez Edouard” and the famed “En Remilly,” the latter a stone’s throw from the Grand Cru Le Montrachet. These are opulent yet laser-focused white Burgundies, truly everything you could ask for in Burgundy Chardonnay, and with this 3-pack you can explore the Lamy range—an exercise that is likely to result in a new obsession.
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.”
Olivier Lamy, whose total production is 80% white, delivers Chardonnay of great depth and 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. You’ll want to start with the ‘entry-level” “Le Princée,” a bright and floral charmer in the celebrated 2014 vintage, then the more concentrated and powerful “Derrière Chez Edouard” from 2013. Save the 2014 “En Remilly” for your next special occasion, and give it the full elite white Burgundy treatment—decant about an hour before serving in large Burgundy stems, allowing the temperature to creep up to cellar temp or above. At an average of $58 a bottle, you are drinking extremely well here, and you can be sure I’ll be hunting around for more from Lamy—if he’s not yet on your radar, he most definitely will be soon. Happy tasting!
