Visit Domaine Hubert Lamy – tasting of the 2015 vintage

I always love to taste the wines from Oliver Lamy, as they offer lovely and very dependable enjoyment .. vintage after vintage. I have visited Lamy several times – always a great experience and treat – se articles from earlier visits can be seen below:

Visit Domaine Hubert Lamy – tasting of the 2013 vintage
Visit at Domaine Hubert Lamy in Saint-Aubin

The visit in November 2016 – sorry for the delayed report – was not at the best time, as the adding of SO2 and other cellar work made it difficult to taste some of the cuvées. This is what happens when one travels and taste wine from cask – and rather than guessing how the wines are and will be – I will only comment and rate the wines that are ready to evaluate and taste.

The 2015s from Domaine Hubert Lamy

The 2015s from Olivier Lamy offer as expected a fine and rather cool expression of the otherwise quite hot 2015 vintage. Olivier has managed to keep both the estate style and a nice balance in the wines mentioned below … hence these are quite fresh and elegant 2015s.

Photo: Olivier Lamy focused and explaining

As mentioned before the 2015 vintage is a quite hot vintage with low acidity but also offering a relatively good PH – yielding a nice perceived freshness despite the low acidity. The result is in many cases a quite charming mid-palate fruit, that I prefer to the 2009 vintage – as the 2015s seem to offer more energy on the mid-palate.

Tasting notes from November 8th 2016
Oliver began the harvest quite early – August 25th 2015 and finished on September 7th – so good early start that was so essential to keep the freshness in the 2015 whites. 

Starting out with the Bourgogne Blanc “Les Chataigners” 2015 – a rich wine with plenty of mid-palate fruit for this level. A charming fruit brought forward by a nice acidity – balanced and enjoyable – Above Average+ (84 – 86p).

Moving up to Saint-Aubin “La Princée” – more grip and focus with a nice freshness and minerality. The nose offer fine fruit – both yellow and white orchard fruits – a hint of exotic fruits is indicating the warmth of the vintage. Really like the balance in this wine – nice freshness and a very charming generous mid-palate fruit – without being dense or heavy. Good (84 – 86p).

The Puligny-Montrachet “Les Tremblots” 2015 also offer a fine balance – the quite stony minerality of this appellation suits this rich and generous vintage well, as it focus the fruits on the palate. The bouquet offer fine quite exotic orchard fruits and a nice vibrant minerality. On the palate balanced and energetic offering a very charming side of the 2015 vintage .. love the fruit and mineral driven finish. Very Good (88 – 89p)

The Santenay Clos des Gravières 2015 blanc is another interesting wine, as the terroirs of Santeney has a lot to offer in a rich vintage like 2015. It’s a quite rich wine, but the minerality offer a lot of mid-palate energy and tension. A very harmonious wine offering a lot of wine at this level. Good (87 – 88p)

The Saint-Aubin “La Frionnes” is a pretty wine with rich fruit, quite exotic with a nice balancing acidity and limestony minerality. The nose is offering rich yellow fruit .. quite refined and relatively ripe with a nice citrus infused minerality. On the palate rich charming and harmonious offering a nice balance and drinkability. Could be an interesting wine for grilled lobster … Good+ (87 – 88p)

Moving up to Saint-Aubin Derriére Chez Edouard. This is a more robust terroir offering more minerality to the mid-palate fruit – hence also a better match for this rich vintage in my view. The bouquet offer quite rich fruit brought forward by a quite intense citrus driven acidity. On the palate very nice balance .. good crunchy minerality that makes a charming and good match for the generous fruit. A charming and lovely wine Very Good (89 – 90p).

The Saint-Aubin En Remilly is a trusted favorite chez Lamy .. and it also delivers in 2015. The nose is expressive and mineral driven – offering plenty of ripe fruit keeping the cool balance. On the palate more full bodied than the 2014, but still with the essential freshness and balance. A lovely Saint-Aubin – charming and generous – will offer a lot of delicious drinking with light summer food. Very Good (90 – 91p).

The Saint-Aubin LEs Murgers Dents de Chiens is a mineral powerhouse .. and this is a perfect match to the rich 2015 vintage. The nose offer relatively cool fruit – with some more warm exotic notes – brought forward by the intense and vibrant minerality of this exiting terroir. On the palate – same story – generous yet one have this tremendous almost dramatic minerality from the terroir lurking in the background … a stone fist in a velvet glove. I love the contrasts in this wine .. and it certainly offer some gastronomic possibilities as the rich fruit of the vintage works well with grilled or roasted poultry with the minerality creating a lovely tension. Fine (91 – 92p).

The Chassagene-Montrachet LEs Chaumées is showing well for the vintage with a nice balancing acidity. The nose offer white and yellow orchard fruits – hint of some exotic pineapple notes and some acacia. On the palate rich and mineral driven with a nice smoky minerality in the finish interlinked with the citrus infused acidity. This is a lovely effort .. Fine (90 – 91p).

The Saint-Aubin Derriere Chez Edouard High Density is a brilliant effort in this vintage. The rich mid-palate minerality works really well with the somewhat opulent fruit of the vintage – working with the vintage and not trying to hide the slightly hot fruit. The bouquet is intense with abundant relatively cool fruit infused with a very powerful minerality. On the palate rich yet intense with the fruit focused perfectly by the poweful mid-palate minerality. Its a very harmonious wine with a quite unique presentation of the vintage – a perfect marriage between minerality and rich fruit – a very interesting wine – really enjoyed this. Very Fine (92 – 93p).

And also a couple of reds from Lamy:

The Saint-Aubin Derriere Chez Edouard rouge is a lovely offering with it’s appealing minerality and the generous fruit of the vintage. The nose offer deep red fruits – fine complexity supported by the robust minerality. On the palate fine weight for this wine – with a generous mid-palate fruit. It’s a rich wine but with a lovely relatively cool balance and a nice focus from the Chez Edouard terroir. Good+ (87 – 88p).

The Santenay Les Gravieres is a slight step up in intensity from the Chez Edouard … as expected. The nose offer fine and generous red and dark berry fruit – notes of red and dark cherries with some hints of strawberries and boysenberries. On the palate generous fruit focused and infused by the interesting minerality from the fine Santenay terroir. Always enjoy a good Santenay .. and in a rich year like this they seem to excel .. and this is the case here as the fruit is still fresh and vibrant. Very Good (87 – 89p).