Olivier Lamy has built on the solid foundations his father Hubert prepared with twenty years and more of work in the vineyards. Today the Domaine has 18.5 hectares of vines - 80% are Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir. The vines are in several appellations - Saint-Aubin, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet and Santenay, as well as the excellent Bourgogne Blanc. The reputation of the domaine is now made, but the Saint Aubins, both red and white, remain some of the bargains of Côte d'Or, and challenge the supposed superiority of the grander village names on a regular basis, both in terms of young and mature wines.
Olivier's wine-making style and preference is to emphasise the fresh and the mineral side of his wines, and there is very little new wood in this cellar, with many wines with no new wood at all, and that is with the wines in 600 litre demi-muids rather that the classic Burgundy (225 litre) fût. Certainly Oliver's whites do have an arrow-like purity and intensity, and seem to age completely straight and true.
The reds are worth more than a casual mention too. Olivier has been getting some consultation help from Sylvain Pataille, and the wines have energy and bounce along with the supple tannins and ripeness.
Olivier Lamy, who is now in charge of the Domaine Hubert Lamy, is one of those producers most responsible for the growing – grown? – reputation of St-Aubin, once a village too high and obscure to be counted among the jewels of the Cote d'Or but now a source of truly fine white wine.
Climate change has played into the hands of this relatively cool commune spread over the villages of St-Aubin and Gamay in an east-facing valley above Puligny and Chassagne – particularly in the warmer vintages – but the ambition of the likes of Olivier Lamy has helped enormously too.
After studying oenology and business and travelling extensively to other wine regions, he has been involved in the family domaine, which now extends to 18.5 ha in Puligny, Chassagne and Santenay as well as St-Aubin, since 1995. His winemaking style is particularly precise. There is nothing fat or careless about his wines yet they have sufficient fruit weight too. Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jan 2015)
