CLOS DES LAMBRAYS

2016 Grand Cru Domaine des Lambrays

EN PRIMEUR

Nice nose. Gently rich and warm. Nice woody spices. Touch smokey. On Palate there is a younger feel. Sculpted and sprightly with juicy acidity. Lovely ripe fruit, but so much more fresh and tart. Great texture, wood seems to fit in so well. Deliciously integrated. Tricky season there was the frost - although not a big deal in Morey then it stayed cold. June was tricky. Some Mildew which killed a lot of fruit that had survived the Frost! By July and August conditions were excellent - and all turned out nice. Assemblage was done in March 2017 after the Malolactic had finished - so from barrel we could taste the final blend already. 85% whole Bunch. 30% more available in 2016 than 2015.L&S (Oct 2017)

* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.

The 2016 Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru is extremely well defined on the nose with blacker fruit than its peers, wet limestone scents percolating through the red berry fruit, somehow sedate and effortless. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit, nigh perfect acidity, a touch of fleshiness towards the finish. It is not the most ambitious Grand Cru, yet in terms of sheer pleasure, this hits the spot. Drink over the next 15 to 20 years. Tasted blind at the Burgfest 2016 tasting. Drinking range: 2023 - 2045 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Oct 2019)

A racy style, defined by bracing acidity propelling the black currant, blackberry, iron, earth and spice flavors to a lingering conclusion. Balanced and full of energy, this needs time to really settle in and reveal all its facets in a harmonious way. Drinking range: 2022 - 2043 Rating: 96 Bruce Sanderson, The Wine Spectator (Feb 2019)

(produced from two large parcels of differing vine ages - one that is approximately two-thirds of the blend and is now 50+ years of age and a second, smaller group of vines that is approximately 25+ years of age; made with 85% whole cluster and 50% new wood). An overtly floral suffused nose offers up ripe aromas of red currant, rose petal, plum and a hint of exotic spice. There is first-rate punch to the bigger and richer yet still well-defined medium weight plus flavors that possess very good if not exceptional length on the nicely complex finish. This is certainly pretty but it doesn’t appear, at least at this early juncture, to have the class and sheer substance of either the 2014 or the 2015. Time will of course tell but for the moment, I would describe the 2016 Clos des Lambrays as very good rather than excellent. Drinking range: 2028 - Rating: 91-93 Allen Meadows, www.Burghound.com (Jan 2018)

60 m difference between the top and bottom of Clos. Harvest 24-29 September. 39hl/ha, 30% more than in 2015. 50% new and 50% second-use barrel. Bright cherry red. Fresh and intense and lacy. Easy peasy – so easy to like. Dry end. Youthful but fresh and lively. Long. Rich and exciting. Quite dry end but with lots of interest chiselled into this. Drinking range: 2020 - 2035 Rating: 18 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jan 2018)

(38 hectoliters per hectare produced; vinified with 85% whole clusters, down from a normal 100%; aging in 50% new oak, vs. 33% for the premier cru and village wine): Healthy dark red. Captivating perfume of red berries, spices and flowers lifted by a sexy herbal element from the stems. Silky, dense and concentrated, showing terrific precision and a sappy personality to its complex flavors of red berries, brown spices, underbrush and dried flowers. Lovely fruit intensity here. Very firm and built to age but even today there is nothing hard about this grand cru. Finishes very long and sweet, with refined tannins. I'm not sure that this wine will ever go through an extended sullen phase in bottle. Rating: 92-94 Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (Jan 2018)

The 2016 Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru includes 85% whole-bunch fruit and is matured in 50% new oak. It was picked around 24 to 29 September. It has a fresh and discrete bouquet at first, the whole bunch influencing the red fruit, infusing scents of autumn leaves and Earl Grey into the mix. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, good grip in the mouth, building with time to a very composed, classically styled, quite persistent and lightly spiced finish whereby the whole bunch is completely subsumed by the fruit. Wonderful. Drinking range: 2021 - 2045 Rating: 93-95 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Dec 2017)

The 'Clos' consists of 8.66 hectares of land enclosed by a wall in which there is the original milestone marking its founding in 1365, confirmed in the records of the Abbaye de Citeaux (those monks knew where to place a vineyard). The Clos owes much of its current fame to the nineteenth and twentieth century proprietors who reconstituted it after the fragmentation of ownership which followed the French revolution. Despite always having been considered a Grand Cru site, the Clos was in fact classified Premier Cru in the original 1936 appellations contrôlées.

The Rodier family which owned it from the 1930s fought to regain its Grand cru status, with eventual success only in 1981, when it became the last of the thirty-three Grands Crus of Burgundy, although by then it had passed to the Saier family. Recently under the benign ownership of the Günther Freund and his family, who gave a very free hand to régisseur Thierry Brouin, who had been employed by their predecessor Rolland Pelletier de Chambure, the quality of the wines here has pushed up again. In 2014 it was bought by the LVMH group.

It has been all rather quick change here as Jacques Devauge has taken over here after a short interregnum under Boris Champy. The legacy of Thierry Brouin can still be felt, Jacques decribing him as having been 'clairvoyant' in his approach to the domaine, which has set it up well to deal with challenges of warmer vintages. Jacques seems set to take this estate onward - 'every domaine has to challenge itself to do better', he says. 2019 marks the second year being fully organic - if all goes well they will be certified after another two.

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