Hubert Lamy Santenay 1er Cru Clos des Gravieres Blanc 2023

“A finer width, less scale of aroma vs the Tremblots, but growing with an extra floral perfume. Mouth-filling, fluid, very silky. Great finishing – what an excellent wine!!” Bill Nanson, The Burgundy Report

This comes from a tiny 0.38-hectare plot in a historically revered clos within the Gravières vineyard. Gravières is at the northern end of Santenay, close to the Chassagne border, a sort of continuation of the Clos de Tavannes. Lamy’s vines sit on a 30-degree slope and quickly tunnel into pure limestone. This has long been a renowned site, with Dr Jean Lavalle’s famous Burgundy classification rating the vineyard as a Tête de Cuvée in 1855—the highest rating. Lamy makes white and red here (with 0.28 hectares of Pinot vines in the same clos).

Lamy has increased the density and replaced substandard vine material with mass-selection cuttings from a parcel of older vines planted in 1968. The outstanding quality already offers ample proof of the terroir’s class and the high standard of Lamy’s work in the vines. He now vinifies a part of this cuvée in glass Wineglobe, and, as you can tell from the note below, it’s worked out well. It’s early days for this type of vessel, but the fact that Lamy is buying more globes each year—and Arnaud Ente uses them almost exclusively—should tell you everything you need to know! Regardless, if there is a hidden gem in the Lamy range these days, this is it. Already an absolute benchmark.

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