2017 Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru

It’s always handy having Burgundy winemakers on speed dial. In the event of arriving at a winery only to discover that they thought the tasting was the following day, you can make a quick call and shoot up the road for an impromptu dégustation. That’s exactly what happened here. As it was my final rendezvous of the day, Jacques Desvauges, who took over from Bruno Champy on 1 March 2019, had time to explain everything happening at Domaine des Lambrays. Which is a lot.

“I think in 2019 we made many changes,” he began. “But you have to be careful what you change. You have to respect that, and yet every domaine has to challenge itself to do better than the year before. With 2019 we made a couple of important changes, the most important in the vineyard. We converted to 100% organic - no more chemicals. For us it has been hard because the vineyard is steep and the rows are perpendicular to the incline. It is better to spray the two sides [of the vine] at the same time, but since one side [of the ground] is higher than the other, there is no tractor that can do that. [It would topple over – a risk that has taken the life of more than one winemaker over the years.] We found a factory in Mâconnais that could build a specially made sprayer for us and this was first used in 2020. We also plough all the vines and that has been a huge amount of work because the tools are manufactured for use on flat land. So at least once a year every vine must be dug by hand.” We then discussed how they approach the vineyard in terms of sub-plots. “You can walk through the vineyard and feel the diversity between different sectors in terms of altitude, soil and geology. I wanted to understand this diversity better and I introduced a parcellaire approach, vinifying separate sub-plots in small tanks. Clos des Lambrays used to be fermented in 84-hectoliter tanks and barrelled down as one cuvée, whereas now there are now 11 cuvées that will be blended just prior to bottling. These changes were inspired by old bottles of Clos des Lambrays such as the 1918, which is spectacular. I also believe in using all the vineyard in the final blend except the 30 rows of young vines under 20 years old.”

Broaching the subject of the 2019 vintage that marks Desvauges’s debut in that he had total responsibility, the told me: “The 2019 is a small vintage in terms of volume, 21hl/ha for the Village Cru, 20h/ha for the Premier Cru and just 15hl/ha for the Grand Cru. That is because of turning organic and three major reasons during the growing season: the cold conditions during flowering that caused coulure, the fortnight of heat that stressed the vines that encouraged them to preserve their sap for the leaves instead of expanding the berries and thirdly, the warm wind that lasted four or five days that increased the rate of evaporation. We harvested the whites from 7 September and the reds from 13 September until 18 September. One thing that was noticeable is that in general 2019 was affected by drought in August and you could see the yellowing of leaves. But in Morey we had 52mm of rain on 3/4 and 16/17 August, which was more than other appellations.”

Tasting the three cuvées of the 2019 vintage, Village, Premier and Grand Cru, I felt there was a big step up between the first two. The Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru is exceptionally good and that was clear to see when Desvauges poured the 2017 and 2018 to compare. There just seems to be more depth and definitely more precision. It has more grip and density, partly due to concentration of fruit but also for a judicious increase in percentage of new oak (François Frères.) The 2019 vintage is the perfect way for Desvauges to open his account. What lies in the future? Well, following our tasting he took me for a quick peek at the enormous excavation where, just like down the road at Dujac though on a bigger scale thanks to LVMH’s deep pockets (and a bit of one-upmanship against Clos de Tart’s own rebirth) they plan a gravity-fed winery with secret innovations that Desvauges is clearly excited about.

The comical moment of my Burgundy marathon came at Domaine des Lambrays, when Jacques Desvauges wryly mentioned that three winemakers had a hand in the making of the 2017. Thierry Brouin had guided the wines through the growing season, then Boris Champy oversaw the racking and élevage, to be replaced by Desvauges for the bottling. People speak of the "Morey merry-go-round". Desvauges was clearly happy to have moved across the road from Clos de Tart and as I will detail, he has the freedom to introduce changes as he sees fit. This translates into the barrel cellar. I was fascinated to find that the barrels are arranged in accordance with the layout of the parcels within the almost-monopole, those nearest to the stairs from the lower parts of the vineyard and those at the far end from the upper contours. Interestingly, he found that this geographic organisation revealed patters in terms of how barrel behave, those from the bottom of the vineyard commencing their malolactic together and then gradually starting further and further down to those barrels from the upper sections. “I started working here on 1 March and so far, so good," he told me. "It’s a great opportunity. I’ve been honest explaining my view and perspective how to manage a domaine and it fitted their vision. The quality comes from the vineyard. The next step is to turn organic and biodynamic. If we can do this, it’s thanks to the efforts of Thierry Brouin over the last 38 years. Every domaine has to challenge themselves to do better. The vineyard is perpendicular to the slope so there is no machine to spray, so we had to design a prototype tractor. I asked for Ecocert certification so we are on the first year of conversion. I am a great fan of whole bunches, so that will remain. But we have already made changes. We will install smaller tanks to make small cuvées to make a parcellaire approach for the simple reason that when you walk into the vineyard you can see the heterogeneity with the sensitive Pinot Noir. There are 11 cuvées in 2019 harvest and they are aged separately and blended before bottling. We picked the reds from 25 August until 3 September, the whites on 27 August. Budburst was mid-April like normal, but after it was rainy and warm so the vines grew very vast. You come back at the weekend and the vines needed to be managed. The vines were three weeks in advance by the end of May. Yields are reasonable around 36hl/ha for the Clos des Lambrays and 45hl/ha for the Premier Cru and Village Cru. I think 2018 will be a fascinating vintage as there is variation for the yields, harvest date and vinification was challenging due to some cuvées did not want to finish their sugars, especially for the last tanks. The alcoholic fermentation was not problematic." The 2018s show promise and will not present any radical changes for those accustomed to the traditional style of Domaine des Lambrays.

Marathon man Boris Champy is now at the helm of Domaine des Lambrays following what seemed like a very prolonged retirement of the much-loved Thierry Brouin. I was not the only person to observe that Champy has the same insouciance and wry sense of humour as his predecessor. I also observed how relaxed he seems in his role, partly because his paymasters, the luxury brand LVMH, appear to let him get on with his job, make any changes he feels would benefit the wines and make the crucial on-the-ground decisions fundamental to running a Burgundy estate. The buck stops with Boris. For example, he explained how they send 100 bottles to a laboratory to check there is no peroxide taint on the cork, even though they produce just 4,000 bottles in total. It shows how they are putting the consumer first.

We commence with their two lesser-known whites. “Thierry Brouin’s approach was to pick the Puligny on the early side, and I will continue,” Champy explained. “You could see in the last week of August that the vineyard started to suffer, so we clearly wanted to keep some freshness. I found that Clos du Cailleret suffered less than Les Folatières. I knew when I had to pick by examining and judging the three rows close to the wall that are protected from the sun. We picked on August 31 for Les Folatières and the following day in Clos de Cailleret. We have to be precise in vinification for the whites, especially in terms of oxygen. They were both bottled in mid-October.”

We then moved on to the reds, and Champy advised how yield control has become important in the last couple of vintages. “We have entered a new era of yield control. Between 2008 and 2015 there were no big harvests. Then in 2016, Thierry Brouin did a green harvest, and we did some in 2017 and 2018. Our vineyard is now 75 years old. No fertilizer has been used for 20 years, so it is not a vigorous vineyard and we can aim for around 35hl/ha. It is a classic modern vintage with slightly less acidity, more like 2006 or 2015, good colour and aromatics.”

The two whites are excellent, in particular a very impressive Puligny-Montrachet Clos de Cailleret. The Clos des Lambrays, picked September 3–11, is classic in style and very pure. Occasionally I felt that Brouin did not achieve phenolic maturity, as demonstrated by a recent and almost undrinkable magnum of 2004. However, there is no evidence of that here, and I think Champy knows that Clos des Lambrays would benefit from a slightly later ripening – just a day or two – in order to gain more density without compromising its style. Then maybe they can replicate the legendary wines of the 1940s and 1950s.