x
United States

    My Column

    Domaine des Lambrays’ Clos des Lambrays 1966-2012

    This past December seemed an ideal time for me to taste a vertical collection of the Domaine des Lambrays’ historic Grand Cru Clos des Lambrays. New winemaker Boris Champy, who took over in early 2017, had just completed his first vinification on his own following the retirement of long-time estate director and winemaker Thierry Brouin last spring. Yet the veteran Brouin, who has devoted most of his adult life to painstakingly restoring this previously underperforming old property to excellence over the past nearly 40 years, was still close enough to his subject to attend the tasting as well. This turned out to be fortuitous, in light of a subsequent and unexpected change in personnel.

     

    The Ancient History of the Clos des Lambrays

    The Clos des Lambrays is one of Burgundy’s oldest and most famous Grand Crus, first cited (as Cloux des Lambreys) in the deeds of the Abbaye de Citeaux in 1365. It’s also the largest clos in Burgundy that’s almost entirely under single ownership. The property was broken up among more than 70 owners during the French Revolution but was mostly reassembled during the middle of the 19th century by négociant owner Louis Joly, then fully reunited by Albert-Sebastien Rodier in 1868. The Clos des Lambrays essentially became a monopole.

    The property was ranked as a “première cuvée” in the 19th century, but when Burgundy’s appellations were created in the 1930s, the vineyard had fallen on hard times and it was not granted Grand Cru status. (Both Clos de la Roche and Clos Saint-Denis in Morey-Saint-Denis obtained Grand Cru status in 1936, with Clos de Tart following in 1939.) And when Renée Cosson purchased the Domaine des Lambrays in 1938 from Albert Rodier, the grandson of Albert-Sebastien, the new owner did not seek Grand Cru status since that would have resulted in higher taxes. Subsequently, Cosson—and her son Henri during the 1970s—for the most part neglected the estate during their 40+ years of ownership. Although some outstanding wines were made during Cosson’s ownership, such as the ’37 and the ’45, the vineyard was in disarray by the end of their tenure as many dying vines had not been replanted. Some vintages in the 1970s were not even bottled. By then, the locals commonly referred to the property as Clos Délabré (dilapidated).

     

    The Rehabilitation and Modern History of Domaine des Lambrays

    The property’s fortunes took a major positive turn when Roland Chambure and the brothers Fabien and Louis Saier purchased it in 1979, shortly after the death of Renée Cosson. (A tiny portion in the lower part of the Clos des Lambrays—less than one-twentieth of a hectare—has been owned since 1965 by the Taupenot-Merme family and is essentially the back yard of their house in Morey-Saint-Denis. Romain Taupenot produces less than a barrel of wine annually from these vines.) The new owners quickly hired enologist Thierry Brouin the following year to direct the estate and make the wines.

    Domaine des Lambrays changed hands again in late 1996 when German contractor and long-time Burgundy lover Günter Freund and his wife Ruth acquired the estate for the current equivalent of 15 million Euros. They subsequently made further investments in vineyard replanting and renovation of the estate, undertook stricter selection of grapes on the sorting table, purchased a gentler and more efficient pneumatic press, and created an orangerie on the property.

    More recently, in the spring of 2014, the town of Morey-Saint-Denis was rocked by the news that Bernard Arnault’s Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) luxury group had purchased Domaine des Lambrays at a staggering price of 105 million Euros. In addition to the prime Clos des Lambrays holding (8.66 hectares), LVMH’s purchase also included about a hectare of Morey-Saint-Denis village vines grown on thin soil above the Clos, and just over 0.3 hectare of Morey Premier Cru, plus small pieces of Puligny-Montrachet Clos du Caillerets and Les Folatières, which had been bought by the Saier brothers in 1993.

    With the subsequent purchase of the neighboring Clos de Tart in 2017 by François Pinault’s Artémis group (which also owns Château Latour, Château Grillet and Eiseley Vineyard in Napa Valley, as well as Domaine d’Eugénie in nearby Vosne-Romanée), two of France’s richest men can now be said to be waging a civilized proxy war on the slopes of Morey-Saint-Denis.

    Or perhaps not so urbane: as I was finishing up this article, I was shocked to hear that Boris Champy had abruptly left Domaine des Lambrays at the end of February after barely two years there and that Jacques Devauges, who had been hired away from Domaine de l’Arlot at the beginning of 2015 to direct Clos de Tart and make its wines, was moving next door to Domaine des Lambrays. Never a dull moment in Burgundy! Devauges, who was not yet ready to discuss the reasons for the move, mentioned to me that he had worked with Brouin as a trainee at Clos des Lambrays during the vinification of the 1997 vintage. And Brouin, despite being officially retired, will once again be available for consulting advice—a good thing, as Brouin knows where the vines are buried at Domaine des Lambrays.

     

    Brouin in the Vineyards and in the Winery

    One of Brouin’s first projects after being hired by the Saier brothers in 1980, other than distilling some remaining barrels of 1973 and 1974 Clos des Lambrays into the local brandy, was to replant about 2.5 hectares of diseased vines in 1981 and 1982—more than a quarter of the estate’s vines in Clos des Lambrays—in Les Bouchots. This parcel, situated in the high northwestern section of the clos situated just to the south of the Domaine Ponsot home and cellar, had been totally ignored by the previous owners. Brouin also replaced about another quarter hectare of missing vines in the other parts of the clos because the Cossons hadn’t bothered to do any replanting during their tenure. Brouin’s early work at the estate enabled Clos des Lambrays to be granted Grand Cru status in 1981.

    Today the vines in Clos des Lambrays range from 35 to more than 100 years of age, and Brouin told me that one of his biggest challenges has always been the need to handle the various plots and ages of vines differently. “Normally, we get four to six cuvées from the clos and for sure they are all different, depending on the microclimate, the age of the vines, and the harvest date,” he told me, adding that if a particular cuvée did not have “all of the qualities that a Grand Cru requires,” it could be declassified into the estate’s premier cru Les Loups, the foundation of which is the premier cru parcels La Riotte and Le Village.

    From the time he arrived at Domaine des Lambrays, Brouin has been an early harvester. During my tastings with him through the years he always contrasted his approach to that of Sylvain Pitiot at neighboring Clos de Tart, who was notorious for picking late. Brouin’s approach explains why the alcohol level of the finished Clos des Lambrays has only hit 14% once (in 2000). He also believes that his harvesting strategy preserves minerality and terroir character. At our tasting in December, Brouin told me that he regretted not waiting longer to harvest in only about 4 or 5 vintages out of the 38 he vinified here, including 1995, 2004, 2007 and 2008.

    Brouin is certain that during the Cosson years, Clos des Lambrays was destemmed. But during the harvest of 1985 he kept some stems for the first time, and beginning with 1990 he made the wine entirely with whole clusters. Brouin also told me that he always practiced a fairly soft extraction. After three or four days of cold maceration, the fermentation started with the native yeasts. Brouin carried out four or five pigeages per day for about six days, using a pneumatic compressor to perform this action gently, and the total duration of the cuvaison has consistently been 12 to 14 days. Brouin was always able to hold the temperature of the fermentation to no higher than 34 degrees C. using what he described as “a really efficient system” of streaming water along the sides of the stainless steel vats. He has consistently used “no more than 50% new oak” to age the Clos des Lambrays, with François Frères his preferred cooper.

    Fruit flavors in the Clos des Lambrays include black cherry and raspberry, as well as other dark fruits such as plum and even blueberry. But this is essentially a soil-driven style, with the underbrush evident in the wine mingling with herbs, olive, pepper, and dark spices.

     

    A Varied Terroir

    Owing partly to its sheer size, the Clos des Lambrays is a rather heterogeneous site, with a 60-meter difference in elevation between the bottom and top. It’s an essentially rocky, clay-rich terroir, but with mostly heavier clay and loam at the bottom, in the lieu-dit Meix-Rentier. The midslope, Les Larrets, features chalky, gravelly soil, and Brouin describes this parcel as “classic” Grand Cru, “with finesse, elegance and complexity and a perfect balance of tannins and acidity.” The top section of the clos, Les Bouchots, is an undulating band of rocky limestone- and iron oxide-rich brownish-red soil that’s open to the cooling influence of the Combe de Morey, which brings added elegance to the wine. Brouin considers the Clos des Lambrays to be the center of Morey-Saint-Denis, and he maintains that it boasts greater soil diversity than Clos de Tart, with part of the vineyard higher than any other Grand Cru parcel in Morey-Saint-Denis.

    Brouin typically begins to assemble the blend during the first December. At this stage, inferior lots can be declassified into the estate’s premier cru, usually due to underripeness and lack of body. Owing to the whole-cluster vinification, the malolactic fermentations are usually early here. Lesser barrels—for example, those with high levels of volatile acidity—may also be declassified right up to the end of aging, and the bottling typically takes place during the second March.

    The Nature of the Wine

    Brouin has always described Clos des Lambrays as an elegant, cooler blue-fruit-and-mineral expression, compared with the bigger, more new-oaky, dark-fruit-driven nature of Clos de Tart, but I often find as much red fruits (from the iron element in the soil?) as blue, particularly as the wines age. It’s clearly a Grand Cru of suppleness and finesse rather than sheer power. Although its hillside is essentially an extension of Gevrey’s, the Clos des Lambrays does not have the same power, muscularity and density of nearby Gevrey Grand Crus. Nor does it begin with color as deep as that of the Clos de Tart, in part due to its vinification with whole clusters. Still, it’s a concentrated, intense wine that’s kept vibrant and precise by a core of minerality.

    In cool vintages, Clos des Lambrays can come across as a bit spiky in the early going due to the combination of early harvesting and whole-cluster vinification, which can give the young wines distinct notes of pepper, spices, flowers, menthol and even eucalyptus. But it’s enticingly fragrant from the outset and its essentially elegant tannins and underlying minerality support an orchestral expansion in bottle. The vintages of the 21st century have shown more consistent density than previous years without any loss of this Grand Cru’s oxymoronic combination of musky wildness and refinement. It will be fascinating to see what the talented Jacques Devauges brings to this singular site in the coming years.

    Close

    My Today

    All of the tasting notes of the wine critic mentioned above in tastingbook, comes from press releases from wine importers and vineyards, or directly from the critic and can also be found on the critic’s own website, which can be easily accessed by clicking on the link above.

    Close

    Me

    Stephen Tanzer is an American wine critic and editor at Vinous. From 1985 until he joined Vinous in 2014, Tanzer was the publisher of the critically acclaimed bimonthly International Wine Cellar, an independent journal read by wine professionals and other wine lovers in all 50 U.S. states and 34 countries, and the first American wine periodical to be translated into French and Japanese. Tanzer has particular expertise on the wines of Bordeaux, as well as other prominent wine regions, including BurgundyCalifornia, Washington State, and South Africa.

    Tanzer has written wine columns for Food & Wine Magazine and Forbes FYI. Among his books are The WineAccess Buyer's Guide and Food and Wine Magazine's Official Wine Guide.

    Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, which employed a modern wine rating system on a 70-100 point quality scale, was considered in direct competition with Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, though Tanzer's "controlled prose" is in contrast to the more flamboyant style of Parker. Tanzer still uses this scale in his ratings and reviews with Vinous.

    Read More
    Close

    Pro Me

    In February 2010, Tanzer launched the website "Winophilia" in the wine blog format, which published short articles by Tanzer, IWC collaborator Josh Raynolds, and other IWC contributors.

    Tanzer's wine reviews are available to CellarTracker users who are also subscribers to Vinous.

    On November 18, 2014 Vinous, founded by Antonio Galloni, announced it had agreed to acquire Stephen Tanzer's IWC and in late 2014 IWC's archive had been transferred in a combined site home, available to both Vinous and IWC readers. IWC team members Ian D'Agata and Josh Raynolds are also part of the Vinous team.

    Tanzer samples well over 10,000 wines annually, spending several months each year tasting and discussing wines with their makers, both in the U.S. and abroad.  

    Close

Wine Moments

Here you can see wine moments from tastingbook users. or to see wine moments from your world.

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  18 Wines  from  1 Producers 

Carter Cellars Beckstoffer To Kalon 'The O.G.' 2008 – Good full ruby. Very precise aromas and flavors of cassis, minerals and spices. Large-scaled, chewy and deep, offering uncanny generosity and lushness for the vintage without coming across as heavy. In fact, this is quite elegant. Most impressive today on the very long, slowly building finish, which features suave tannins and complex hints of bitter chocolate, mocha, menthol and minerals. A worthy successor to the superb 2007. 

2y 1m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  8 Wines  from  1 Producers 

Domaine Latour-Giraud's Jean-Pierre Latour compares 2017 to 2015 "but with more complexity, precision and interest. The wines will have a certain accessibility but they also have much more potential than the '15s." 

2y 2m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  15 Wines  from  1 Producers 

Inspired by the high quality of the 1997 vintage, especially for Cabernet Sauvignon, Catena introduced a new high-end blend that year, naming it Nicolás Catena Zapata (Zapata was his mother’s maiden name). A blend of 95% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Malbec made in a Bordeaux style and intended for long aging, the 1997 was released in 2001 and made an immediate splash in the international marketplace as it bested numerous top Bordeaux and California Cabernet-based wines in a series of blind tastings in Europe and the U.S.

2y 2m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  8 Wines  from  1 Producers 

Andrea Sottimano told me he's now taking a more natural and relaxed approach to winemaking, using natural yeasts, allowing for a longer maceration, and not rushing the malolactic fermentations (the last 2010 Barbaresco didn't finish its malo until the summer of 2011). There's no racking or sulfuring before the malos, and he racks his wines only once after the secondary fermentation. (Yes, Sottimano is a Burgundy lover.) The estate is also cutting off leaves at the end of August, which he believes is now enabling them to get good phenolic ripeness at lower alcohol levels.

2y 3m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  18 Wines  from  1 Producers 

Delas Frères Hermitage Les Bessards 2011 shows excellent depth and energy in the mouth, offering sweet dark fruit and mocha flavors that are underscored and lifted by tangy acidity.

2y 4m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  25 Wines  from  3 Producers 

Romanée-Conti 2013 /Bright, dark red. Very reticent nose hints at plum, noble herbs and musky mulch. Plush and utterly spherical in the mouth, delivering a rare combination of richness and weightlessness. Began with primary fruit taking a back seat to lower-toned, soil-driven smoke, minerals and underbrush, but lively raspberry and spice elements emerged with aeration. Great depth and sweetness here owing to the tiny yield of less than 18 hectoliters per hectare, but less sexy in the early going than La Tâche. A wine of great class and length, this firmly tannic Romanée-Conti will evolve positively for decades.

2y 5m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  18 Wines  from  12 Producers 

DRC Romanée Conti 2008 / Good medium red, but hazy from the recent racking. The nose shows darker aromas than La T a che: berries, violet, Oriental spices. At once spherical and penetrating, with a silkiness that bathes the palate in berry, pepper, spice and mineral flavors. Comes across as fatter than La T a che today, with a stronger early impression of sweetness. Boasts a three-dimensional texture and uncanny depth, but this is sure to shut down in the bottle. Perhaps most impressive now on the back end, which features great rising length and grip.

2y 8m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  24 Wines  from  10 Producers 

Quinta do Noval Nacional 2003 / Deep ruby. Knockout nose offers wonderful lift and verve, with distinctly vinous aromas of cassis, medicinal black cherry, licorice, pepper, violet, bitter chocolate and fresh herbs (Vosne-Romanee?). Wonderfully suave and understated on entry, then gripping and precise in the middle palate, and not at all overly sweet. Strong acids and a floral note of lavender contribute to the impression of lift in the mouth. As much great wine as it is great port, with a structure of steel. This showed even greater precision and spine with extended aeration. It will be interesting to taste this and the Fonseca side by side in 20 years, but of course these are two markedly different styles. 96+

2y 11m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  18 Wines  from  17 Producers 

Petrus 1961 / Deep red-ruby color with an amber edge. Utterly singular perfumed, high-pitched aromas of loganberry, cherry and flowers. An awesomely concentrated wine of huge power and depth. Chewy with extract and wonderfully sweet and rich. Shows the strong iron note I often get from merlot on the Pomerol plateau, along with superripe suggestions of cherry liqueur and dark chocolate. Finishes with great grip and length, and a bit less sweetness than the middle palate would suggest. Drink now through 2020.

3y 5m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  24 Wines  from  12 Producers 

Maya 1991 / Saturated dark red. Wonderfully polished, complex aromas of black raspberry, plum, truffle, smoky oak and caramel, plus a hint of black olive (this wine actually reminded me of some of the earlier vintages of Harlan Estate). At once plush and vibrant, offering terrific retention of sweet berry fruit complicated by tobacco and smoky oak. Firm acidity (natural?) turned slightly tart with aeration but this wonderfully long, saline wine finishes with serious but well-integrated tannins and outstanding verve. While it does not have quite the give of the 2008 I tasted alongside it for my '08 horizontal, it has guts of steel and should go on for years. (13.5% alcohol)

4y 2m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  25 Wines  from  12 Producers 

Screaming Eagle 2010 / (75% cabernet sauvignon, 16% merlot and 9% cabernet franc; the harvest here ended on October 13, about two weeks later than usual): Brilliant ruby-red. Urgent aromas of crushed boysenberry, wild herbs, licorice and spearmint are complemented by sexy oak tones. Densely packed and electric, with great energy to the highly concentrated, pliant flavors of black fruits, cocoa powder and flowers. Still quite youthfully backward, but the inexorable slowly mounting finish and big but noble tannins suggest a long and glorious evolution in bottle. Owing to the small clusters, thick skins and concentration of tannins, this wine got a longer elevage than usual, with the bottling done at the end of November 2012.

4y 4m ago

Stephen Tanzer / BWW2024 Finalist, Wine Writer (United States)  had a tasting of  22 Wines  from  3 Producers 

Beaulieu Vineyard’s Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 / Bright full ruby. Vibrant, pristine aromas of crushed blueberry, blackberry, cassis, violet, licorice and wild herbs, plus a hint of dusty cocoa powder. Remarkably plush on entry, hinting at an almost chocolatey ripeness, then large-scaled, dense and chewy in the middle palate, with harmonious acidity and a distinctly savory quality leavening the sweetness of the wine's berry fruit. Turns sweeter again on the wonderfully long, aromatic aftertaste, which boasts noble, perfectly integrated tannins and outstanding lift. Still a baby but has all the elements for greatness. Beaulieu will introduce this wine in the fall as a centerpiece of their 80th anniversary celebration and it will be a crowd-pleaser. It's hard to compare any wine to the '68, but this may eventually prove to be the best vintage of the Private Reserve since that magical wine. (14.9% alcohol; 3.75 pH; 6.0 grams per liter total acidity; aged for 22 months in 90% new French oak)

4y 4m ago

UPGRADE MEMBER PLAN
Upgrade your membership now, it's quick and easy. We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards. Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal. You can cancel your membership at any time.
Thank you for your support!
 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

 

HOW TO USE TASTINGBOOK?

We recommend you to share few minutes for watching the following video instructions of how to use the Tastingbook. This can provide you a comprehensive understanding of all the features you can find from this unique service platform.

This video will help you get started



Taste wines with the Tastingbook


Create Your wine cellar on 'My Wines'



Explore Your tasted wines library



Administrate Your wine world in Your Profile



Type a message ...
Register to Tastingbook
Sign up now, it's quick and easy.
We use PayPal, the world's largest payment system, it accepts all credit cards.
Once you've chosen your membership level, you'll go directly to PayPal, where you can sign up for a free 7-day trial period. You can cancel your membership at any time. We wish you a rewarding journey to the world of Fine Wines.

Free 7 days Member trial

 

Member

 

Pro Member

 

Winemerchant Member

 

Winery Member

 

User

  Register