Domaine Hubert Lamy Criots-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 'Haute Densite' 2021

Lamy's sole grand cru was happily spared by the April frosts, and in the 2021 Criots-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru Haute Densité he has produced one of the vintage's most imposing wines. Unwinding in the glass with notes of orange zest, pear, freshly baked bread, iodine and toasted nuts framed by a deft touch of youthful reduction, it's full-bodied, layered and multidimensional, with a hugely concentrated and youthfully tightly wound core of fruit that's framed by racy acids and an abundance of chalky structuring extract. Long, resonant and serious, this will demand and richly reward patience in anyone lucky enough to latch onto a bottle of the 300 produced. As readers may know, Lamy inter-planted young vines between the existing old vines in this parcel, with a view to improving the quality of its Chardonnay genetics. His neighbors were at first skeptical, wondering if he was attempting to produce more wine, but their fears were soon allayed when they observed his yields, on the contrary, decrease.

By William Kelley January 2024