Technical Director Boris Champy said that he believes Lambrays is already one of the top fifteen domaines in Burgundy, and his goal is to make it one of the top three. It’s a daunting challenge; I think Domaine de la Romanée-Conti would make almost all lists of the top three from informed judges, but there would be quite a bit of diversity with respect to the remaining two. That makes it difficult when you aren’t even sure whom you are chasing.
Harvesting in 2017 took place on 31 August for the Puligny-Folatières, 2 September for the Puligny-Clos du Cailleret, and it began on 3 September for the Clos des Lambrays. The harvest finished on 12 September with the village Morey. At the village level, the yield was 29 hl/ha, for the Clos des Lambrays, it was 37 hl/ha. Malo-lactic fermentations were quick, finishing by 1 December.
We start this time with the whites. Boris said that his goal is zero rate of premature oxidation, and the estate is taking various measures to control the oxygen in order to achieve that goal. For one, there have been some barrel changes, and for another the necks of the bottles have been reduced to 17 mm in diameter (18.5 or 19 is standard), the same as it was 100 years ago. (Continue reading here.)