2022 Clos des Lambrays, Grand Cru, Domaine des Lambrays, Burgundy

Tank sample; to be bottled in early April.

Deep, glowing, dark crimson. Reticent nose but clearly great depth. Almost bitter finish because it is stuffed with tannins! For now this is less approachable than, say, Le Cerisier 2022. Great tension and depth but brooding rather than seductive. 

Drink 2030 - 2050

The 2022 Clos des Lambrays contains 80% whole bunches 100% in the very old vines, a lower proportion elsewhere): a fine, even deep ruby-purple. The bouquet is backward, with a suggested intensity of fruit that can easily cope with the stems. Beautifully suave with an enveloping dark red fruit, a very graceful finish on silky, refined tannins, and we don’t often say silky for Morey St Denis. They are caressing, according to Jacques—the floral touch works throughout, beautifully long and sensual.

Drink 2032

The 2022 Clos des Lambrays Grand Cru is a blend of 11 different cuvées and includes, for the first time, the plot of “30 Rangs”. This vintage includes 80% whole bunches, and like La Richemoine, it is deftly subsumed on the nose, which blossoms with vivacious red berry fruit, forest floor, white truffle, and light autumn leaf scents. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a svelte Clos des Lambrays with a slightly chalky, mineral-rich finish. Very tender and complex, this is undoubtedly a great wine with a long-term future.

Drink 2029 - 2065

Produced from two large parcels of differing vine ages - one that is approximately two-thirds of the blend and is now 50 years of age and a second, smaller group of vines that are approximately 25 years of age; made with 80% whole clusters and 80% new wood.

A cool, airy and beautifully layered nose is comprised by liqueur-like aromas of essence of red and dark currant, violet, rose petal and crushed fennel wisps. There is superb depth to the moderately dense and equally seductively textured flavors that possess a sophisticated mouthfeel before terminating a well-balanced, youthfully austere and impressively long finish. This refined yet powerful effort is quite tightly wound and is clearly a wine built for long-term cellaring. Excellent.

Drink 2037

Although the colour is not as deep as the 2019, the mulberry and plum fruit aromas are every bit as intense, with hints of violets, spice and earth. The texture is tightly wound and vigorous, with impressive density, tannic grip and length. 2022 was the fourth year of organic production, now certified, and the first made in the new winery. The grapes were picked from 1-6 September; 80% were fermented as whole clusters to produce another superb wine with immense ageing potential.

Drink 2030 - 2090