Domaine des Lambrays (Thierry Brouin), Morey-St-Denis
Background
Thierry Brouin has been in charge at this domaine for over 30 years, and while always desperate to to maximise the potential of this great vineyard, the old owners were always pushing for more volume. However all this changed when millionaire Gunther Freund bought Domaine de Lambrays in 1996, and gave Thierry carte blanche to ensure the estate's wines rank with the best names of the côte, and judging by recent vintages, they are achieving their aim. With over 8 hectares of Grand Cru vines at his disposal, the resulting volumes enable Thierry to maintain a high quality of finished wine by declassifying a large proportion of juice (around one third in most years) into the 1er Cru mix, which also has juice from two seperate 1er Cru vineyards, Riotte and Village, making the cuvée Morey 1er Cru 'les Loups'. The village wine is also of particularly high quality, being made from declassified 1er Cru and some village juice from vines growing just above the Grand Cru vineyard.
Size: 11 hectares, of which 8 hectares make up up the Grand Cru vineyard. .
| Soil type: | Marny soil in the upper part of the vineyard favours the finesse of the wines, while in the flatter areas, the loamy and chalky soil produces powerful and balanced wines. These two features combine to provide the characteristic harmony and ageing capacity of the Clos des Lambrays. |
| Vine age: | on average 40 years old. |
| Yields: | on average 31 hectolitres per hectare. |
| Annual production: | xxx |
Viticultural and vinification methods
Harvest is entirely manual, and after a rigourous sorting by hand, and choosing to leave most of the stems in tact, they employ a traditional Burgundian vinification in open stainless steel vats, with regular pumping over and 'treading grapes' (pigeage). The wines are aged and matured in barrel during 18 months (50% renewed each year). New oak is used very correctly and never dominates the wines.
Wines
Clos de Lambrays Grand Cru - 30,000 - 40,000 btls/year.
Morey-St-Denis 1er Cru 'Les Loups' - 8,000-10,000 btls/year
Morey-St-Denis
