Variety: Chardonnay
From/Terroir: North-east of village, lower part of southeast-facing slope, soil of limestone decomposition. Frionnes, Saint Aubin, Burgundy, France.
Critical Acclaim:
92-94 points Vinous
"The 2019 Saint-Aubin Les Frionnes 1er Cru has a very taut, Puligny-like nose with wet limestone and flinty aromas accompanying the Granny Smith apples. The palate is well balanced with a fine line of acidity, superb salinity with a vibrant, animated finish that feels reassuringly persistent. Pure class. (NM)" (12/2020)
91-93 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
"The 2019 Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Frionnes is showing especially well, unfurling in the glass with hints of citrus pith, white flowers, crisp green apple and mandarin. Medium to full-bodied, satiny and incisive, it's saline and penetrating, with a bright spine of acidity. This will be well worth seeking out. (WK) 91-93+"(1/2021)
90-93 points Allen Meadows - Burghound
"This is also exuberantly fresh with its even cooler nose of grapefruit, Granny Smith apples and overtly floral aromas. There is equally good intensity to the wonderfully textured medium weight flavors that flash good minerality on the driving finish that is also bone-dry. Lovely stuff though at least some patience is suggested. *Sweet Spot, Outstanding!*"(6/2021)
Notes: The 2019 Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Frionnes is strikingly good. Mingling aromas of pear lemon oil white flowers citrus zest and freshly baked bread in an inviting mélange it's medium to full-bodied deep and layered with an impressive mid-palate plenitude racy acids and a long chalky finish. It's the best Frionnes I've ever tasted from Lamy.
This year as a flurry of early December snow fell outside Olivier Lamy opted to show his bottled 2019s rather than his 2020s from barrel?a choice I warmly endorse as wines evolve slowly in these cold cellars where larger vessels predominate and nothing is done to accelerate the maturation process. As I wrote last year in 2019 yields chez Lamy were reduced by frost averaging around 25 hectoliters per hectare; yet the wines aren't defined by frost as they were for example in 2016 when an abundance of second- and third-generation grapes complicated the choice of harvest date. In the same report I described the wines as concentrated and textural with prodigious levels of dry extract and that was borne out in bottle: these are remarkable wines built for the ages and it's hard to think of anyone in the Côte d'Or who more fully realized the potential of the vintage in Chardonnay. As my notes attest these are brilliant wines and it hasn't happened by accident: rather it's the fruit of 30 years' hard work. Olivier Lamy has conclusively smashed the glass ceiling that for so long has imposed upon the wines of Saint-Aubin. All the white wines are bottled under DIAM.