Domaine Hubert Lamy Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Les Macherelles, 2020, 75cl

The 2020 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Macherelles reveals aromas of pear, orange oil, white flowers, nutmeg, beeswax and peach. Medium to full-bodied, rich and layered, it's a fleshy, generous wine with good energy and precision, even if it can't match the tension and intensity of the top Saint-Aubin cuvées at this address. This is another strikingly good vintage for Olivier Lamy, whose tireless efforts over the last 25 years are now consistently delivering some of contemporary Burgundy's greatest wines. Whether it's cutting-edge viticulture, including plantings at over 20,000 vines per hectare and unhedged canopies; extended maturation on the lees, which now amounts to 24 months in total, 23 of those in largely neutral wood; obsessive attention to closures and bottling practices; or a host of other small details that, cumulatively, make the difference between the best and the rest, Lamy has spared nothing to get to where he is today. While his ultra-rare Haute Densité bottlings are now almost impossible to source, readers will still find it easy to secure his more modest cuvées. Forget them in the cellar for a decade and reap the rewards!