Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Chaumees

When Olivier Lamy systematically replaced Burgundy's standard 228 L barriques with 300–600 L demi-muids across his cellar, it was a calculated response to premature oxidation — and the move has since reshaped how the Côte de Beaune thinks about white-wine élevage.

Les Chaumées sits within Chassagne-Montrachet's Premier Cru mosaic, where shallow clay-limestone soils over hard limestone bedrock at roughly 250–300 m elevation deliver the structural tension that separates this village's whites from the rounder expressions lower on the slope.

Hand-harvested fruit is pneumatically pressed, lightly settled overnight, then fermented directly in barrel with ambient indigenous yeasts over approximately 90 days — a deliberately slow, cool-cellar fermentation that builds aromatic depth before malolactic fermentation completes in wood.

Élevage runs 24 months on lees in mostly used demi-muids, followed by a further 6 months in tank; bâtonnage is restrained. In 2020, a warm, low-yield, high-luminosity year, Olivier cancelled most new barrel orders — new oak is effectively zero for this cuvée — to avoid overwhelming the ripe, concentrated fruit.

The result is a Chassagne Premier Cru that carries the domaine's chiselled limestone signature into a fuller, more textured register than its Saint-Aubin siblings. The 2020 structure and concentration suggest a drinking window from 2025 through 2033+.