2017 Chassagne-Montrachet Village

There are two winemakers in Chassagne-Montrachet who are absolutely killing it at the moment: Alexandre Moreau (Domaine Bernard Moreau) and this man, Sébastien Caillat (Domaine Lamy-Caillat). If you think that Chassagne-Montrachet cannot offer as much profundity as the finest Meursault or Puligny-Montrachet, then you have not tasted these wines. They are produced in tiny quantities, but that does not mean that you should not try to get your mitts on a few bottles. "We started picking the whites around 3 to 6 September using the same team that picks Lamy-Pillot," Caillat informed me in his small cellar just up the road from Ramonet. "The entire harvest [including Lamy-Pillot] took around 10 days. We had quite a high oïdium pressure during the season but after it was very warm. Frost threatened but in the end we did not have any, so overall it was a relatively easy vintage as the grapes were very healthy. The alcoholic fermentation was more difficult because was always at risk of stopping [due to higher alcohol levels.] So I blended barrels together and put them into vat and then racked them back into barrel to restart the fermentation. There is no chaptalisation in 2018 but there was a little in 2017. I am finding that the 2018s are becoming more "strict" in their second winter." Tasting both his 2017s in bottle and 2018s in barrel, this was a short but thrilling ride through Chardonnays brimming over with tension and energy. Lamy-Caillat is rapidly attaining cult status and I might be fueling that here, so I will leave it there.

I refer readers to my introduction to this micro-domaine run by Sébastien Caillat and his wife Florence in my “Under the Radar” article on Vinous earlier this year. I meet Sébastien on a beautiful autumn morning in Chassagne, at his winery just up the road from Ramonet and Guy Amiot. In 2017 he has a new addition: a Bourgogne Blanc La Grand Corvée that comes from a métayage where he will take two-thirds of the grapes. He was very upbeat about the 2017s, opining that they are as good as the 2014s. The harvest took place between September 3 and 6, with healthy grapes and, thankfully, no maladies in the vineyard throughout the year. As I expected, Caillat’s 2017s are utterly sublime, pretty and understated, gaining intensity with modest aeration. His Chassagne-Montrachet Les Caillerets really stands out, though the Les Champ Gains is nipping at its heels. I have also included two bottled 2016s to add to the one I reviewed earlier this year, the Chassagne-Montrachet La Romanée already showing huge potential.

I refer readers to my introduction to this micro-domaine run by Sébastien Caillat and his wife Florence in my “Under the Radar” article on Vinous earlier this year. I meet Sébastien on a beautiful autumn morning in Chassagne, at his winery just up the road from Ramonet and Guy Amiot. In 2017 he has a new addition: a Bourgogne Blanc La Grand Corvée that comes from a métayage where he will take two-thirds of the grapes. He was very upbeat about the 2017s, opining that they are as good as the 2014s. The harvest took place between September 3 and 6, with healthy grapes and, thankfully, no maladies in the vineyard throughout the year. As I expected, Caillat’s 2017s are utterly sublime, pretty and understated, gaining intensity with modest aeration. His Chassagne-Montrachet Les Caillerets really stands out, though the Les Champ Gains is nipping at its heels. I have also included two bottled 2016s to add to the one I reviewed earlier this year, the Chassagne-Montrachet La Romanée already showing huge potential.