Overview
Les Caillerets is a premier cru climat of Chassagne-Montrachet in the Côte de Beaune, located on the mid-slope just south of the village. The premier cru designation covers the core lieu-dit of Cailleret (about 5.1 hectares) together with parts of the adjoining lieux-dits Chassagne (about 1.1 hectares), Les Combards (about 0.6 hectares) and Vigne Derrière (about 3.7 hectares), for a total in the region of 10.5 hectares. The name derives from the abundance of stones (cailloux) in the soil. The climat is planted effectively entirely to Chardonnay and ranks among the leading white wine premiers crus of the commune.
History
Chassagne-Montrachet received its appellation d'origine contrôlée by decree of July 31, 1937, and the premier cru classification that includes Cailleret dates from 1943. Family domaines have held parcels here for generations: the Amiot family acquired vines in Caillerets among its founding parcels when Arsène Amiot established the domaine in Chassagne in 1920, and holdings in the climat remain fragmented among village families, several of them branches of the Morey and Gagnard lines.
Terroir & Climate
The vineyard occupies a steep, southeast-facing section of the slope at roughly 250 to 310 metres of elevation. Soils are shallow, stony and clay-limestone over Bathonian limestone bedrock, with the gradient providing rapid drainage. The thin topsoil forces deep rooting into the fractured rock; Domaine Guy Amiot's parcel carries vines of about 70 years of age rooted directly into the bedrock. The combination of stone content, shallow soil and full southeast exposure marks Caillerets as one of the warmer, earlier-ripening white wine sites of Chassagne.
Grape Varieties & Wine Styles
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru permits both red and white wine, but Caillerets is in practice a Chardonnay climat. The wines are structured, concentrated whites with pronounced stony character and the acidity to age a decade or more, and the cru is consistently placed in the top tier of the commune's whites by the trade. Producers commonly raise the wine 12 to 18 months in barrel with a moderate proportion of new oak; Jean-Noël Gagnard, for example, ages its Caillerets 18 months on the lees with about one third new wood.
Notable Producers
Domaine Jean-Noël Gagnard farms 1.06 hectares under organic and biodynamic viticulture. Domaine Guy Amiot et Fils holds 0.66 hectares of old vines. Caroline Morey farms 0.75 hectares of 35 to 40 year old vines, and Vincent et Sophie Morey also bottle the cru. Domaine Paul Pillot produces a Caillerets from the family's Chassagne holdings. Maison Louis Jadot offers a négociant bottling.
What to Know
Three communes of the Côte de Beaune use nearly identical names for different climats: Chassagne-Montrachet Les Caillerets is a white wine premier cru; Volnay Caillerets is a red wine premier cru several kilometres north; and Le Cailleret in Puligny-Montrachet is a separate premier cru adjoining Le Montrachet. Labels from Chassagne may read Cailleret, En Cailleret or Les Caillerets depending on the producer's parcel and preference, but all fall under the same premier cru designation. Because the designation spans several cadastral lieux-dits, parcel position varies; the core En Cailleret section covers 5.11 hectares.