Vintus

Chassagne-Montrachet "Caillerets", Premier Cru

Chassagne-Montrachet lies at the southern end of the “Côte des Blancs”, the four mile strip of the Côte de Beaune in which Puligny, Meursault and Blagny are also situated, collectively producing the most revered white wines of Burgundy. Chassagne-Montrachet covers 867 acres, of which 31 are occupied by the three great grands crus of Le Montrachet and Batard-Montrachet, shared with Puligny-Montrachet, and Criots-Batard-Montrachet, situated solely in Chassagne-Montrachet. Of the balance, 392 acres are in seventeen premiers crus.  The 49 acre Les Caillerets vineyard lies in the best section for white Chassagne, above the road to Santenay. 

Chassagne-Montrachet Caillerets is defined by minerality.  It is a very classy wine, with lots of dustiness.  It’s the wine in Chassagne that you can’t totally pin down with an easy description, and that's why some consider it a Grand Cru level.  Minerality is the main point – little white stones, lots of limetstone.  Like the Meursault Perrieres of Chasagne-Montrachet.

• 2009 Vintage

   There is more talk and interest about 2009 in Burgundy than in any vintage since 2005.  Mounir Saouma has warned us to be careful, however.  He loves this vintage, and in fact believes it is the greatest he has seen in his two decades in Burgundy.   He believes the fruit had everything from the start, and the wines from the beginning were healthy and beautifully balanced.  The major issue was to understand and respect the wines, and avoid working them, since they already had everything they needed in superb balance.  Overly working the wines, he believes, resulted in a loss of freshness and delicacy.

    2009 is the first vintage at Lucien Le Moine that Mounir did not do any lees stirring whatsoever, and as usual he never racked the wines in their nearly two years in barrel.  He didn’t add sulfur until a few months before bottling, and yet his wines are still completely fresh; some whites he describes as even having a tint of green.  The Lucien Le Moine 2009s across the board are beautifully pure and focused, with the exquisite harmony of truly great wines.

  • "Reticent, subtle nose hints at pear, apple, peach, smoke and salty minerality.  Pliant and sweet but very unevolved and serious; showing strong apple fruit but needs time to develop more charm.  The richest and sweetest of these Chassagne premier crus but at the same time quite vibrant.  Finishes long and firm-edged.  This should age for a long time." 91-94 Points International Wine Cellar

  • "The 2009 Chassagne-Montrachet Caillerets is fabulous. Here the aromas and flavors are finely chiseled and quite articulate. There is an element of precision and crystalline purity that is strikingly beautiful. Oyster shells and minerals mark the wiry, saline finish. This is a hugely promising wine. Anticipated maturity: 2013+." 91-94 Points Wine Advocate

  •  "This is also relatively heavily reduced and thus the nose is impossible to fairly evaluate. By contrast, there is a Zen-like poise and coolness to the mineral-inflected, energetic and impressively layered middle weight flavors that finish with excellent punch, depth and that beguiling underlying sense of tension." 91-93 Points Burghound

• 2008 Vintage

  There is a big difference in how most people in Burgundy see 2008 and how Lucien Le Moine sees its 2008s.  In a typically unique perspective, Mounir Saouma believes 2008 is a great vintage in Burgundy, one of the greatest of the decade.  2008 was the third in a series of historically normal vintage conditions.  Over the last hundred years, on average the rainiest month in Burgundy has been June and the driest month has been September; rain in the summer is common, occurring more than half the time.  The light, fine skin of Pinot Noir benefits from the freshness in the summer, needs it, and it helps the fat Chardonnay on its way to maturity as well.  The idea that only the “modern” vintage – hot and dry – can be great is a big issue for Mounir.

  In June 2008, within a given week rain always alternated with hot sunny periods.  The results were small bunches of grapes that were getting mature while keeping acidity, and slowly ripening.  Ultimately, there was a naturally low yield, an excellent sign, with 20% fewer grapes than a normal year, providing sweet fruit and high levels of tannin.  Very importantly, Mounir believes that in recent times Burgundy has lost its simplicity to some extent – when you tasted the grapes in 2008, there was no issue with rot.  Most people looked at their vineyards, were terrified of the rot and pressed very lightly to get clean juice, only did short macerations with not a lot of lees, didn’t stir, and then fined or filtered to bottle clean wines. 

  Lucien Le Moine did the opposite.  They pressed hard, bringing a lot of lees into the wine.  To balance the high acidity and some of the unripe bunch areas due to the cool weather, they topped with fine lees every ten days instead of topping with wine.  They did not stir, and so the lees would take a full week to fall to the bottom of the barrel, slowly imparting complexity and richness.  For about five years, Lucien Le Moine has been the last producer in Burgundy to bottle, and they were again with the 2008 vintage.  Malolactic Fermentation was not as late as usual because of the lees that was added, and finished in April/May instead of June/July.  Lucien Le Moine has never never acidified or de-acidified, so while some people de-acidified 2008, they didn’t touch the wines, and watched them over the summer become sweeter, fatter and more balanced, more attractive.  They started bottling around May 2010, and finished beginning of October 2010, after the harvest of 2010. 

  Looking at surrounding vintages, the 2005 is ageable, full of body, massive, tannic, with high acidity.  2006 has almost late harvest flavor, very deep, beautiful maturity, and nice acidity.   2007 is transparent, the perfect example of terroir in Burgundy, but will not age perhaps as long as 2006.  The 2008s are going to be the year for people who care about Burgundy.  They will be appreciated the next two-three years, for their very fresh fruit and balanced bodies.  Then they will sleep for a few years, but not like 2005s which are so big they will need a long time to awaken.  The 2008s will come back as classic wines of Burgundy, but not in a spicy, sous-bois manner; they will be traditional, but have a little bit of flashy fruit.  A very particular combination. 

  Lastly, the particularity of the Lucien Le Moine 2008s – a lot of wines are cloudy due to the lees; make sure to stand them up before decanting. 
   

  • "Vestiges of the malic fermentation render the nose difficult to judge. The refined and laser-like flavors possess cuts-like-a knife precision and a borderline aggressive minerality that really forms the essential character of this wine, particularly on the hugely long finish. As good as the other Chassagne 1ers are, there is just another level present here." 91-93 Points Burghound

  • "Pale, bright yellow. Musky lees, citrus fruits, stone and menthol on the nose, plus a hint of butter. Sweet and lush but with nicely integrated acidity giving shape to the peachy fruit. Less sexy and open now than the Romanee, but this may ultimately make the classier drink. Finishes longer but less broad." 91 Points International Wine Cellar

• 2007 Vintage

  As Mounir Saouma says, “2007 saw a fresh summer – when we say fresh summer, we mean well-balanced rain and sunny days.   There were cool but not cold days, days with some rain and sun, but not exaggerated either way.  And you see in the wines there is beautiful acidity, but not as much as 2008, and nice sweetness, but not as much as 2006.” 

   

  This character of mid-way but not extreme in many areas resulted in wines that took a long time to reveal their nature.  “The wines started fruity and the tannins were firm, and slowly we started seeing a kind of melding between sweetness and acidity after the malolactic a year later; we started seeing the real character of the wines after 14 months.  

   

  This development of the vintage is the reason that 2007 was the latest bottling Lucien Le Moine has ever done, and why they were the last producer in all of Burgundy to bottle.  Typically Lucien Le Moine starts bottling in January or February; in 2007 they started in February, but the majority of bottling took place from May to September.  Mounir aged all his 2007 wines on their lees, without sulfur, and never racked.   

   

  Mounir compares 2007 and 2006 a lot; they will both be vintages that are approachable and will last, and their technical numbers are similar, but they are physically and aromatically in completely different worlds.  “2006 is more about sweetness and for some people a heavier character; 2007 is more about freshness.  We will enjoy 2007, but it doesn’t take anything from the aging. 

   

  The whites are beautifully clean, in some cases showing an exotic character up-front, but they also have wonderful complexity and substance; like the reds, and as a general characterization of the vintage, they are wines of tremendous freshness and profundity.

  • "The two barrels of Le Moine 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet Caillerets did not even complete their alcoholic fermentation until March of the following year, but in Saouma’s school that doesn’t make this a problem wine but more like a star pupil! Chalk, smoke, toasted nuts, and high-toned citrus oil and herbal distillates mark the nose (from barrel); on an oily-rich palate, bitter-sweet citrus rind and caramel mingle with peach and nut paste; and this finishes with an uncanny combination of soothing citrus cream with the invigoration of zest, chalk and salt. I suspect this will be a wine to follow for 7-8 years if not longer." 91-92+ Points Wine Advocate

  • "By contrast, this is a wine of refinement with a pure nose of citrus blossom and wet stone where both elements carry over to the ultra fine and detailed medium-bodied flavors that seem extracted directly from liquid rock, all wrapped in an explosive and hugely long finish. This is a really impressive effort that finishes with a kind of mineral reduction most often seen in Chablis." 91-93 Points Burghound, “Sweet Spot”

  • "Aromas of mirabelle, flowers, mint, wet stone and menthol, plus a suggestion of grassy green almond. Sweet, juicy and penetrating if not yet expressive. This rich but taut and backward wine opens out on the back half like a grand cru. Very long and ethereal on the finish." 91-93 Points International Wine Cellar

  • "An intensely aromatic and spicy white, featuring lemon cake, grapefruit, apple, smoke and mineral aromas and flavors.  Lean and tightly wound, with a long, mineral-driven aftertaste." 93 Points Wine Spectator

• 2006 Vintage

  Mounir Saouma’s approach to the 2006 vintage differed from many. His growers picked late, allowing the fine September weather to draw out the maturity of the grapes and compensate for a cool, wet August.  It was a risk, and not a typical vintage for Mounir, who usually harvests earlier than most, giving him the good acid levels he likes.  For the whites, Mounir feels very simply that 2006 was a great vintage.  The fruit needed plenty of time to develop in the vineyard, and it was important to stay calm and accept some of the botrytis that settled in; the results were complex, rich and exotic.

  • "Peach, stone and clove on the nose. Sweet, fat and exotic for 2006 in this cellar, with flavors of pineapple, lichee and spice. Not yet elegant in the middle palate, and in need of refining, but the rich finish is fine-grained, subtle and long." 90-93 Points International Wine Cellar

  • "Attractive aromas of flowers, citrus and spice. The oak is well-integrated, with hazelnut and mineral notes emerging on the palate. Vibrant acidity drives the long finish". 90-93 Points Wine Spectator

  • "Elegant and refined but less muscular and powerful with a high-toned citrus and wet stone nose where the mineral character also positively oozes from the detailed, intense and brilliantly delineated flavors that culminate in a dryer and longer finish."  89-92 Points Burghound