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Domaine de Montille, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru, Le Cailleret

Burgundy, France 2013 (750mL)
$149.00
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Domaine de Montille, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru, Le Cailleret

We are fortunate to have a small parcel of Puligny-Montrachet from the venerable Domaine de Montille to share with you. Just 440 cases of this wine were made in this vintage, and we got five.
It hails from DeMontille’s .85-hectare slice of the Premier Cru “Le Cailleret” (which abuts the Grand Cru Le Montrachet, arguably the greatest white wine vineyard on earth). This is Burgundian Chardonnay at its most refined, powerful, and ageworthy—a wine I can’t wait to experience 10 or 15 years from now. Although quantities are limited, I urge you to grab a few bottles of this wine for your cellar. It is a sleeping giant.
And speaking of giants, the late Hubert de Montille was a giant of the Côte de Beaune, taking the reins at his family property in Volnay in 1947, at the age of 17. He was the irascible, outspoken vigneron immortalized in the documentary film “Mondovino,” an advocate for “local” and “sustainable” long before those were buzzwords. The De Montille vineyards, now spanning 20 hectares in a wide range of appellations, have been organically farmed since 1995 and were certified biodynamic in 2012. Hubert, who died in 2014 (at lunch, while drinking a glass of his own Pommard), has been succeeded by his son, Etienne, and daughter, Alix, who’ve become important figures in their own right.

For the cartographically inclined, “Le Cailleret” is a Premier Cru vineyard just north of—and at the same altitude on the slope as—Grand Cru Le Montrachet. De Montille’s piece of Le Cailleret is quite near the border with Le Montrachet, in fact, prompting some to consider it a Grand Cru in every way but name. The hand-harvested fruit from this site is fermented in large, used oak barrels, after which it is aged in French oak barriques (20% new) for a year. From there it spends a period aging in stainless steel tanks before bottling.

For a wine that went through full malolactic fermentation in 20% new oak, it’ll be some time before its toastier, more buttery/creamy side reaches full flower. A medium straw-gold in the glass, it is shimmering and brightly aromatic, its oak component showing as a whiff of smoke in an otherwise dewy, flowery meadow. As is typical of DeMontille wines, the nose is lifted and expressive, offering scents of acacia flower, salted lemon, green apple, crème fraiche, and crushed stones. It is quintessential Puligny-Montrachet: crystalline, focused, a bundle of tension ready to explode (2013 was characterized as a cool vintage, and it shows in this wine). Right now it vibrates with energy, a mineral, floral, high-pitched Chardonnay with an aristocratic bearing; what I really can’t wait to see is when the violins of today turn to cellos in 2025. Or maybe 2035. This is built for the long haul—grab some while you can!
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Country
France
Region
Burgundy
Sub-Region
FranceCôte de Beaune - Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru
Soil
Limestone and Clay
Farming
Certified Organic and Biodynamic
Blend
Chardonnay
Alcohol
12.5
OAK
20% New French
TEMP.
55-60
Glassware
Burgundy
Drinking
Now-2035
Decanting
1 Hour

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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