Puligny-Montrachet Les Caillerets

lively, stimulating, mineral bouquet: very stylish, with superb backbone through the middle, long and fine, accompanying a mix of different fruits, which are more white than yellow.

Jean-Baptiste liked the fruit and the flesh of his 2014s from the start, but since October he feels that the structure and sense of class have become apparent. He was happily surprised to find such regular, healthy fruit despite the hail, and, apart from the size of the crop, there was no discernible difference between the hailed vineyards and the others. Overall his crop was 40 percent below a normal year, and 10 percent below 2013, so his pricing this year is eminently fair.

White Wine Of The Vintage
In the last three years this has been outstanding, and in this vintage it is of Grand Cru quality. On the palate it is pure Puligny, exploding with rich but perfectly focussed ripe, slightly exotic fruit. This is a wine of great style. (David Jones, Fine Wine Sales Advisor)

This Puligny-Montrachet wine was one of the stars of Berrys’ tasting trip to Burgundy in November. De Montille’s Caillerets has some quite exotic flavours at the front but still maintains its sense of refinement in combination with an amazingly intense middle palate and a scintillating finish. This is very complete and should age very well indeed.
(Jasper Morris MW, BBR Burgundy Buyer)

The exceptionally attractive nose of this wine is lead by touches of baked apples and some lifted floral notes. On the palate the flavours start gently, but then rapidly build in intensity before a fabulous finish.
Jasper Morris MW, Burgundy Director

Jean-Baptiste Bouzereau started picking early on 17th September in 2010, continuing over the following nine days as the vineyards ripened. His wines maintain their traditional status as excellent value for money, while the move to his new cellars two years ago has improved the consistency of the range and purity too. The aromatics of this 2010 vintage remind Jean-Baptiste of 2002, but perhaps with greater flesh.

Jean-Baptiste feels that the vines in this vineyard are getting into their stride now that they have passed their 35th anniversary. It is hard to disagree; the wine is floral and mineral with a laser-like focus and purity, but with the stuffing to steer clear of any feeling of meanness or austerity. An excellent, benchmark Cailleret. Drink 2023-2030.
Adam Bruntlett, Burgundy Buyer

The Bouzereau clan is widespread in the village of Meursault, with Domaine Michel Bouzereau at the forefront. Jean-Baptiste Bouzereau, Michel’s son, is now in sole charge. He moved to a purpose-built winery in 2009 which has made the winemaking a great deal easier to manage and has enabled Jean-Baptiste to refine his style towards greater purity as well as more substance. The wines are racked after 11 months, with the better village Meursaults and all the Premiers Crus being returned to barrel for additional ageing, before bottling early the following year. Jean-Baptiste explained that frost was more of a problem in the lower-lying Grands Charrons vineyard than Tessons and the Premiers Crus which sit on the slope. Overall he is around a third down on a normal year, mainly in the lesser appellations. Harvest began on 22nd September for the whites, and took place in good conditions. He feels that 2016 is a vintage which will appeal to Burgundy lovers, and one which shows each terroir with great clarity.

This is a fabulous vineyard, nestling up to Le Montrachet and Chevalier-Montrachet. The Bouzereau parcel sits directly beneath that which was upgraded to Chevalier in 1974. The wine has a fine, aristocratic, blossoming tautness across both bouquet and palate. Drink 2023-2031.

The harvest started on 30th August in Cailleret and Charmes, and was finished by 9th September. The Pinot Noir and Chardonnay flowered in warm weather at the same time but, while the Pinot loved the heat, Chardonnay did not, with the resulting coulure and millerandage restricting yields to around 50hl/ha. Jean-Baptiste looked to get texture into his wines with skin contact and an extended fermentation rather than through bâtonnage, seeking to capture as much of the vital balancing freshness as possible.