Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay 'Les Caillerets' Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru, France 2015

Producer: Coffinet-Duvernay

Grapes: Chardonnay

Where" "Les Caillerets" Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru, Burgundy

Country: France

Taste: The vineyards at Coffinet-Duvernay’s 1er Cru Les Cailleretes are 70 years old, producing an intense, powerful, mineral driven wine of great focus and depth.  Medium bodied witht wet stones mingle with herbal notes in the nose, with an old-vines concentration of ripe pear, apple, and subtle nutty tones.

Vibes with: Delightful with chicken or gamebirds such as pheasant. It is a superb complement to mushroom sauces, and works well with Coq au Vin. Its distinctive minerality also complements ham and pork roasts.

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Additional info: 

Chassagne’s 1er Cru Les Caillerets is noted for the large numbers of limestone rocks called cailloux which litter the surface of the soils. Sitting at the northern end of the village, Les Caillerets sits on a bedrock of dense limestone marble, as can be seen in the quarry just above the vineyard site.

Grapes are hand-harvested at optimum ripeness in small bins, and carried to the winery for a gentle pressing in the pneumatic bladder press. The must is allowed to settle for 24 hours (debourbage) to allow the gross lees to settle out, and the wine descends by gravity into small oak barriques for primary and malolactic fermentations. The must is stirred (batonnage) very rarely during malolactic fermentation as Philippe Duvernay prefers to allow the wine to develop without any oxidative notes.

The wine is aged 15 months in 1/3 new oak barrels.

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The estate has been in the Coffinet family since the mid 1800's and is now owned by Philippe Duvernay and his partner Laura Coffinet who set out on their winemaking venture with just seven vineyards. 

All in all, intense concentration of aromas and flavors are the prevalent characteristics of the estate’s beautiful wines, which are capable of aging for decades. Their Chassagne Villages wine is made entirely from the vineyard climat of Les Blanchots Dessous, which lies just south of Criots Batard Montrachet. They also present a remarkable collection of Chassagne Premiers Crus vineyard sites, including Fairendes (the upper, northern portion of Morgeot), Caillerets and Maltroie. Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay is fortunate to own parcels of the two Premiers Crus sites that abut the great Grand Cru Montrachet itself, Dent de Chien and Les Blanchots Dessus, which Philippe affectionately refers to as “Pied de Montrachet.”

Domaine Coffinet-Duvernay encompasses seven hectares across the appellation in total, four of which are dedicated to its outstanding white wine, in particular Chassagne Chardonnay, and three to red. 

While the pair share in the management of this specialist boutique winery, Philippe oversees the vineyards, where yields are strictly controlled, and cellars. He has adopted a traditional Burgundian approach to vinification, with pneumatic pressing of the grapes, followed by an overnight natural settling of the lees in tank.