Pierre Yves Colin Morey Chassagne Montrachet "Les Caillerets" Blanc Premier Cru 2020
(Cote de Beaune, France) - [DM 95] [WA 94-96] [JM 93-95] [BH 91-94]

About the Winemaker:

The young Pierre-Yves Colin is rapidly becoming one of most highly regarded winemakers in Burgundy. He has been making the wine at Marc Colin, the family Domaine, for over 10 years. He went to enology school in Beaune and worked at Chalk Hill as well as wineries in the Northern Rhone, Languedoc and Loire before returning to Burgundy. He and his wife Caroline, Jean-Marc Morey's daughter, founded their own negociant firm and made 150 cases total from five appellations in the debut 2001 vintage.

The approach in both the vineyard and the winery is natural and non-interventionist. At Domaine Marc Colin he eliminated the use of herbicides in most of the vineyards and switched to plowing, which deepens the root system and improves the flavors of the wine. He follows the same program at his estate vineyards. Approximately 60% of the total production now comes from the estate vineyards in Chassagne and Saint Aubin. They bought a new press in 2006 and Pierre-Yves now harvests most of the purchased fruit with his own team. Production of the 1er and Grand Crus is still miniscule - only 2 or 3 barrel s from each vineyard.

The juice is pressed into barrel before primary fermentation and then Pierre-Yves leaves them alone as much as possible. Fermentation is always initiated by natural yeast and he does not stir the lees, rack the barrels or even filter the wines.

Pierre-Yves also prefers unusual barrels - about 80% of them are 50% larger than normal Burgundy barrels. Depending on the vintage, most of the top wines are aged in new oak, but the larger barrels minimize the oak influence and also delay the malolactic fermentation. The cellar is also kept very cold to further delay the malolactic fermentation - which ideally finishes 8-9 months after harvest. Approximately 18 months after harvest the wines are lightly fined and then bottled. The extended elevage helps preserve aromatic intensity and purity as well as giving the wines the right balance for long-term aging.

Ratings & Reviews

94-96 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:
"The 2020 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets offers up aromas of citrus zest, orange oil and crisp stone fruit mingled with freshly baked bread, white flowers and smoke. Medium to full-bodied, multidimensional and layered, it's deep and concentrated, with racy acids and chalky structuring dry extract. It's worth a special effort to seek out." - William Kelley (Jan 2022)

95 Points - Decanter Magazine: 
"From a parcel of 0.17ha at the very top of the slope in thin chalky soils over the mother rock. The location brings ripeness while ensuring the grapes retain a lively acidity, and the result opens with lemon peel and ripe apricot aromas, complemented by saline mineral notes. There is tension and structure on the palate, but a supple ripeness as well. Lovely." - Charles Curtis MW (May 2021)

93-95 Points - Jasper Morris' Inside Burgundy:
"Medium to full lemon yellow. This is a broader bottomed Caillerets than Caroline’s fine-boned version. The grapes were picked on the same day but from different parts of the vineyard. Sunshine flows through this wine, but the natural mineral balance of this wine keeps everything in perfect harmony." (Oct 2021)

91-94 Points - Allen Meadows' Burghound:
"A ripe and vaguely exotic nose combines notes of white and yellow orchard fruit, citrus confit and pretty floral and spice wisps. The succulent and delicious medium-bodied flavors possess solid mid-palate concentration as well as a caressing mouthfeel that tightens up on the youthfully austere and firmly structured finale. This will need to add depth to achieve the upper end of my projected range but it's really quite promising." (Jun 2022)