CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET 1er CRU "EN CAILLERET" White wine 2015 (Domaine Sylvain Morey)

The CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET 1er Cru En Caillerets is a white wine made from grapes grown on old Chardonnay vines planted in the area known as En Caillerets.

This is a parcel of excellence that produces wines at the top of the range, they are the most mineral and rich of all the other estate's wines.

The yield of the old vines is about 49 hl/ha.

TERROIR

The 1er cru plot En Caillerets is next to the plot  Les Champs gain. It has the reputation of producing one of the best 1er cru white wines of the Chassagne-Montrachet designation. It has the particularity of bringing together three different types of soils:

• crinoidal limestone with fossils dating from the Middle Bajocian, a geological layer of the Middle Jurassic formed 170 million years ago,
• calcareous and fossiliferous marls from the following geological layer, the Middle and Upper Bathonian, formed 165 million years ago,
• and beige marl dating from the Middle Oxfordian, the later stage of the Upper Jurassic, formed 157 million years ago.

Real preferred terroir for the Chardonnay, this alternation of marl and limestone makes it an exceptional premier cru of Chassagne-Montrachet.

WINEGROWING & WINEMAKING

The grapes are harvested by hand and pressed as whole bunches without crushing. The juice is then statically settled and chilled for one day before being transferred to 350 liter barrels, 20% of which are new. The alcoholic fermentation starts spontaneously in the presence of indigenous yeasts, followed by malolactic fermentation made by indigenous bacteria.

The must is then matured on its fine lees without stirring for 16 months before being racked and blended in stainless steel vats where it rests for a further two months for stabilisation.
The must is then fined with casein but not filtered, and bottled.