tasting / laying down / 2021 Burgundy
DOMAINE JN GAGNARD Caroline Lestimé’s domaine is certified organic and she found it particularly stressful in the Hautes-Côtes where the yield, after frost and fighting odium, was negligible. “We have, however, nice material and substance on the palate," she explained. “Reds are light but not thin. Each wine has its own character.” Hubert Lestimé supports his wife in the winery, but his main activity is making jam in Blanchot-Dessous. You may notice the small house, used for harvesters in vintage. He takes a terroir approach to jam, sourcing the best fruit from specific locations. I did a speed jam tasting between my wine tastings. There are about 26 different varieties now, which include a piquant griotte jam from a morello-cherry tree in Vincent Dancers’s parcel of Chevalier, and fig jam from Boris Champy’s figs in Natoux. They are sold via distributors globally and from Lestimé’s small shop next to the church in Chassagne.
White
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru La Boudriotte
This is in the lieu-dit of Les Chaumes within Boudriotte, so lower down, away from the whiter soil on heavier clay. It does, however, have a cooler, energetic feel, with its butter-mint aroma and sappy freshness. It is broad and full mid-palate. Savory, earthy complexity, with a richer, nutty finish. 2027–32. | 93
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Champs-Gain
Already in bottle. Quite spicy, gingerbread aroma, with a succulent and juicy palate. A lively bounce here, with some citrus highlights and a spicy finish. I like the energetic note to this Champs-Gain. 2025–30. | 92
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Chaumées
Floral aroma, to a straight, delicate, neatly edged palate. Fresh acidity and lime zest. Dances on the palate. A saline, streamlined finish. 2025–30. | 92
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Clos de Maltroie
There is more density and depth here. Really quite punchy. There is grip and vigor. Good persistence to finish. 2026–32. | 92–93
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Morgeot Petits Clos
We definitely go up a notch in quality here. Much more refined and layered Morgeot. This has such an athletic quality. Keen and focused on the finish, the stony line encased with more intense fruit. 2027–35. | 94–95
Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru
Butterscotch aroma. Larger volume. Expansive, but with a light-footed, airy feel. Creamy mid-palate, which stretches effortlessly into a persistent, silky, salty finish. 2027–35. | 96
200 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Les Morgeot
Dark, broad, and gravelly. It has grip, guts, and density. There is some fleshy sweetness yet no new oak here at all. Good concentration. 2024–28. | 90
Le Montrachet Grand Cru
Powerful, layered, dense, and intense, with searing acidity. Full tilt on the finish, with raw-silk texture and almond-kernel bitterness. It has an exotic note. Very raw and pure. 2028–30. | 96–97
Red
This is the first vintage in which Sébastien has not used a pump to move the reds to the tank. A small vintage, so he could adapt the cellar work, and it shows in the more refined reds this year.
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Clos St-Jean
Seductive and intense, with supple, suede tannins and depth of just very lightly luscious fruit. Suave. Old vines, which often yield only 20–25 hl/ha and from which Sébastien is now making a massal selection. 2025–30+. | 92–93
DOMAINE LAMY-CAILLAT Sébastien Caillat makes these wines in a separate cellar in Chassagne from the Lamy-Pillot winery, and this is where he pushes the boundaries. These are interesting wines, pressed with a mechanical press, which he manages by eye. There is no débourbage, so full lees, and the mechanic press gives plenty of solids. Sébastien was a little apprehensive in 2021. I am glad he persevered. The wines were racked into stainless steel three months before I tasted. All were pretty reduced, but they have texture and phenolic bitterness, which I like. There is no new oak and no bâtonnage. Savory and stark, with no gloss. While they were quite raw, they showed plenty of potential.
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Les Caillerets
Broad and dense, this is undercut with savory, Red
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Clos St-Jean
Violets. Floral aroma. Silky slide into the palate, where it flows gently and quite subtly, with a smooth texture and vivid, blueberry fruit. An elegant and pure Chassagne. This showcases the best of this appellation. 2026–30. | 92–93
DOMAINE RENÉ LAMY-PILLOT Sébastien Caillat remarks, “2021 is exactly in the middle of what Burgundy has been in the past 50 years. I trust the quality.” The Montrachet is aging in a glass globe of 120 liters. There was so little fruit because of the frost, and Sébastien didn’t want to use a small barrel. “It is difficult to get any evolution in glass, but better than something too oxidative.”
White
chalky sapidity, and sweeps along on oodles of acidity. Powerful and dense. Layered. A seriously structured wine, which should develop very well. 2026–30+. | 95
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru La Grande Montagne
There was frost in La Romanée, where yields were too low to make it separately, so this is a blend of two parcels—La Romanée and Tonton Marcel— which fall under the collective climat of Grand Montagne. The parcels ripen differently, although they are both at the top of the slope and not far apart. Floral, fine, and tense. Clipped. Straight and pure. Racy elegance on the fine and well-sustained finish. 2025–30. | 94
F AND L PILLOT The Pillot family began organic management of the domaine's vineyards in 2021, and Laurent Pillot admitted ruefully, “It was not the easiest year to start.” They saved production where the Pinot Noir and Aligoté are spur-pruned on cordon, and Laurent adds, “We know from our grandparents that they pruned much later, and we need to remember this.” But they lost a lot of the fruit from the young vines, which were more precocious, as well as all the good stuff on the hill. But they didn’t blend anything, so they had just two barrels of many premier cru whites… but they made it. Laurent had to rip out some vines in Morgeot and has replanted with Pinot Noir (pretty unusual these days): “I still believe in reds in Chassagne,” he said. Good for him. “The soil is heavy clay and so, sticky. I plow my vines from Santenay, to Beaune, and I know that in Chassagne we have the worst [by which he means the heaviest] clays on the Côte de Beaune.” They grow their whites on the top part of Morgeot. “The reds are more and more Adrian’s wines, but I am still the boss. Adrian uses whole-cluster on most of the reds, while I only used it on the old vines of Rugiens. Although we destemmed everything in 2021. Adrian also likes less oak.”
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Caillerets
Compact. Good tension. Layered, tight, and strong. Intense and deep. Super-cold. A powerful, cold, and persistent finish. 2026–35. | 95
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Champ Gains
Quite a ripe aroma, with a hint of greengage fruit and ground ginger. Juicy and rounded. Spicy, with lashings of succulence fruit. There is ground ginger on the finish, too. 2024–30. | 91–92
Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru Grandes Ruchottes
Just two barrels this year, alas, and both were one-year-old oak. "This vintage was the first time I have not used any new oak for this cuvée, which was Adrian’s decision—to respect the wine.” Floral aromas. Very pure, straight, and focused on the palate, with a lively vibration to the finish. It is an intense wine, but fine and flighty, too. It combines delicacy and elegance with intention. 2026–33+. | 95
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