Vineyard Insight: Puligny-Montrachet Le Cailleret

One of the best 1ers crus in Puligny-Montrachet is Le Cailleret, which neighbours both Montrachet and Chevalier-Montrachet – or does it?

It’s a unique cru. Previously a place to make red Puligny, it is today a complex collection of plots with part – actually two parts – now included in Chevalier-Montrachet, and another part called Demoiselles. Indeed, a small part of one of this magnificent vineyard’s clos continues to produce reds.

Let’s go to Le Cailleret!

One vineyard – three terroirs (at least)

Puligny-Montrachet Cailleret is a prominent yet somewhat overlooked vineyard – and possibly the most complex terroir in Burgundy.

Puligny-Montrachet Le Cailleret is first and foremost a truly delightful 1er cru – one of my favorites – a 3.3302-ha vineyard containing two clos – the relatively well-known Clos du Cailleret and, in its northernmost part, the Petit Clos du Cailleret.

Secondly, Cailleret contains (?!) another 1er cru – Puligny-Montrachet Les Demoiselles – which is at its southernmost end beside the mighty Montrachet vineyard. Cadastre-wise, Demoiselles is still Cailleret. But the label nonetheless shows Demoiselles, a name linked to the Chevalier-Montrachet plots of Louis Jadot and Louis Latour located just above it.

Thirdly, those Jadot and Latour Chevalier-Montrachet plots located just above 1er cru Demoiselles were originally part of Cailleret. They were included in the Grand Cru appellation and upgraded in 1939.

Lastly, Cailleret was also the origin of the last plots of Chevalier-Montrachet to be defined, located north of the Chevalier-Montrachet Demoiselles plots of Jadot and Latour. These were promoted to grand cru status in 1974, and are simply called Chevalier-Montrachet.

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