2002 Chassagne Montrachet Les Caillerets
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Tasting notes
Musky, nuanced nose combines white peach, spring flowers and powdered stone. Quite penetrating and bracing in the mouth, with gripping, sharply delineated flavors of peach blossom and stone. This has the ripe, harmonious acidity some of the previous samples lack. Finishes with terrific cut and excellent persistence. May well merit a higher score with five or six years of additional bottle aging. (Incidentally, this estate's young 2003s showed many of the potential drawbacks of the vintage at the beginning of June-incomplete ripeness, liqueur-like heaviness, exotic Rhone-like flavors, and dryness on the finish among them-and only the last four wines of the range (Morgeot, Blanchot Dessus, Caillerets and Batard-Montrachet) appeared to have enough flavor to buffer their alcohol. Most of these wines showed awkwardly at the time of my visit; I hope to report on them once they're in the bottle. )
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The deep, intense nose of the 2002 Chassagne-Montrachet Les Caillerets offers aromas of spiced minerals. Medium-bodied, velvety-textured, and seamless, this wine also has gorgeous definition. This is a concentrated, detailed, ripe effort crammed with mineral-laced pears. Drink it over the next 10 years. Caroline Lestime, this estate’s director and the daughter of Jean-Noel Gagnard, believes that “people are expecting too much from 2002, though it is a very rich vintage with better ripeness than either 2000 or 2001, especially in the reds, which have excellent balance.” Madame Lestime began harvesting on the 19th of September, starting with her parcel of Batard-Montrachet, which came in at 14% natural potential alcohol. Importers: Ex Cellars, Solvang, CA; tel. (805) 686-9153; and Martin Scott, New York, NY
Scented. Floral. Quite exciting. Full, but not quite enough nerve for the money. (JR)