Domaine Blain-Gagnard’s 2022 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets is a Chardonnay from one of the appellation’s most regarded premier cru sites, a stony, calcareous hillside climat whose name points to its pebbly, chalky terrain. The family domaine, founded in 1980 by Jean‑Marc Blain and Claudine Gagnard, farms about 8 hectares across the Côte de Beaune and is particularly known for white Burgundy, with parcels extending up to grand cru territory in Chassagne.

This bottling comes from the Les Caillerets parcel in Chassagne-Montrachet, with estate vines reported as planted between 1954 and 1987. The wine is made as a dry white (residual sugar listed at 0.9 g/L) and, for 2022, is reported at 13.2% alcohol with a pH of 3.31 and total acidity of 3.8 g/L. The estate works with sustainable “lutte raisonnée” practices and does extensive hand work in the vines; its whites are typically matured in French oak, with about 11 months of barrel aging cited.

In critical reception, Burghound’s Allen Meadows delivered an excellent review at 92 points (June 2024), emphasizing both aromatic detail and palate impact. Meadows notes “a beautifully layered nose” with “white flowers, mineral reduction and a plethora of spice elements,” followed by “intense, concentrated, mouthcoating and unusually powerful middleweight flavors” that “display excellent length.” He adds that it finishes “youthfully austere and agreeably dry,” and concludes with a clear aging endorsement: “The Blain whites invariably age well and this should be no exception.”

In the context of Burgundy’s warm, dry 2022 season—often associated with ripe fruit and, in some wines, softer acidity—this Les Caillerets is presented by reviewers as structured and built for development, combining concentration and texture with a firm, dry finishing profile and notable length.