Lamy Caillat
While Chassagne-Montrachet is home to many long-established businesses, Lamy-Caillat is a micro-domaine in the village. Florence Lamy and Sébastien Caillat founded this winery together and call it a micro-domain. True to its name, the couple personally tends to a handful of vineyards located at the southern tip of Côte de Beaune. They produce only one type of wine, white, and use just a single grape variety: Chardonnay. The couple candidly explains why they chose to establish their winery this way. They wanted to break free from the logic of production and market pressures and return to a simpler life. That decision is reflected more clearly in the scale of the operation than in any slogan. Although the volume of wine is very small, they devote meticulous attention to every single row of vines.
The history
Lamy-Caillat didn't start as a business plan. It began with a shared desire on the part of Florence Lamy and Sébastien Caillat to create something of their own, on a scale they could manage together.
Florence grew up between Chassagne-Montrachet and Saint-Aubin, amidst vineyard work and harvests.
Sébastien's upbringing was split between Burgundy's vineyards and the rougher terrain of Lozère. He says he inherited from his grandparents the habit of doing things properly and the pride of the old-school artisans, and that his return to the land was unexpected.
These two persons and their own influences converged at Chassagne-Montrachet, where the idea of returning to the essentials evolved. The result of this journey is this very domaine: a place intentionally kept small-scale and family-run.
1.2 hectares
According to the winery's own estimates, the domaine owns 1.2 hectares of land in Chassagne-Montrachet. From Burgundy's perspective, this is far too small to be called a domaine, but Lamy-Caillat views this figure not as a limitation but as a distinctive feature.
These vines are spread across four climats, the named vineyard plots that Burgundy uses to distinguish one parcel from another. Three of them are Premier Cru, and one is a Village-rated vineyard. These four plots are located very close to one another, and their differences stem more from subtle variations than from distance.
Beyond Chassagne, Lamy-Caillat also bottles a Saint-Aubin, the wine from the neighboring village where Florence Lamy grew up, and they also produce a regional-level Bourgogne. All vineyards are located within the Côte de Beaune region, and all wines produced there are white wines.
White only
Lamy-Caillat produces wines from only one variety: Chardonnay, 100%.
Winemaking
For Lamy-Caillat, the secret to making great wine begins not in the winery, but in the vineyard. Florence Lamy and Sébastien Caillat describe this as being as close to nature as possible, which actually means observing the vineyard throughout all four seasons and adapting to the changes it undergoes.
On this winery's official website, there is a phrase that summarizes this approach better than any technical document: A winemaker is a craftsman with common sense. This is not merely a method but rather a filter for decision-making.
In the process of crafting these unpretentious wines, a direct, hands-on approach is essential. With the four distinct climats in the Chassagne-Montrachet region managed separately, there is absolutely no room for taking shortcuts.
What ends up in the bottle
Every Lamy-Caillat bottled wine is a white Chardonnay produced in Côte de Beaune, and this product line is gradually moving up. The wines sold under the name Lamy-Caillat are as follows:
- Bourgogne Blanc: Regional bottled wine
- Saint-Aubin en L'Ebaupin produced in the village right next to Chassagne
- Chassagne-Montrachet, a village wine
- Chassagne-Montrachet Les Champs Gian, Les Caillerets, La Grande Montagne and La Romanée, the four Premier Cru
The overall low production volume is a direct result of the very limited vineyard area.
