Tasted in Romanèche-Thorins with Julie Pitoiset, 27 February 2024.
Château des Jacques
47 Les Jacques
71570 Romanèche-Thorins
Tel: +33 3 85 35 51 64
Domaine Instagram
www.chateau-des-jacques.fr
More reports with Château des Jacques
Julie’s take on 2023:
“2023 was less easy – it was hot – and we were a little saved by the heatwave before the harvest so everything was properly ripe. The high part of Morgon – 15 of the over 60 hectares that we farm – was touched by hail. We estimate about 15% losses in those areas but given the amount of grapes last year it wasn’t too bad. We had 32 hl/ha for the reds in 2022, it was 40 hl/ha in 2023 and that’s vs our average which is a bit below 35 – so it was still a generous vintage.”
Julie’s on 2022:
“22 was almost a perfect vintage; maybe we could ask for a bit more yield as there were plenty of flowers – but it was ripe! All the 22s have been bottled – done in July last year – the whites for Easter.”
The wines…
I’m thinking that you should wait 5+ years for such wines as these… Moulin and Rochegrès have a little whole cluster, but these were, in the main, destemmed in 22. Virtually the same in 2023 – It has been a tradition at this producer for the best part of 100 years… But in hot years the stems do help bring a note of extra freshness… Wine to impress – but certainly more to impress than to drink today – not unlike tasting Clos de Bèze – I’d have a 5-10(++) year timescale in terms of starting to drink these at home – but that longevity would also give me the time to finish the wines of the 1990s and 2000s – there is never a rush with the wines of Chateau des Jacques!
The commercial vintage is 2021 – they will probably make the vintage change to 2022 towards the end of 2024. That was for the reds, the 2022 whites are already being sold:
2022 Fleurie
A blend of Belair and Grille Midi – they are small parcels hence combined.
Hmm – this has a dark nose with some modest spicy accents. Mouth-filling, supple and certainly concentrated. The finish slowly fading away. A wine that is built, I suspect, to age – in the first instance I’d give it 2 years but there’s nothing structurally challenging here, the texture is rather fine.
2022 Morgon
3 origins, 50% of the total from Bellevue. Also Côte de Py and Corcelette the latter with destemming, part destemming and no destemming for elevage to compare but this is the blend of all.
Dark fruit again with a similar spiced element – it must be the elevage – but here is an extra waft of higher toned and quite floral aroma too. Silky to start, becoming more velvet as the tannin shows – ultra-fine-grained. I find a proper Morgon structure here, more direct in shape, it’s an architectural wine. A finish that is linear and long. A small suggestion of comfort to these flavours. Oh – and I think delicious!
2022 Moulin à Vent
7 or 8 different climats but the largest part comes from Rochegrès. About 2/3rds barrel elevage, very little new – the rest in concrete.
A finer, more airy top note – complex and aromatically incisive. Hmm – this wine impresses with its width and velvet texture – followed by the intensity and depth of the finishing flavours – that holds with more power than either of the first two wines – a little graphite style finishing flavour too.
Redder, deeper but with floral accents too. This is altogether a step up in width and fluidity. A broad finish that is intense and sustained too – this could be a great wine!
The word Thorins sharing the same roots as Teurons – Romanée-Teurons here, potentially!
A concentrated nose but one that still releases fine complexity of dark fruit with floral accents – very nice! Like the Carquelin a wine that delivers its impressively concentrated flavour with aplomb due a strongly fluid impression – maybe even a little more concentrated here. The finish is simply full of complexity, small bitters, and other floral tributes, and only here do I note a small dryness of tannin. What a beauty – probably also a great wine
2022 Moulin à Vent La Roche
From 2 hectares of vines
Like all of these, impressively deep-coloured. A nose that impresses with its depth and faint spicy top note. Supple, concentrated – perhaps the most so far – but behind is still some fluidity to make this all accessible. Really very complex and I should say delicious too in this finish – plenty of small bitters – dark chocolate too.
A small amount of whole-cluster in this one.
Such a concentrated nose – and again with mainly darker fruit – but here is an additional width to the top notes, faintly saline as well as floral. Ultra beautiful texture – a concentration that is so impressive but again it is the fluidity that sets these ‘climat’ wines apart from the blends of the lieu-dits. Finishing again with an almost overwhelming crescendo of complexity of bitters, and of fruit that’s holding so long.
2022 Morgon Côte du Py
Have mainly 2 parcels, one next to the Javernières of Desvignes and another more east-facing – ‘it’s the vintage that determines how they are blended…’
A fine and accessible aromatic freshness and a small pastis. Like ‘the Moulins’ here is some fluidity to the delivery of flavour – but this is flavour from a different place: More overtly structured – architectural – the tannin already visible in the middle – though effectively grainless. For all that structure, there are no hard edges or harshness – just a shape and modest tannin. What a wine!
Fifth time vinified separately, only 0.2 ha or 3-4 barrels – ‘We’re closer to the rock here, yet the granitic sand seems also richer, the vines look completely different here when it’s very dry.’ One-third whole cluster for these 1940s vines – all done by hand as the cuvée is so small. 30% whole cluster and more new oak than the last, so left for end.
An impressive scale to this wine – not to mention concentration too. There are notes of not just fruit but of fine cooking herbs and spices too – if you go searching for them. Scale again, but the entry is cool and really complex. A wine that seems to widen in its palette of finishing flavours. I have to say wow!
2022 IGP Syrah des Jacques
IGP – In the sector of Moulin à Vent but obviously not with that label. Just 8-year-old vines. Some concrete ‘egg’ elevage now too. Harvested 1st October.
A different, more direct spice to this nose – maybe peppercorns warming in a pan – some floral impression here too. Such a width of flavour with a more visible tannic structure – but not particularly drying. This finish fades well and you have already passed peak tannin – the flavour is easier in the finish – with the gamays you sense the tannin today.
Les Whites:
13-13.5° for the whites here in this vintage…
2022 Beaujolais Blanc Clos de Loyse
Of course, all tank elevage for this wine
A wine that already in the aromas shows its structure – but with small floral references too. In the mouth – this has a large scale – the flavour is vibrant – almost gelée ripeness of citrus fruit in these middle flavours before slowly fading. Always excellent BJB
2022 Bourgogne Blanc Clos de Loyse
Same provenance, the Clos de Loyse has been part of the domaine since at least the 1930s. The same wine with barrel elevage and some tank elevage. This the last with this label – ‘we are a domaine of Beaujolais’ – but the two different elevages will remain and both will wear a BJB label with a further name of cuvée – this with about 45% barrel elevage.
A slightly toasty impression – a more direct freshness to this wine. The suggestion of harsher structure of the last is gone, here with a middle and finishing flavour that is easier and fades slowly. A good Bourgogne but I always find the BJB a bit more characterful even if I don’t love all the character traits 😉