Château des Jacques – 2015

Update 31.3.2017(9.3.2017)billn

Tasted in Romanèche-Thorins with Cyril Chirouze, 06 February 2017.

Château des Jacques
47 Les Jacques
71570 Romanèche-Thorins
Tel: +33 3 85 35 51 64
www.chateau-des-jacques.fr

Cyril on 2016:
A vintage that was complicated from the perspective of the weather – one part of our vines was hailed twice and we made no harvest there. The Morgon parcels varied between 20% and 70% lost to the hail. Still, in the end we made about 35 hl/ha on average – with some areas delivering correct yields. We’re happy with what we harvested, some having a nicer balance than certain parcels in 2015. It seems for the moment that the wines are charming, very different to 2015, but structured and with good balance. One third of the vines are now in a Cordon Royat (or cordon with a spur) style of pruning which, I think, brought the fruit to an easier maturity.

Cyril on 2015:
What colours!

“We actually had less volume than in 2016 – just 29 hl/ha – really that was down to the dryness. Some people talk of 2003 but it’s not the same fruit, I think the grapes were more like 2009 but with a little more tastiness. The parcels anywhere between 25 and 35 hl/ha. Clearly the sugars and alcohols were perfectly ready, it was more of a question if the tannins had kept up.

“2009 and 2010 had a period of austerity that is now gone. Lots of 2009s are still too young, so 5 years will clearly be insufficient for 2015, but I’m not convinced that 2009, 2010, 2011 were so delicious at this stage. 2015 is really well-above ‘very good!’

So two ‘short’ vintages for Jadot, but these lack of volumes are not yet an issue as they are only just starting to commercialise their 2013s here. It’s a shame that this isn’t possible with the 1er and grand cru wines of the Côte d’Or!

The wines…

As always here, it depends on the vintage as to how many separate climats are bottled. Jadot have really produced massive wines in 2015 – true vins de guard – I find even the first three wines borderline too much today, but more important is trying to extrapolate how I think they will be in 5-10-15 years plus. These are flamboyant wines, deeply coloured. Cyril comments “Our work here goes into the three entry wines at 15 euros, not the single parcels at 25 – they can look after themselves. In some vintages maybe a little more of those single parcels go into the first three wines when needed.

Maybe the premier address in the vintage – but only if you have a 10-25 years level of patience. If so, you will be more than adequately recompensed!

2015 Morgon
Deep, dark, a little licorice. Fine on the palate – fresh, intense and getting more and more intense! This has a certain freshness to the width, and even the finish seems wide. Long and slowly mouth-watering. Excellent.

2015 Fleurie
From Belair and Grille-Midi – parcels that are quite close but have some differences – before blending!
Bigger, starting more rustic but becoming cleaner and ever-more attractive – though a hint of vanilla shows today. This seems fresher but equally intense – more tannin – a better freshness in the middle – still ultra-young. Modest vanilla in the mix today – probably not in another 6 months. Again excellent

2015 Moulin à Vent
A guarded nose – there’s depth and a certain vibrancy, slowly a pretty violet note too. Big in the mouth, round, textured with ripe tannin, probably the most drinkable of these three – wide but not too much in any direction. Bravo!

2015 Moulin à Vent La Roche
The nose shows some spice above, deeply deep fruit below. Mouth-filling – good volume, a small drag of tannin grain – edged with salinity. Deeply impressive stuff – but only one glass today please!

2015 Moulin à Vent La Carquelin
A nose with some toasty width – tighter below. A slightly cooler fruit, some tannin again – a certain, inherent freshness. More mouth-watering. More interesting wine here.

2015 Moulin à Vent Champs Cours
A deep and relatively tight nose – reflections of dark gelée fruit. A more supple texture, heavier weight of concentration – different again but more like the first than the second of these three. The best finish though.

The next two also on the same band of granite as the last, but heading more north-west:

2015 Moulin à Vent La Rochelle
Hmm, this has a friendly and complex nose, hints of barrel caramel but nice all the same. A nice coldness and freshness in the mouth – direct, indeed frank flavoured, becoming really intense. The finish remains fresh and is really, really tasty…

2015 Moulin à Vent Les Thorins
Possibly the deepest coloured yet – completely saturated. A pretty freshness, a very faint spice yet this has a certain attractive quality. Ooh – now that sits beautifully on the palate – beautiful texture, filling the mouth but not with shock and awe, more an unfolding journey. Bravo! Possibly the best wine of my whole trip!
2015 Moulin à Vent Rochegrès
A round nose, some barrel sweetness, more a suggestion of depth than actual delivery. A nice freshness, more weight of structure it seems, the tannin is more visible, but the width of fine flavour seems to overcome the bulk in middle and finishes beautifully – this definitely needs much more time to balance out but I think it could end up nearly as good as the last!
2015 Morgon Côte du Py
Aromatically this starts in a similar vein to the last, a sweetness that’s most-likely barrel-derived over a depth of threatening, malevolent dark fruit. Ooh – the shape is different here, the texture is very fine but this is more linear to start, before tannin starts to melt over the palate – then its different again. Impressive to see the difference!

Agree? Disagree? Anything you'd like to add?

There are 2 responses to “Château des Jacques – 2015”

  1. peterbam30th March 2017 at 1:32 pmPermalinkReply

    I read somewhere (annoyingly, I can’t find the link) that Ch-d-Jacques reduced their number of single-vineyard bottlings some time around 2010, in order to strengthen the regular cuvee. I could have sworn that Les Thorins was one of the ones to go… which would be a great shame in light of your review of it. Is there any chance that they make all the cuvees, then blend some later? Or do some cuvees get re-issued in great vintages? Or did I just dream this whole matter?!

    • billn31st March 2017 at 8:45 amPermalinkReply

      Hi Peter,
      I seem to remember that Cyril mentioned that some parcels were occasionally part of the blending, but it seems that they are moving away from that. I visited des Jacques relatively early in my trip, but the Thorins would easily remain in my top half-dozen wines of the trip.
      Bestest…

  2. weawines4th April 2017 at 8:21 amPermalinkReply

    2010 seems to be the last vintage of Thorins. Saw an offer recently for the 2015s and Thorins was absent too.

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