Tasted in Charentay with Bernard Jomain, 11 February 2020.
Domaine Bernard Jomain
Lieu-dit La Valette
69220 Charentay
Tel: +33 6 80 30 96 68
More reports for Domaine Bernard Jomain
Bernard on 2019:
“I lost a lot – let’s say 40% less than a normal vintage – luckily we had this after the relatively abundant 2018 vintage. The second half of the season was really super though so the quality is there. Lucky also I think because the whites have a freshness, they are not honied. The reds are more irregular depending on whether they were frosted or not – we had BJV Nouveau made from only 20 hl/ha!”
Bernard on 2018:
“Super! We had a great charge of grapes right from the flowering. We also had lots of storms and an important volume of rain but then in July and August it was fine and sunny – the one balanced the other. Importantly, despite the talk of climate change, it’s a very Beaujolais vintage – a vintage that will bring pleasure to the vignerons and the drinkers! I like my wines to have a line of flavour and freshness – I try to make Beaujolais not Côte de Rhône. It’s the type of vintage that we make so rarely – like 1999 – there’s volume and it also has a great quality. It’s really an exception.”
The wines…
Another good range from Bernard – exclellent, sometimes practically great wines here.
2018 Beaujolais Villages Rosé ‘Cuvée du Pêcher’
Very pale colour. A pretty width of freshly saline aroma. Nice drive here – there’s energy and complexity – this is rather a tatsy wine – slightly towards a melon-style fruit but very tasty.
2018 Beaujolais Villages ‘Les Artistes’
With elevage in foudres. This bottled. Vines opposite the domaine.
A good colour. Here’s an inviting depth of aroma, dark fruit, faintly peppered. Fresh – good volume – the flavour framed by a modest tannin – grainless – that’s a fine blend of structure and mouth-watering flavour. Not quite strict but a certain serious side – I like this a lot!
2018 Brouilly Demoiselles
This with extra time in foudres – not yet bottled. Vines now 15 years old.
A little less colour. A very attractive and fresh width of red fruit. Again a nice structure – no fat and an extra richness of fruit – this has energy, fine structure and a tension – this will drink very quickly on the table with food. That’s excellent!
2018 Brouilly ‘Cuvée des Poêtes’
This is destemmed.
Deeper colour. Much more, and richer, depth of aroma – complex too. Extra sweetness – wider, more impressively textured – but still precise. Small, rippling, waves of finishing flavour. Essentially more concentrated, richer of fruit but lack of precision and structure – excellent again!
Like the previous wines in foudre, probably to be bottled about springtime.
Here’s a complex nose – fresh like the others, but with a floral aromatic quality, almost touched by pyrazine today – but very attractive. Extra freshness – but also extra width – this is super – there’s mouth-filling volume but without overt density – almost an airy quality to the shape and delivery of the flavour. Darker fruit and then a burst of finishing flavour. Wait for this but it could be great!
2018 Côte de Brouilly Strenaé
Some amphora-time for this wine – A fining was been done and a small amount of sulfur, it was bottled in September but Bernard still feels the need to decant to open up
That’s very interesting, my first instinct is that it’s corked – it’s not this has DIAM – then it’s a more complex herb. Also in the mouth, this is complex and herby but makes me think of tca – but the finish is long, long – not what you expect with tca. I reserve judgement…
2018 Brouilly Cuvée Bacchus
This is the cuvée with elevage in barrel
Deep and dark fruited – a nice depth of aroma and the barrel is modest, perhaps rounding the aromas here. Softer but fresh, cool-fruited, nicely mouth-watering, a little saline. There’s some finishing flavour from the barrel, almost creamy but definitely not vanilla – this is rather good but less my style than the previous wines.
Les Blancs:
“August was a bit hot – so we had more honey and fat and a bit less freshness – it was particularly the aromatic that was affected.”
2018 Beaujolais Villages Blanc ‘Cuvée des Trèffes’
Never make the malo with this cuvée.
A good depth and a faintly saline touch to this nose. Bright and fresh – Bernard talks of honey and fat but this has good width and freshness, a saline bite towards the finish. It’s not particularly delicious – but for BJVB it’s really not bad…
2018 Beaujolais Villages Blanc La Pièce de Père Michel
This with barrel elevage.
Oh, that’s an oaky nose. Fresh, driving, a mineral oakiness – tons of energy but I really don’t like… The last trace of the finish is lovely, but… You will really have to be a fan of oak, rather than chardonnay for this one…