Tasted in Romanèche-Thorins with Cyril Chirouze, 07 February 2022.
Château des Jacques
47 Les Jacques
71570 Romanèche-Thorins
Tel: +33 3 85 35 51 64
www.chateau-des-jacques.fr
More reports with Château des Jacques
Cyril on 2021:
“Most of the frosted sectors can be pruned quite well but it needs more work – not like after the hail in 2016 and 2017, of course! This January was fine and cold – so, hopefully, we get to leave the winter and spring without more ‘events.’ The crus did not so bad – 33 hl/ha – and we don’t usually achieve 40 – though we did exactly that in 2020 – but the whites brought just 18 hl/ha. The last few years we’ve had a permanent rollercoaster of a rendement in this Clos though we have terroirs which show the effects of drought when they only have one month without rain.”
Cyril on 2020:
“For the whites it was generous – for us – which still isn’t a lot. For the reds it was the parts without too much altitude that delivered the most yield – we have more organic material in the soil and less wind here. The yields were over 40 hl/ha – that’s high for us. We saw some drying of the grapes leading up to the harvest – but they were still not ready, their maturity blocked, we started cutting grapes 21 August – 3 days earlier than we had first thought. They didn’t have any of the flavours of 2003 that’s why I describe the flavours as ‘classic’ and more-so too than in 2018 – it’s still a sunny vintage but you would be forgiven for not noting it from the wines. Commercially, we have started selling some of our 2019s and that’s really early for us – we normally wait 2-3 more years..”
The wines…
A highly successful vintage here with a number of benchmark wines.
DIAM for the whites. As is the politic of Jadot, some of the parts of both these white cuvées didn’t go through some, or all, of their malos to bring the freshness that they were looking for…
2020 Beaujolais Blanc Clos de Loyse
All tank elevage
Plenty of colour. A deep, rich, silken nose. Saline – wide, very silky. Like the nose, there’s a certain richness, this flavour-packed with fruit abut always saline too. Wide and mineral finishing – a modest austerity but floral here too and not really a wine with significant rigour. This is good.
2020 Bourgogne Blanc Clos de Loyse
Same provenance, the Clos de Loyse has been part of the domaine since at least the 1930s. About 60% tank elevage here – the rest 228-litre barrels of about 3-4 years-old…
Extra freshness and more direct aromas – that’s rather attractive. Quite mineral, less overtly rich, more obviously mouth-watering. Fine and direct finishing. This is very good.
Les rouges – first two assembly wines:
2020 Morgon
3 origins, 50% of the total from Bellevue
Not a large nose but it’s an attractive one with faint spice and pure fruit. Supple but there’s concentration here too. Super intensity and a matching complexity – the finish is really great – a wine that gets better and better starting good and finishing great!
More floral and red-fruited – plenty of authority here too. More direct, juicier – here is super energy and a matching vibrancy of flavour. Really a ton of finishing flavour and depth to that flavour too. That’s a great Fleurie!
8 different climats but the largest part comes from Rochegrès. About 2/3rds barrel elevage, very little new – the rest in concrete.
Wider, more airy style to this nose – there’s still an impressive concentration that supports all. Mouth-filling a certain structure is visible too. This is very impressive though certainly the most austere (in a modest sense of that word) of the three opening wines today. The finish is open and impressive – in fact it’s the best finish so far. This just needs more time – this could certainly be a great wine…
2020 Moulin à Vent La Roche
From 2 hectares of vines
A silky nose of dark-fruited sucrosity. Impressive weight but with balancing freshness. Such depth to everything here but still with some lightness of touch in the attractive, long if compact finish – very clean finishing.
2020 Moulin à Vent Clos du Grand Carquelin
An even deeper nose, silky, less forward. More mouth-filling with more overt concentration. A little extra bitters and open finishing complexity – it’s a larger finish here and holding more impressively.
A little more airy complexity – this is the most attractive of the three aromatically. Yes! Wide, mouth-filling, fluid, mouth-watering flavour. This is so mobile and playful over the palate – happy, juicy wine. Bravo!
Ooh – that’s a lovely nose – fuller but never heavy – attractively spiced – almost a Vosne. Beautiful in the mouth – fuller but oh-so-silky, a wine with multiple dimensions yet remains open and accessible. Also a great wine – really persistent – but I’d be waiting longer for this than the Thorins!
2020 Moulin à Vent ‘Le Moulin’
Third time vinified separately, only 0.2 ha or 3 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.’
More airy again – more in the style of the Thorins – lovely. More structural wine – but open and mouth-watering too. There’s structure but it’s not really strict nor austere – extra density to these finishing flavours. Long too!
Have mainly 2 parcels, one next to the Javernières of Desvignes another more east-facing – ‘it’s the vintage that determines how they are blended…’
Almost saturated colour. A vertical nose of freshness and depth – there’s a purity of fruit here – but narrow. Great in the mouth – finding every space to fill, quite fluid in style with an inky depth to these flavours. A few bitters in an impressively growing finish – really a great finish. Really for keeping – I’d be thinking of opening the first bottles in 5 years and taking things from there.
2020 IGP Syrah des Jacques
IGP – In the sector of Moulin à Vent but obviously not with that label. Just 6 years old vines. Some concrete ‘egg’ elevage now too. Harvested nearly 3 weeks later than the neighbouring parcel of gamay
Colour that’s at least a match for the Cote du Py. The nose has a seductive style to it with a very fine warm spice impression. A fine texture – more velour than silk. Mouth-filling with good energy. Some finishing bitters but attractive and more modestly complex that the last of the gamays from here – but sneakily long all the same. That’s a very tasty wine in its own right!