Tasted in Beaune with Frédéric Barnier, 30 November, 2016.
Louis Jadot
21 Rue Eugène Spuller
21200 Beaune
Tel: +33 3 80 22 10 57
www.louisjadot.com
Frédéric on 2016:
“2016 – simply unfair! Massive differences between different places, hail as well as frost. It’s an extremely small harvest, but also those not affected had a very good volume result too. Nothing to do in Savigny or Marsannay, almost nothing to harvest in Chambolle too. The ‘average’ is meaningless – 2 barrels in Demoiselles instead of 11, but a full harvest in Puligny 1er Les Referts. We started harvesting late – 27-28 September – but this month and October gave us the chance to rescue, to some extent, the vintage, with a good maturity. Not just unfair, but also very big quality differences… That said, harvest conditions were excellent, and we had the time to search for the best grapes – so far they look good in barrel… 10 hectares in Savigny, brought 20 barrels…”
Frédéric on 2015:
“2015 evidently had few problems; the temperature was one thing but the big rain at the end of the flowering was really important, that was the difference between the 15 hl/ha which was the result in the Mâconnais and Beaujolais, and roughly okay volumes in the Côte d’Or. Also the rain of August – these waves of rain were the defining factors in 2015 not the temperature. Great quality of red grapes, though we lost about one-third of the volume (versus ‘correct’) it was the size, not the quantity of grapes that was the reason. Whites almost delivered a normal harvest volume. They are rich, dense, but also alive. August was actually a fraction of a degree lower than average summer temperatures. I think that vintages that lack water are the vintages that will close-down; 2012 and 2005 for example – those that are juicy, 2011 and 2014 for instance, stay more open. This year we have Vins-de-garde.”
The wines…
And larger tasting glasses this year – hooray!!! Perhaps that also contributed to the descriptors that came into my head – bravado, clarity, punch, complexity. One of my best 2015 tastings – really so much wine to recommend!
Domaine Gagey
Ooh, that’s a great, open red-fruited nose – really beautiful focus and purity. Big, round, lots of energy, lots of depth of flavour – plenty of tannin too. But I simply love the fresh, lithe, muscled character here. Bravo!
2015 Chorey-lès-Beaune, Beaumonts
Domaine Gagey
Silkier fruit, a Little more elegant if less fine focused. Big in the mouth again, here with some tannin, but also great freshness of flavour. Long, long fresh finishing. Super!
Domaine des Heritiers. Of-course from En Caradeaux
Deeper, beautiful focused dark red fruit – oh yes! Juicy, lovely round but energetic flavours. Really super, faintly floral finishing – great stuff!
Domaine Louis Jadot
Deep, with a nice engaging complexity – yum. Fresh, chiselled, lithe muscle, plenty of micro-fine tannin, a little oak bitterness in the finish – but bravo Dominode!
Domaine Gagey
Deep, sweet engaging fruit of clarity. Big, a little drag of tannin, but clean, purity of fruit here. Just a beautifully detailed mid-palate and finishing flavour too. Simply textbook Beaune.
Domaine des Heritiers.
Really another level of perfume here. Here is the same clarity plus a little more minerality, more tannin, a hint of salinity too. This is definitely for waiting, more than the Cras – but what a brilliantly long finish…
Domaine Louis Jadot
Ooh – they have really pulled the boat out here – just a fabulous aromatic. A baseline of fine tannin, but the mouth-watering flavour is just so impressive – faintly salted. Great wine!
2015 Pommard 1er Clos de la Commaraine
Domaine Louis Jadot
The nose is less overtly beautiful at the top but shows really nice bass notes. Sweeter, but also fresher, cooler fruit. A big lick of finishing tannin but very fine. Excellent, but showing behind the previous wines.
Domaine des Heritiers.
Pretty if modest top notes, really more weight of aroma below – slowly adding attractive floral elements to further pad out the nose. Sweeter, cool fruit, but really with a lovely mouth-watering effect. Powerful and structured in the finish but with nothing to fear – great wine!
Domaine Gagey
A tight top-line but a beautiful deep layer of fruit below. Plenty of tannin but the wine remains lithe and complex, sweetly mouth-watering wine. Lots of tannin but it’s well-managed and young. Superbly crafted!
2015 Vosne-Romanée 1er Les Suchots
Domaine Louis Jadot. It’s not every day you are only halfway through the reds whilst Suchots!
Deep, faintly floral and equally faintly spiced. Big but fresh wine, lots of structure really super clarity of flavour too – when can I stop recommending all the wines? Really super.
2015 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Baudes
Domaine Gagey
A deep nose, good volume of aroma yet the various facets seem tight – but it becomes ever more floral and interesting. Silky despite the tannin, gorgeous flavours, long and lingering – yes!
2015 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Les Fuées
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Like always, this is deeper, and today more chocolatey. A little more lithe muscle and minerality. Actually today the last wine has more flavour, this a wine more of length and line. The finish is really something though. Really something, and I think it can only get better…
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Modest above but beautiful deep clarity below – more florals added with time. Silky, plenty of tannin – a certain richness of texture – very suave texture and silky, slowly changing fruit flavour. Brilliant but will require some patience…
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Actually very similar to the Cazetiers, just a hint more open. A little extra sweetness, silky but also just a little less overt tannin. Hmm, this is beautiful and almost approachable. Top!
Domaine Louis Jadot.
An extra perfume here – beautiful perfume. An extra silk too – grand cru texture, certainly. Floral fruit, perfect balance. Simply great wine in this vintage.
2015 Chapelle-Chambertin
Domaine Louis Jadot.
A top-end perfume, tighter below – beautiful all the same. Velvet, sweet fruit, really a wine of mid-palate power yet gorgeously detailed flavour – simply excellent wine.
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Top to bottom more of everything – aromas don’t get much better. Plenty of tannin, but ultra-fine. Sweet complex flavour, sweetly fruited in the finishing flavours too – great wine.
2015 Clos de La Roche
Domaine Louis Jadot.
A deep nose, a certain vibration, minerality? It’s not reduction. Plenty of tannin but also lithe, muscular flavour, flavour with a certain clarity and faint salinity. Just a great finish too. Modestly fruited but oh-so-long…
2015 Clos de Vougeot
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Rather modest if showing fine precise high tones. Big, some structure of course. Actually lots of structure without overt dryness. Long and more astringent finishing but a big wine in waiting, it will be super if you have the time…
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Deep, complex, a little mineral – but really a rather super and complex nose – yum! Super density of flavour, coming in waves, slightly saline to add to the impressive complexity. Not everyone shows Echézeaux after CV, but this is really the way to go here. – bravo!
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Not the most overt nose, but with deep dark fruit of fine clarity on the nose. Supple, less aggressive structure than the CV – if not less structure! Wide and more mouth-wateringly complex. Really different beast this and the last; the Echézeaux is front-end loaded, this back-end loaded. Bravo length to add to the rest!
Les blancs…
Also almost everything in barrel still…
2015 Santenay Clos de la Malte
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Here the nose is wide, some freshness with a small twist of oak. Wide, good freshness and a saline complexity with eventually some oak here too. But this will be excellent!
2015 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Clos de la Croix de Pierre
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Fresh, complex and just a hint mineral and spiced. Bigger in the mouth. Fine extra notes of flavour and a lovely long finishing fruit/structure mix – yes, almost a tannin too. Very yum!
2015 Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Clos des Guettes
Domaine Gagey.
A deep nose of yellow fruit and plenty of well-done barrel components. Big, and great-textured wine – lots of richness of flavour without any loss of balance. Big wine but with quite enough energy to match the weight and complexity. Super!
Domaine Gagey.
Really a lovely, a wide and complex nose of saline minerality – bravo! Big, open, complex wine with a lovely energy and massive complexity. I almost always love his wine!
2015 Meursault Narvaux
Fresh and inviting, a silky nose – almost Meursault! Big, silky wine, width of flavour and really good intensity too. Wide in the finish – and its a great finish, long, long, yum!
2015 Meursault 1er Genevrières
Domaine Louis Jadot.
A deeper aromatic, with perhaps a little smoky spice. Fresher overall, even more width, faintly spicy flavour. Great finish again, with the extra spice from the rest of the palate. Super…
2015 Meursault 1er Perrières
The smoky spice of the Genevrières but with a little more top-line freshness. Clearly a more mineral wine, silkier of texture. Really some mid-palate intensity here. Long again, only modestly more interesting than the Genevrières but maybe just a bit more obviously Meursault today. Excellent all the same!
2015 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Clos de l’Abbaye
Domaine Louis Jadot.
Super width of aroma – lovely… Ooh, that’s got a rich texture and a certain salinity too – big wine but seemingly well textured. A super finish too. Yum!
An extra sweetness of aroma with some floral aspects. Fresher on the palate, lithe, less overtly textured wine. Still silky, with a little citrus fruit to add to the overall complexity. Really a great finish here – bravo!
Here, with the most overtly Chassagne nose, with more bouquet-garni herb on the nose. Clearly, overtly more mineral wine. Lots and lots of growing complexity. And a certain really beautiful mid-palate flavour. Really a special wine!
A deep nose with a little ripe yellow citrus and the comfort of a little oak. Really great texture, some richness to that texture but with perfectly balancing acidity and energy. A big burst of finishing flavour – and it’s really long too. Bravo!
2015 Puligny-Montrachet 1er les Folatières
Fresher, maybe. A hint saline, eventually a little floral aspect. Really a little more transparent – less overtly rich texture, but fine and complex flavour – still plenty of oak, but not overtly distracting. Excellent!
A weight of fresh aroma for bass notes and spicy complexity above. Glacial minerality – so fresh – cool fruit, super-silky texture. Like the others, great finishing flavour. Bravo – great wine!
2015 Bâtard-Montrachet
Puligny side
Almost a surprise how fresh and open the nose is – finely but not overtly complex. Almost as mineral as the Caillerets, more oak in the mid-palate, but fine balance, still. Really a super finish here. Better than the Caillerets? No, only different – but clearly super.
Domaine des Heritiers.
Not the biggest nose, but fresh and with a wonderful blend of clarity and energy – a growing top note too – but a little more barrel is also referenced here. Fresh, very mineral, but with more overt complexity and sweetly mouth-melting and mouth-watering flavour than the last wines. Great wine – no question!
Domaine des Heritiers.
A deep nose – not so wide but with a very attractive vibration. Very mineral. A silky palate but with an energy that seems to be a little constrained – yet the ropes that are binding it are fraying – it’s going to explode! The lovely waves of finishing flavour that slowly, slowly fade are almost a surprise after the big mid-palate – still, great wine again!