2018 Vintage Louis Jadot Burgundy Tasting

"Drinking is a very demanding profession and I can't hold down two jobs at once"

--Morgan Freidman

We would like to remind our "Wine Drinking People" that everyday above ground is reason to celebrate as you never know when your last day is…. don’t save that special bottle make it a special occasion tonight and drink it!!  And whatever you do don’t stop drinking wine because you only get better at something when you practice!!  Thank god I only have one job!!

It’s always nice to get some good news and a 90% effective vaccine for Covid-19 is just that.  Although we have been hosting events with our new social distancing set up at the Wine Bar it would be nice to get things back to normal.  We are allowed to be open at full capacity but we are still observing and abundance of caution right now as without a vaccine many are still leary to leave their homes even with social distancing and we are happy to continue to host our Virtual Tastings as it has been nice to connect with our “Wine Drinking People” in the wine industry every Wednesday and we may continue even after things get back to the old normal. 

This is one of the last of the year and we only have a few more tastings at the Wine Bar before we close for the holiday rush.  The Wine Bar is available to host private events the month of December you can see what dates are available by checking the winewatch calendar of events at www.winewatch.com.  The dates are not listed as Wine Bar is Closed for a private event are available.

It seems like a long time ago when things were normal and I was in France in late February and early March on a trip to Burgundy just before the world shut down.  We tasted lots of 2018 vintage wines and I am very excited about the wines so you will see numerous offerings coming out over the next month as the wines are now arriving on our shores.  This will be the first comprehensive tasting of this vintage and I thought it would be fin to try some of the remaining 2017 vintage wines along with the newly released 2018’s.  We usually host a barrel tasting with our good friends at Louis Jadot but with the state of affairs this year no one from the winery is traveling so we will have to host it without them. 

Be one of the first Burgundy lovers to experience these outstanding 2018 vintage wines from Louis Jadot and if you can’t make the tasting I have a comprehensive offering on these wines following the announcement for this tasting,  The fee for this tasting is $195 + tax, for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.

The Domaines of Louis Louis Jadot – 2018 vintage Burgundies

Saturday, November 28th

7:30pm

2019 Louis Jadot Dom Clair Dau Masannay rose

Price: $33.00   Sale $29.04

Marsannay is the northernmost commune of the Côte d'Or, lying virtually on the outskirts of the city of Dijon, three miles north of Gevrey Chambertin. In 1987, Marsannay was granted its own A.O.C. appellation and became the first village for which the appellation applies to red, white and rosé wines. Grapes are destemmed and macerate a short time in order to get a light pink color. This wine stays then in stainless steel tanks before bottling. Domaine Clair-Daü was considered one of the great domaines (founded in 1919) of Burgundy. Domaine Louis Louis Jadot acquired a substantial portion of the property in 1985, including vines in Chambertin Clos de Bèze, Gevrey – Chambertin Clos St. Jacques, and other choice parcels in the Côte de Nuits, including several in Marsannay.

2017 Louis Louis Jadot Chablis

Price: $20.00   Your Price: $17.60       Quantity in Stock: 60

(90 Points) Rich, laced with peach, yellow plum and mineral hints, this white is intense, vibrant and balanced, lingering with a citrus accent. Drink now through 2023.  Wine Spectator

2018 Louis Jadot Chablis Montee de Tonnerre 1er Cru

Price $54.50  Sale $47.96

"Chablis is in the northern part of Burgundy, half way between Dijon and Paris. About 3500 hectares are planted (including 856 ha of Premiers and Grands crus) with Chardonnay. The Premier Cru vineyards represent 20% of the total size of the Burgundy Premiers Crus. There are 40 "climats" of Premiers Crus among which "Montée de tonnerre".

2017 Louis Jadot Santenay Clos des Malts Blanc

Price: $44.75   Sale $39.38

The village of Santenay is located in the southern part of the Côte de Beaune, just north of Chassagne Montrachet.

The «Clos de Malte» is a 7 ha Monopole(Louis Louis Jadot is the sole owner) situated on the climat «Sous la Fée» at the foot of the Montagne des Troix Croix. The Santenay Clos de Malte is mainly planted with Pinot Noir with a small hectare of Chardonnay situated on very damp soil of limestone and clay.

2018 Louis Jadot Santenay Clos Des Gatsulards Domaine Gagey

Price $48.50   Sale $42.68

The Santenay appellation is located to the South of Côte de Beaune. The Gatsulards part is in front of Santenay Clos de Malte, slightly higher: a single vineyard/monopole.

The soil is very stony and steep, rather difficult to work. It is South oriented and therefore warms up very quickly, it is also quite a windy place.

2017 Louis Jadot Pernand Vergeles Clos De La Croix De Perrier Blanc  

Price: $46.00   Sale $40.48

Le vignoble de Pernand-Vergelesses avoisine ceux d'Aloxe-Corton et de Savigny-lès-Beaune. De part et d'autre d'une combe, il est réparti sous des expositions Est, Sud et Ouest. L'altitude est comprise entre 260 et 380 m.

Le Clos de la Croix de Pierre est situé à proximité du premier cru « En Caradeux ». Il est orienté à l’Est, non loin du village de Pernand. Le sol est principalement calcaire avec des petits cailloux en surface. Il tient son nom d’une grande croix en pierre située au bord du climat. La plus grande partie du vignoble est plantée également en Pinot Noir.

2018 Louis Jadot Pernand-Vergelesses, Clos De La Croix De Pierre Blanc 1er Cru

Price $48.50   Sale $42.68

The commune of Pernand Vergelesses is located above between Aloxe Corton and Savigny Les Beaune, in the North of the Côte de Beaune.  Pernand produces both red and white wines under village and premier cru appellations.

« Clos de la Croix de Pierre » is situated on the « En Caradeux » area. The vineyard is facing East, not very far from the village. Soil is made of limsetone and small stones on the surface.  Its name comes from a big cross made of stone at the entrance of the vineyard.

2017 Louis Louis Jadot Beaune Clos des Couchereaux 1er Cru

Price: $62.00   Sale $54.56

Beaune vineyards are the most extensive of the Côte de Beaune, between Savigny to the North, and Pommard to the South. There are no Grands Crus vineyards in this commune, but 36 Premiers Crus.

"Les Couchereaux" vineyard is situated on top of the slope, in the middle of the commune. This vineyard has a southern exposure. Soil is made of clay and calcareous. It is well drained and can warm up easily.

            2017 Louis Jadot Savigny Beaune Clos Guettes Rouge 1er Cru

Price: $50.50   Sale $44.44

The commune of Savigny les Beaune is located between Aloxe Corton and Pernand Vergelesses, to the north of Côte de Beaune.

Savigny produces almost exclusively red wines (90%) with the village and premier cru appellations.

The vineyard has south, south-east, east and north-east exposure and is situated between 220 and 360m. The chalky soil is gravely or stony, light and infertile.  Les Guettes lies in the middle of the commune, near the village of Savigny.

2018 Louis Jadot Savigny-Les-Beaune La Dominode Domaine Louis Louis Jadot 1er Cru

Price $57.50   Sale $50.60

The vineyard shows an east and north-east exposure and is situated between 220 and 360m. The Dominode vineyard is very suitable to Pinot Noir because the soil is deep and benefits for a large variety of fallen rocks from the top of the hill.

Menu

Cheese and Charcuterie Selection

Foie Gras Torchon with Grape Jam and Brioche Toast

Burgundy Braised Beef Short Rib Bourguignon

Epoisses and Cherry Tart

The fee for this tasting which includes dinner is $195.00 + tax for reservations call 954-523-9463 or e-mail andy@winewatch.com.  Please let us know when you make your reservation if you would like a mixed greens salad instead of Beef Short Rib and chef Toni will be happy to accommodate your dietary needs.

2018 Vintage Notes - Côte d'Or

Winter arrived late, with a very cold and relatively dry spell in February. But the end of 2017 and the month of January 2018 were mild and notably rainy, which allowed for ample replenishment of water reserves in both the soil and beneath ground.  March saw the return of copious rainfall, and cool, and the vines took their time in awakening. It wasn’t until we saw the first real evidence of sunshine in early April that spring set in for real, bringing with it the first signs of budbreak. At this point the cycle was neither late nor early, allowing for growth to develop in perfectly bright, sunny conditions.  This brightness proved to be the hallmark of the vintage, with remarkable levels of sunshine prevailing from April through to September. As the month of May rolled past, the vines grew like, well, vines thanks to conditions that were both hot and humid. Numerous thunderstorms literally created an electric atmosphere throughout France towards the end of spring. We saw the odd sprinkling of hail here and there, but the damage caused was negligible. Up until this point, there was little evidence of fungal diseases in the vineyards.  Flowering occurred in ideal conditions over the course of a few days towards the end of May/beginning of June, promising homogenous ripening.  The end of the vegetative growth cycle took place in hot and often very dry conditions across the region. Isolated localized thunderstorms in July brought with them a sprinkling of rain. In the Côte de Nuits, the south of Nuits Saint-Georges was struck twice by hailstorms. Luckily, however, there was little damage to the vineyards. The vines remained healthy and the sun shone consistently throughout summer.  Veraison kicked off during the early part of July and lasted for nearly six weeks. The unusual extension was caused by the high summer temperatures and the lack of water in certain appellations (Mâconnais, Chablis). Ripening was a long, slow process, therefore, and by the end of August, the berries were still fairly firm and the skins were thick. Some of the younger plants and those with little access to water reserves began to suffer, but by and large the vineyards coped well with the conditions as these had prevailed for several months already and the vines were largely acclimatized. During our vineyard visits at the end of August we saw that the grapes were in a near-perfect state of health and that yields promised to be generous for both reds and whites. Skins were thick and it was important to give them the time necessary to ripen fully. Luckily the weather forecast allowed us to do so with confidence. We began picking right at the end of August (Thursday 29/08), with the first bunches harvested from some early ripening parcels in Volnay, Meursault and then Beaune. These areas had ripened ahead of schedule, and the Pinot was right at the end of its maturation cycle. From 4 September onwards, we began the harvest proper, particularly when it came to the Chardonnays. There was barely any need for triage, and it took us a fortnight to pick the entire domaine.

2017 Vintage - Côte d'Or

After a real winter, with truly cold temperatures (particularly in January), but with less rainfall than average, budbreak took place earlier than usual at the end of March during a superb early spring that saw vigorous vegetal growth. During the last fortnight of April, some rain fell on the already well-developed plants (many of which were already showing 3-4 leaves, sometimes more). In the Côte d’Or the frosts were less deadly than those of 2016, and were often radiative in nature (and therefore very localized). Nevertheless, they had a profound impact on Chablis, the Couchois region (to the west of the Côte Chalonnaise) and some of the hills in the north of the Maconnais, as well as southern Beaujolais and some of the slopes of the Beaujolais Villages area. Subsequently, there were a few weeks of slow growth as both the dry soils and the cool conditions meant that the vines took their time to put on a growth spurt. Some rainfall and temperatures somewhat above the norm in May gave us a reminder that the vine is, well, a vine… Growers picked up the pace in the vineyard and began lifting the canopies. At the start of June, vines in earlier-ripening areas flowered, but suffered a bit from heat stress. There was some evidence of poor fruit set, particularly when it came to the whites. The Pinot vines flowered later, in more moderate conditions, and promised well in terms of future fruiting. Overall, yields just about reached the average when it came to whites while the red harvest promised to be generous. It looked as if 2017 was set to be an early vintage, with picking due to start between the end of August and the beginning of September. We saw little in the way of disease pressure, although there were a few spots of downy mildew fairly late in the growing season, but these were quickly brought under control. There was some evidence of powdery mildew in July, but it caused little damage. Overall, summer was fine. There was little rot and the grapes ripened steadily, although the lack of rainfall (a shortfall equivalent to two whole months of rain compared to the average) began to make itself felt. In the south of the region, two hailstorms in July destroyed a large part of the potential harvest in the crus of Moulin à Vent, Chiroubles, Fleurie and Morgon, but the Côte d’Or was spared from damage. We began harvesting the whites on 2 September, a few days after we started picking the first grapes in Beaujolais. Picking took place in good conditions, with little need for triage and good levels of ripeness overall.

A bit of history on Louis Jadot:

Maison Louis Louis Jadot was founded in 1859 by the man whose name it bears,  Louis Henry Denis Louis Jadot - a young man of Belgian ancestry whose family had settled in Beaune near the turn of the century.  At a young age Louis Henry Louis Jadot developed a deep interest in the wines of Burgundy; and by 1826, his father acquired a parcel in the "Clos des Ursules" vineyard in Beaune, which upon his death he bequeathed to his brother, Louis's uncle.  Under his uncle's auspices, the young Louis Jadot greatly broadened his experience - first in the cellars in the art of evaluating the wines and then in the vineyards in the study of viticulture.  As Louis Henry travelled, he acquired a faithful clientele and in 1859 purchased the respected négociant firm of Lemaire-Fouleux.  He gave the firm his name, restructured its operations, and began to expand its business into the export markets of northern France and Belgium.  Belgium, once a province of the Duchy of Burgundy and historically the preeminent market for its wines, was, as the Louis Jadot family's ancestral home, of particular interest to Louis Henry.  It was there that the Louis Jadot name first began to gain renown.

As Maison Louis Louis Jadot grew, its vineyard holdings expanded through the purchase of parcels in Beaune "Theurons" and "Clos des Couchereaux".  After the death of Louis Henry Jadot, his son, Louis Baptiste Jadot, enthusiastically carried on the work his father had begun.  Louis Baptiste expanded his export markets as well as his clientele in France, reinvesting the profits in the further acquisition of vineyards.  He judiciously made purchases in some of the finest and most famous grand and premier cru vineyards of the Côte d'Or - among them an interest in the coveted Chevalier-Montrachet "Les Demoiselles".  In 1939, Louis Baptiste Louis Jadot died and left control of the firm to his eldest son, Louis Auguste Jadot, who had assisted in the direction of the business under his father since 1931.  Louis Auguste opened and greatly developed the new export market of the United States; he also expanded Jadot's activities in Great Britain, Holland, South America, and New Zealand.

In 1954, Andre Gagey joined Maison Louis Louis Jadot as assistant to Louis Auguste Jadot, and this proved to be an important event in the fortunes of the Louis Jadot firm.  The extremely capable and affable Gagey was appointed interim managing director of the firm in 1962 when Louis Auguste Louis Jadot died, survived by his wife and a seventeen-year-old son, Louis-Alain.  Tragically, Louis-Alain was killed in a car crash at the age of 23 in 1968.  Mademoiselle Louis Jadot then gave Gagey full responsibility for the operations of her firm, which was without heirs to run it.  Gagey placed the policy of maintaining highest quality above all others; and the impeccable reputation for honesty Maison Louis Louis Jadot enjoys today is the reward of that perseverance.  Gagey recently retired and turned the direction of the firm over to his very competent son, Pierre-Henry Gagey.

Maison Louis Jadot's headquarters is located in the heart of Beaune.  The most glorious of its three cellars, used for storage of older vintage wines, is situated in the Convent des Jacobins once a convent of the patron Saint Dominique, founder of the Dominican order and built in 1477.  It was acquired by the Tourliere family in 1802 and has been used by Maison Louis Louis Jadot since 1954.  In contrast, the most recent cellar, on the outskirts of Beaune, doubled production and storage capacity as of mid 1986 and is perhaps the most technologically advanced facility in France.  All white wines are fermented in cask and aged one year; red wines are aged on average eighteen months.  The type of wood used is very carefully selected - Limousin, which imparts aggressive tannins more appropriate to Bordeaux wines, is too harsh for the delicate Burgundies Louis Jadot produces.  Wines are fined "the old way," with natural proteins - skim milk for white wines, egg whites for red wines.  The wines are then hand-racked at five intervals before bottling to assure perfect clarity and brightness.  The Louis Jadot estate today includes ownership of parcels in the vineyards of Chevalier-Montrachet "Les Demoiselles," Corton-Charlemagne, Corton-Pougets, Beaune "Clos des Ursules," Beaune "Theurons", Beaune "Bressandes", Beaune "Boucherottes", Beaune "Clos des Couchereaux, Beaune "Les Chouacheux, and Pernand-Vergelesses "Clos de la Croix de Pierre."  In 1986 Louis Jadot acquired the prestigious Clair-Dau Domaine and in 1987 entered into a contract to produce the wines of the renowned Duc de Magenta.  In 1990 Louis Jadot again expanded its holdings with the purchase of the Domaine Champy in Beaune with its fifteen acres of very valuable vineyards.  In 1994 Louis Jadot purchased another 13.26 acres in prime premier cru vineyards.  Since 1986 Louis Jadot has more than doubled the acreage under its domaine, which together with long term contracts, brings over 160 acres of some of the finest vineyards of the Côte d'Or under Maison Louis Jadot's control.  In February of 1985, the négociant firm of Maison Louis Louis Jadot was purchased by the American-owned Kobrand Corporation, the sole United States importer of Louis Jadot Burgundies since 1945.  This prompted outcries in Burgundy, where it was felt that American ownership would signal the end of an era and that Maison Louis Louis Jadot would never again be the same.  A dozen years hence the French now realize that Kobrand has brought nothing but brilliance and capital to this prestigious firm and that Louis Jadot is producing the best wines in the firm's history.  Since 1970 the winemaker at Maison Louis Louis Jadot has been Jacques Lardière, who is widely regarded as one of the best in Burgundy.  In 1995 he was cited by Robert Parker in The Wine Advocate as one of the top thirteen "Wine Personalities of 1995."  Parker said: "Lardière continues to go from strength to strength producing an enormous range of wines...that are among the finest from Burgundy.  His flexibility and intelligence in handling diverse vintages makes him a winemaker par excellence."  This appears on top of praise previously showered on the firm by Parker in his book titled BURGUNDY.   There Parker rates Maison Louis Jadot between four  and five stars - near the very top of the pyramid of his rating system.  "Most of the red wines from Louis Louis Jadot need 3-4 years in the bottle to round out, but can age for up to 15-20 years, depending on the particular cuvée. The white wines are no less brilliant than the reds."