Louis Jadot snaps up Oregon vineyard

Burgundy-based Louis Jadot has acquired a vineyard in the Willamette Valley in Oregon for Pinot Noir production for an undisclosed sum.

Jacques Lardière will be winemaker at Resonance Vineyard

The estate’s first purchase abroad, production is set to commence with the 2013 vintage, with the Jadot’s erstwhile technical director Jacques Lardière having been appointed winemaker.

As reported by the Wine Spectator, the 13-hectare Resonance Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton subappellation boasts 7.5 hectares of Pinot Noir vines on their original roots planted between 1981 and 2006.

“We were impressed by the quality of the wines we tasted from Resonance Vineyard,” Pierre-Henry Gagey, president of Louis Jadot, told WS.

Jadot snapped up the property from Kevin and Carla Chambers, who are in the process of buying a 32-hectare property in the Eola-Amity Hills for Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Noir production.

Gagey told the Wine Spectator that the Oregon purchase was not premeditated.

“Six months ago, I didn’t know we would be doing this. It wasn’t planned. We liked Oregon, we liked the property, we liked Kevin Chambers, and it’s as simple as that. All the pieces in the puzzle worked together,” he said.

The 2013 Resonance Vineyard Pinot Noir will be made at Trisaetum, a boutique winery in Ribbon Ridge; a subappellation of the Willamette Valley.

Resonance Vineyard neighbours Gran Moraine, a 186-hectare estate recently bought by Jackson Family Wines.