Whites excite at Jadot 2014 en primeur

The first Burgundy en primeur of the year has highlighted the quality of white wines from the 2014 vintage, according to Philip Tuck MW.

Jadot’s London en primeur was the first taster of 2014 Burgundy wines in the UK (Photo: Maison Louis Jadot)

Speaking to the drinks business at the Maison Louis Jadot 2014 en primeur at BAFTA in Central London, Tuck said that a relatively cool August with hot weather closer to harvest had produced whites with a strong acidic backbone, purity and freshness, somewhat reminiscent of the whites from the 1996 vintage.

“It wasn’t particularly warm throughout the entire process,” Tuck explained. “In fact August was pretty cool, and that’s allowed the acidity not to get metabolised too early, so lots of the wines have got good acidity – particularly the whites.

For the whites, I think it’s a very, very nice vintage: lovely purity; good levels of concentration. The wines have gone through partial malo so they’ve retained some malic acidity to give them some backbone and freshness.

“The whites are like the ‘96s, but they’re slightly less acidity and more richness to give them more overall balance.”

Tuck added that while there was more variability for the reds, some areas – particularly Cote de Nuits and Vosne-Romanée – showed more promise than others.

“The reds are a little more slight,” he explained. “There’s more variation. But if you pick carefully there are some beautiful wines, because the yields were down and so the concentration levels are good.

“The wines that show really well are the wines from Nuits and Vosne; Clos Vougeot is very good this year.

“Gevrey is perhaps a bit disappointing from its high standards, as is Volnay, which got hailed – there was a massive hailstorm on 23 July which pretty much devastated lots of Meursault, Pommard, Volnay and southern Beaune.”

Bourgogne to Oregogne

Maison Louis Jadot also used its London 2014 en primeur tasting to unveil the first release from its Oregon vineyard project.

Maison Louis Jadot’s first vintage from its Résonance Vineyard in Oregon’s Willamette Valley is set to be released in the UK in March 2016, the estate’s deputy manager Thibault Gagey confirmed.

The as-yet-unlabelled Jadot Résonance Pinot Noir is set for release in the UK in March 2016

Jadot bought the unirrigated 8ha Résonance Vineyard, which is located in the Yamhill Carlton AVA (American Viticultural Area) of Willamette Valley, in the summer of 2013.

The vineyard is planted with three ungrafted Pinot Noir clones: Dijon, Pommard and the Swiss Wädenswil.

Speaking at the Jadot 2014 en primeur tasting, Gagey also revealed that, in 2014, Jadot had bought a further 2ha of vines in the neighbouring Dundee Hills AVA.

The winemaking for the soon-to-be released Résonance 2013 vintage has been overseen by Jadot celebrated former winemaker Jacques Lardière – a veteran of 42 Jadot vintages.

Speaking of the Oregon project, which he himself is managing, Gagey said: “It’s still very new for us. We still have many, many things to learn.

“We started with one wine in 2013, but then the idea is to build up ourselves, to find a place, to build a winery, to do it step by step.

“What is important about this project is: we are from Burgundy – Jacques has made 42 vintages in Burgundy – but the move in Oregon, it’s a new project, and the mistake would be to say, okay, we are from Burgundy, let’s try to do Burgundy in Oregon; we are in Oregon so we have to make Oregon.

“It’s Pinot Noir, so it’s linked with what we are doing in Burgundy, but it’s very different – the soil is different, the climate is different; they key is to try to express the terroir which is in Oregon, which is what is exciting.”

While not being drawn on the details of the label for Jadot’s first Resonance Vineyard release, Gagey said it would be “very different” from the traditional Jadot Burgundy label, and “much more modern”.

The drinks business reported how Maison Louis Jadot had bought its Willamette Valley vineyard in 2013. At the time president Pierre Henry Gagey said the winery was pursuing “purity and truth” in its Oregon project and was not looking to imitate its wines made in Burgundy.

Maison Joseph Drouhin was the first Burgundy winery to start a project in Oregon, buying 225 acres of vines in the Dundee Hills in 1987. It has since doubled its holding in the region, buying the 279-acre Roserock Vineyard in the Eola–Amity Hills in 2013.