There can be no better time for sharing a large bottle than over the festive season, with friends, colleagues and family. We are delighted to offer a special selection of jeroboams from the famous house of Louis Jadot in Beaune. Three totally different vintages and three very different styles.
They represent the end of a very great era for this dynamic house and the start of a new one as the new century progresses. They are some of the last wines made by one of the Côte d’Or’s most influential winemakers in the last 40 years, Jacques Lardière.
Jacques’s energy was legendary, a tasting with him was possibly the most exhausting thing I have done in the world of wine, sprinting from cask to cask, pipette in hand, filling your glass and trying to spit out as fast as he refilled the glass with the next cuvée! But boy did he make some great wine.
He was also behind the creation of not only one of the region’s, but possibly the world’s most progressive wineries. It was something to feast your eyes on, an architect’s dream, and yet also very practical. Anybody who has had the chance to visit the Jadot cellars on the Route de Savigny should consider themselves very lucky indeed, I still draw a breath every time I enter.
Our selection here highlights both Jacques’s skills but also the quality of three high class vintages in the Côte d’Or. For those people who like to drink their Pinot Noir young with deliciously vibrant fruit, these are all at the perfect stage of drinking. And for the more cautious, these large formats will age superbly, promising sensational rewards in the years to come.
These three wines are compelling evidence why we should consider the greatest red appellations of the Côte de Beaune alongside their counterparts in the better known Côte de Nuits. All are immediately available for delivery before Christmas.
*Available for immediate delivery. Free UK delivery on orders over £300
**All Jeroboams are 300cl (equivalent to 4 bottles) and packed individually
2009 Volnay Clos de la Barre Monopole Louis Jadot
£210.00 per jero IB | £262.00 per jero inc VAT
Clos de la Barre is the village’s most central premier cru vineyard and therefore is wonderfully representative of the appellation of Volnay. It has a reputation for wines that balance natural volume of fruit with a subtle tannic structure. The 2009 vintage highlights all the characteristics. A warm year climatically, it enabled the grapes to reach optimum maturity. As a result this wine has a delicious succulence of sweet berry fruits with hints of damsons and sloes supported by a ripe tannic structure. A powerful wine, rich in its intensity and starting to show its maturity whilst still having the ability to age further.
2010 Beaune 1er Cru Theurons Louis Jadot
£155.00 per jero IB | £196.00 per jero inc VAT
This highly respected premier cru sits above the town of Beaune. It always possesses a great bouquet of aromas, for which the appellation of Beaune is famed. It has a restrained power, reflecting its proximity to Pommard. The outstanding vintage of 2010 expresses this to a maximum, it has a wonderful purity balancing clean red berry fruits with hints of wild autumnal forest characteristics. This wine has great energy and a feeling of controlled power. A tremendous wine showing its true colours now, whilst having masses of ageing potential.
2012 Beaune 1er Cru Celebration Louis Jadot
£120.84 per jero IB | £155.00 per jero inc VAT
Due to the unusually small but high quality vintage in 2012 Maison Louis Jadot decided to blend a selection of their best premiers crus in Beaune to create this prestige cuvée. It reflects the very essence of the Beaun appellation. The list of crus detailed on the label and read like the who’s who of Beaune, Le Clos des Ursules, Les Theuron, Les Cents Vignes, Les Greves, Les Bressandes etc. This very classical vintage is ideally suited to such an assemblage of vineyards. A very fine wine, beautifully aromatic, full of vibrant red cherry fruits, there is a tannic structure wonderfully supported by an inherent freshness. This wine epitomises the appellation, which is one of the most underrated in the Côte d’Or. High class in every way.