Louis Jadot Les Grandes Ruchottes, Chassagne-Montrachet, France

路易亞都大瑚榭特園白葡萄酒

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The 2010 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Grands Ruchottes has a floral bouquet with light touches of almond and quince - perhaps a little more generous than the 2010 Abbe de Morgeot. The palate is well-balanced with crisp acidity, infused with quince and even marmalade that lead to a poised, weighty finish. This is a classy Chassagne that should age well over the next ten years. Drink now-2020. This was the first time I had been back to Louis Jadot’s expansive winery on the northern outskirts of Beaune since their memorable 150th anniversary tasting back in 2008. As I quipped in the previous issue, Jacques Lardiere was then talking about his imminent retirement that seemed to never come. But on this occasion, there was new winemaker Frederic Barnier there to greet me. He has large shoes to fill but he seems up to the task of steering this important Burgundy name to a new chapter, having worked alongside Jacques for a couple of years. “At the beginning, we were not so confident about the whites,” he explained in reference to his 2011s, “but it has been a nice surprise. The dry spring of 2011 affected the level of ripeness but it has lent freshness, but with low acidity.” We did not have time to taste the entire portfolio of over 80 crus, but instead took a sample of 20 white and reds from both the 2010 and 2011 vintages. Importer: Kobrand, Purchase, NY; tel. (914) 253-7700

The Jadot 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet Grandes Ruchottes represents a mere two barrels from those of this site that were set aside for separate bottling. Lime, strawberry, white peach, quince, honeysuckle and grapefruit are comprised in a generous nose and succulently juicy palate, silken in texture and with lovely lift. Nutty, chalky undertones add a sense of deep layering to this refined, serene, sensual, long-finishing Chassagne from which I would anticipate at least 6-8 years of seductive pleasure. Jadot is one of those addresses where I confess to having feared that the combination of this vintage’s marked impression of acidity and relative leanness with Jacques Lardiere’s love of precision and merely selective use of malo-lactic fermentation might result in a dearth of sensual appeal. And he is the first to admit that a relatively high proportion of malic acidity was present in 2007, along with a danger of vegetal notes. But Lardiere took most of his 2007s all the way through malo, and my fears were at worst marginally realized. An overarching caveat is that these wines received higher dosages of sulphur (25 versus 15 grams) at bottling than those of other recent vintages, and will – Lardiere opines – take longer to shake off a certain pungency or hardening, but it did not find that alarming. As usual, I could not take time to taste all of Jadot’s many bottlings, which are less numerous this year, in any case, than in 2006. Incidentally, the first vintages of Domaine Ferret Pouilly-Fuisse under Jadot’s ownership and Lardiere’s direction – on which I shall report at a later time – are tremendously successful, preserving and even elevating critical elements of the personality that has long wines from that estate so memorable. Importer: Kobrand, Inc., New York, NY; tel.(212) 490 9300