Today’s Story: Louis Jadot
Louis Jadot is a very large and prominent wine producer in the Burgundy wine region of France, established in Beaune in 1859 by Louis Henri Denis Jadot. Though the house owns fairly extensive acreage of their own vineyards, they also purchase high quality fruit throughout Burgundy and offer an incredibly extensive portfolio of wines ranging from Bourgogne and Beaujolais through to some of the great 1er Cru and Grand Cru wines across the Côte d’Or and up to Chablis. Though production is high with both the domaine holdings and négociant business, Louis Jadot is an important example that quality does not have to suffer. The winemaking team blends tradition with technology in the cellar, producing wines with as little intervention as possible given their scale and using restrained amounts of new oak depending on vintage conditions.
Today’s Wine: 2017 Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume
100% Chardonnay; 13% ABV
The 2017 Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume is pale gold in color. Given some time to open up in the glass, this wine blossoms into beautifully expressive aromas with pronounced intensity. The nose showcases aromas of crisp underripe pear, lemon, white peach, white florals, flint, gunsmoke, and wet river stone. Meanwhile the palate is also of pronounced intensity, displaying notes of tart green apple, lemon zest, white peach, honeysuckle, flint, a hint of smoke, dill, and saline mineral. This dry white is medium-bodied with racy high acidity, medium alcohol, and a long finish.
Price: $50. I think this is very, very good value. The intensity and precision in this wine are very impressive, while the flavor profile and complexity at a young age promote promise for the future with the coupled high acidity. Many people say Fourchaume is as close as you can get to a Grand Cru without being one, and it shows.
JB's Wine Talk 