2016 Corton Charlemagne

Like many of you, I have known or at least recognised Louis Jadot for as long as I have been drinking wine. Coming from the old garrison town of Fermoy in North Cork (Ireland), between the villages of Ballyhooly and Lismore, this is some achievement for any brand. It could be the first wine producer that many people taste, such is the incredible distribution due in no small part to world class importers like Hatch Mansfield in the UK and Halpern in Toronto, but also the breath of its portfolio in Jadot’s heartland of Burgundy, Chablis to Beaujolais seriatim. This work done for Burgundy by the négociants is often overlooked. When people make their way from Tennessee or Osaka or York to Burgundy it often starts with a bottle of Jadot’s Macon. Aside from the machinations of distribution and the quality and consistency you get with their wines – as you’ll read in the note on the beautiful 2016 Corton-Charlemagne – its meeting the people at Louis Jadot that has been the greatest privilege; Sigfried, Frédéric and the Gagey family, and of course the estimable Patrick McGrath at Hatch Mansfield, to name but a few. This privilege comes to me from no right of my own but from working with my colleagues, our clients, shareholders and partners at FINE+RARE to whom I dedicate and recommend this beautiful wine. I hope soon we can return to wine’s greatest utility; enjoying it around the table with family and friends. 2016 Louis Jadot Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru (Domaine des Héritiers Jadot) is at the very core the colour of yellow meadow flower that lightens to the rim. The nose is now more expressive after a couple of years in the bottle with orchard fruit, citrus, jasmine, some thyme, mint and perhaps a touch liquorice. The appellation’s signature density is full represented in the weight of the wine. The palate’s richness is tempered by a robing acidity and a sense of minerality. The oak is present in the structure and the weight of fruit and early savoury notes make it a compelling and delicious wine. This is in its primary phase and I love drinking Corton-Charlemagne young, as I do all the wines of Côte de Beaune. The plot was bought by Louis Jadot in 1914 (before the start of WWI), a sizeable plot of 1.87 hectares.