A legendary name joins our Rhone portfolio
Seduction and power, an iron fist in a violet glove
After an, ahem, family disagreement over the future of the much lauded Jamet estate the two brothers who had worked together for many years split and built a wall down the middle. Shades of Conterno in Barolo and ain't families wonderful? It was always Jean-Luc who had looked after the vineyards, since before his father's death, and he knows every inch of every terrace of every contour. You might say he has won out in the split; while his brother has taken the name of the family domaine, it is Jean-Luc who has taken the best vineyards. And when Jean-Luc's wines retail at a fraction of the price of the parent domaine, who can argue?
Clearly splits like this don't come from nowhere. Jean-Luc had been thinking deeply about what he wanted to achieve from the family terroirs that wasn't available when working with his brother. He has taken some time to get there - he's fastidious about oak, especially not using too much new, and he looks for freshness and transparency in the wines. Recent vintages have seen a huge uptick in complexity; in freshness; in purity and sheer lip-smacking deliciousness. The Cote-Rotie is a wine of intensity and beauty.
There is only one Côte-Rôtie. Like Paul-Vincent Avril in Chateauneuf, Jean-Luc believes in the complexity gained from blending across the different sites in the appellation. As his barrels have been used on his own wines for a few years (and he refuses to buy second hand), the oak regime is finally as he always envisaged it should be. All this adds up to arguably the most exciting addition to the Uncorked Rhône portfolio since Vincent Paris over a decade ago. /CW
Offered subject to remaining unsold; available imminently
