Domaine Jean-Luc Jamet

“Given that Jean-Luc was almost entirely the vineyard man under the old, united family domain, I have been agreeably impressed by the wines, which have got going since their debut."With half of the vineyards, but without a cellar or the right to the domain name, Jean-Luc had to re-position himself.

To finance the construction of a new cellar, he was forced to sell a substantial (but declining) part of the 2013-2015 harvest to the négociants. His first Côte-Rôtie 2013 was not entirely to his satisfactory, among other things due to the use of 100% new barrels. After three harvests, while finding his way in the cellar, with the harvest of 2016 he considered himself ready for international expansion.

This was the moment we join-in, but not before we had completed a five-hour tasting session and a visit to the vineyards too. Of a total of 8 ha, 4 ha Côte-Rôtie are classified. The 10 different plots on major slopes such as Lancement, La Landonne, Fongeant, Côte Bodin and Les Moutonnes, are schist-dominated and are all processed into one cuvée "Les Terasses". He also has 2 hectares of Côte du Rhône (red and white) and IGP-classified plots (Valine) on the plateau around his house and cellar.

The ripeness of the fruit determines the harvest time and Jean-Luc is (together with his brother) one of the last in the region. The plots are partly vinified together and gradually "cross over" assembled and mounted. In addition to the use of a maximum of 20% new barrels (demi-muids and pièces) and 20 to 22 months of barrel ageing, to gain complexity, Jean-Luc chooses to ferment 1/3 part in whole clusters.The wines have a floral and mineral character in their youth and excel (as with the other Jamet) in elegance and complexity. In fact, the whole approach is not substantially different than before and the same goes for the wines.”

John Livingstone-Learmonth, author, The Wines of the Northern Rhone