Domaine Jamet - Côte Rotie 2021

Jean-Paul Jamet began his career in the vineyards of Côte Rôtie in 1976 at the age of 16, working with his father, Joseph, who bottled his first wine that year. Jean-Paul told us that he often found himself working alongside one of our former growers Marius Gentaz, whose vines in Côte Brune bordered his own. With the 2016 vintage, Jean-Paul celebrated his 40th year growing and vinifying Côte Rôtie. His experience with his enviable collection of sixteen (soon to be nineteen) lieux-dits spread across the best sites of the appellation has given him deep knowledge of how to unlock the greatest expression of Côte Rôtie from its wide spectrum of terroirs. This savoir-faire makes Jamet the modern day master of the appellation.

The Jamet path has been one that has stayed true to tradition as the appellation has modernized around him. Despite its popularity, Jamet always eschewed the use of excessive new oak but instead chose to maintain a cellar full of the traditional aging vessel of Côte Rôtie: the demi-muid. As the fashion to de-stem Syrah accelerated, Jamet remained firmly opposed, continuing to vinify his Syrah whole-cluster. Perhaps most importantly, Jamet remained committed to his extreme, impossibly steep and rocky, treacherously terraced parcels that could only be worked painstakingly by hand. Planting Côte Rôtie on the plateau or leveling his vineyards to be able to plant on flatter sites and work them more easily were not part of his repertoire. The Jamets have been avid planters over the past four decades, giving them an incredibly diverse collection of raw material that leaves them poised to continue making great wine uninterrupted for generations to come. Jamet also resisted the urge to produce a series of limited single vineyard cuvées, despite the ease and price at which he knew they could be sold, preferring instead to produce a representative blend of the entire appellation. The sole exception is that part of his Côte Brune vineyard is bottled apart, as he esteems this vineyard capable of providing, on its own, the synthesis of his entire cellar. His complex, balanced, age-worthy, classic Côte Rôtie bottling is the beneficiary of this philosophy.

As all of the various trends of modernization and experimentation have run their course in the appellation, Jamet’s wines are justly recognized as the pinnacle of traditional Côte Rôtie being produced today. His strategy to follow the path laid out by his ancestors before him kept him closest to what is most important: his land and its purest and most authentic expression. Jean-Paul Jamet is joined today at the domaine by both his wife, Corinne, and his son, Loïc. As he completes his 42nd harvest in 2018, we are proud to welcome him and his family into the KLWM family of vigneron artisans.

Côte Rôtie is 90% whole-clusterAll parcels are vinified and aged separately, with no racking. Fermented 3 weeks in stainless steel. Pump-overs during fermentation. Aged 22 months in barrel, mostly demi-muid and some barrique, before blending. Bottled unfiltered. Final blend includes sixteen lieux-dits farmed by the domaine: Gerine, Lesardes, Fongeant, Chavaroche, Côte Bodin, Bonnivières, Le Plomb, Le Truchet, Les Moutonnes, La Landonne, Côte Blonde, Côte Rozier, Leyat, Côte Brune, Tartaras, and Rochins.

"A tasting of component barrels for this wine made for an instructive view of the vintage. Certain sites show the lightness of the vintage, fresh and peppery. Others, such as Bonnivières and Tartaras, exhibited the rigid, austere tannins that are quite common in 2021. Few barrels had great concentration or generosity of fruit; this is a vintage about structure and minerality rather than concentration or fruit sweetness. I would be inclined to leave this for a substantial amount of time before broaching, around 2031, by which time it should show good complexity and terroir expression, and may well be worthy of a higher score. All whole-bunch fermented, and matured mostly in old demi-muids." - 95 Points, Decanter

"The 2021 Côte-Rôtie fermented with roughly 90% whole-clusters. Fragrant raspberry jam, crushed violets, cedar and licorice rise up from the glass. Spicy undertones and stemmy gradations add more layers. Framed by velvety tannins and balanced by bright acidity, this is a finessed Jamet with plenty of energy. Albeit not as concentrated and deep as the 2020 or potentially the 2022, the elegant 2021 dazzles regardless." - 93 Points, Vinous

Producer: Domaine Jamet

Country: France

Region: Northern Rhône

Varietal: Syrah

Appellation: Côte Rotie

Vintage: 2021

Size: 750ml