The Tasting Panel magazine

Dec 09

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22 / the tasting panel / december 2009 150 Years of Louis Jadot In early November Pierre-Henry Gagey, who had joined Louis Jadot in 1985 and taken over when his father, André, retired in 1992, gave a tasting for just two dozen tast- ers, including himself and Jacques Lardière, winemaker since 1970, to celebrate the firm's 150th anniversary. Starting with the reds, as is customary in Burgundy, he an- nounced that he had chosen one wine from each of the 15 decades, not necessarily the best wine from the best vintage, but wines that he and Lardière really liked, poured di- rectly after opening with no decanting. The immediacy of impact, especially for the last five wines, which were over a century old, was breathtaking. Served young to old, Bonnes-Mares 2003 opened the tasting, still youthful and firm from such a hot vintage, exhibited this grand cru's "iron fist in a velvet glove" pro- file; Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint-Jacques 1997, showed lovely deep fruit from this charmingly ripe vintage; Clos des Ursules (acquired by the Jadot family in 1826) 1985, had an earthy fragrance, a beautiful wine; Musigny 1978, which caused Lardière to remark "we are no longer at the beginning of maturity, we are in the middle," was all power and velvety depth, with marvellous concentration; Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Saint-Jacques 1966 ("I like the fragility of the 1966s" said Pierre-Henry) was fragrant and pure, but much less vigourous; Chambertin Clos de Bèze 1953 followed, with bottle vari- ation which one taster noted as "the femi- nine and masculine sides of Chambertin," was elegantly youthful for its age, but was knocked out by an astounding Beaune Boucherottes 1949, a powerful, magical, stunning wine; Chambertin 1937, one of the rare good vintages of the 1930s, surpassed even this, being both lissom and vigourous, still firm, even fresh; Beaune Clos des Ursules 1929 still had remarkable rose-like fruit, a beautiful expression of Beaune; Corton-Pougets 1915, with a delicate nose but robust Corton palate, was an amazingly perfect wine, especially from the war years; Beaune Clos des Couchereaux 1904, whose colour resembled that of a 20 year old tawny port, showed sweetness and spice to match its velvet texture; Clos de Vougeot 1898, the first 100% pre-phylloxera wine, was fuller, with a bee's wax nose, lifted complexity and beautiful balance; the Clos de Tart 1887 stopped us in our tracks with its youthful depth of colour and concentration, which, in terms of energy and power, was almost equalled by the Pommard 1878, both very low-yielding years; finally, Corton 1865 with its faded red-tawny colour, beautiful wild- roses nose, fruit clear as stream water, a marvellous balance between delicacy and power, caused Michel Bettane to remark that it was " a great Corton." "I'm glad you liked it," replied Pierre-Henry; "they were my last two bottles." The seven whites, from 1986 down to 1885, had a hard act to follow and did not start particularly well with a 1986 Corton- Charlemagne, honey and nutty, but showing its age, which the mature, but wonderfully firm Chablis Fourchaume was not; the Che- valier-Montrachet Les Demoiselles 1959 had wonderful ripeness of fruit, still imposing and firm on its 50th birthday, while the Cor- ton-Charlemagne 1928, pale amontillado in colour with the fruit of a dry Sauternes, took us into another league, to be exceeded by the rich amber colour of Montrachet 1904, with a Pineau des Charentes sweetness that was impossible to place in Montrachet; the Montrachet 1898, however, full-amber in colour and almost figgy on the palate, re- sembling a dry oloroso, was superb; finally, the Meursault 1885, bright amber-gold, with a rich, crackling fruit, nutty, polished and pure, amazing for its age, ended this remarkable and unique tasting. Steven Spurrier's Letter from London PHOTO: DECANTER

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