2016 Louis Jadot Vosne Romanee, Burgundy

The 2016 Vosne-Romanée Village has a clean and pure black cherry and violet-scented bouquet that could not come from anywhere but this village. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent, ripe tannin, slightly grainy black fruit and an ample, rounded finish. One of the best village crus from Jadot this year.

Frédéric Barnier, head winemaker at Louis Jadot, accompanied me through two tasting sessions dedicated to their white and red 2016s. As usual, he gave an interesting insight into the growing season. “There were three factors that caused such acute frost damage. Firstly, there was a big bubble of fresh air from the north of Europe. It was more a winter frost than a spring frost. Secondly, at midnight there was rain and this made it humid at five in the morning. Thirdly by 6:30 am there was blue sky. The sun was bright and burnt everything. Within thirty minutes the buds were grey and by sixty minutes they had turned brown. The difference in 2017 is that the bubble of cold air was smaller, plus it was dry. The second-generation grapes were quite small. Some vineyards were affected by mildew after the frost as the vines were weakened. Some places were fine and in others it was absolutely necessary to protect [the vines].” I then asked Frédéric about the harvest. “It was not a consistent vintage because there were large differences in yield. Some winemakers picked early and others in October. I feel that a large part of Côte de Beaune was picked too early. The end of the season was dry and there was a lack of water. We had some rain in the middle of September and people became afraid and stressed. But the grapes stayed perfect after the rain and it was good for the vines, at least where you had the yield. We started picking on 26 or 27 September, the first week dedicated to the whites, which is late because we targeted vineyards that had the correct yield, since they are the most important. Even though the crop was 50% down the fruit was picked over a period of four weeks because there was so much variation in the picking date. There was nothing to sort because the grapes were so healthy and the smaller quantity meant that more was picked by hand. The shape and quality of the grapes was fine, so in that sense it was an easy vintage. We visited each plot to thoroughly inspect the work in the rows to estimate the yield since some rows might have no bunches and another might be normal. So when it came to filling the vats, sometimes we could only just about do that and in fact, 20 tanks remained empty.” It is difficult to summarize such a large portfolio. You will find over 100 reviews in this report, suffice to say that generally I favor Jadot's reds over the whites, reflecting my sentiments toward the vintage as a whole. That said, there are still some commendable whites if you pick and choose carefully. There is just more on the side of the reds.

NM robertparker.com