Domaine Jadot, Premier Cru La Dominode 2018

This historic Burgundy négociant and grower was founded during the reign of Louis XVth in 1750 and has been owned since 1999 by the world-renowned Bollinger family as part of the family Champagne group Societé Jacques Bollinger. Champagne Ayala, Langlois-Château in the Loire and Delamain in Cognac are all part of the group.

Chanson buy in grapes from excellent growers around Beaune but also vinify grapes from their own 45 hectares of Beaune vineyards, which make up a quarter of their needs. Grapes are picked parcel by parcel and remain in those parcels throughout the vinification process.

All harvesting is done by hand. Pinot noir is fermented in vats with a good proportion of whole stem bunches following a cold soak, which gives a pure, fresh and intensely aromatic character to the wines. Chardonnay is fermented in oak casks with the juice coming only from the middle of the pressing.

The winemaking takes place at a modern facility on the outskirts of town but some, along with oak ageing, takes place in a 15th century bastion containing up to 3,000 barriques in the north-west corner of the medieval walls of Beaune itself, where the company is headquartered. Bottling is done entirely by gravity.

The head winemaker is Jean-Pierre Confuron of Domaine Confuron-Cotédiot in Vosne-Romanée and the company was managed from 1999 by Gilles de Courcel who handed over to Vincent Avenel in 2017, The company’s interests extend as far as Chablis, the Mâconnais and Beaujolais.