2012 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze Grand Cru

“If I wanted to sum up the 2012 vintage in just a word or two, I’d say density and concentration,” said winemaker Frédéric Barnier. "The wines have an incredible texture of tannins and flavors due to the extremely low yields." Barnier added that prior to the malolactic fermentations, the 2012s were hard to taste, even sometimes showing a dryness due to their powerful structures. But today, he went on, despite their huge concentration the wines show a mellowness on the palate. Still, he added, the acidity levels are good and the wines are fresh. “It wasn’t really a good summer and it was not an early harvest,” he noted. Barnier singled out the Côte de Beaune wines as even more impressive than those from the Côte de Nuits. And he is confident that the 2012s will last a long time in bottle and reveal “interesting profiles” only if collectors have patience.

Burgundy lovers who think of Jadot's red wines from the Cote d'Or as classically dry and backward in their youth may well be shocked by the 2012 vintage here.There's an extraordinary sweetness and mellowness to many of these wines that will give them great early appeal, even if they have the concentration and seamless tannins to support graceful evolution in bottle.According to winemaker Frederic Barnier, the wines typically finished with between 1.5 and 2.5 grams per liter of residual sugar, with some as high as 3.0.It wasn't that grape sugars were freakishly high; it was more a matter of the sheer density of material in 2012."We had great thick skins and no juice," said Barnier."We didn't have juice, we had jam."He added that the tannins were firm, even dry, at the beginning but that the malolactic fermentations rounded out the wines.Jadot picked 130 hectares of vines in just 11 days, beginning on September 18 with the chardonnay, as crop levels were extremely low and little sorting was needed.Potential alcohol levels were in the very healthy 12.5% to 13% range and no wines were chaptalized more than a half degree, according to Barnier. The pHs are slightly on the high side--between 3.45 and 3.6--but Barnier noted that the 2012s have slightly better acidity than the 2011s.As to where the vintage was at its best, Barnier noted that he was more impressed with the quality and density of the Cote de Beaune wines, where yields were especially low.The wines of Chambolle-Musigny and Vosne-Romanee, he added, need more time, in barrel and in bottle, and Gevrey-Chambertin fared particularly well, as there was less oidium pressure this far north.He noted that Jadot harvests earlier on the Cote de Nuits than most, in order to retain freshness.Some of the 2012s here are almost too much of a good thing, but there are many stunning examples in 2012.

As usual, my tasting session at Jadot encompassed a dizzying array of wines. Although he only took over formally for Jacques Lardière in 2013 , winemaker Frédéric Barnier appears totally calm and settled into his role. Transitions are never easy, but Jadot seems to have managed this step of the process seamlessly. It's virtually impossible to generalize about a vintage at Jadot when the wines cover so many appellations, so readers should take these comments as broad brushstrokes that find more focus within the individual reviews. Overall, 2012 is very much a black fruit vintage at Jadot. By comparison, both 2009 and 2011 were brighter, while the 2010s are mostly marked by their energy. As was the case throughout the region, yields were affected dramatically because of poor weather conditions. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the wines of the Côte de Beaune, many of which are unusually big and burly. The weather also claimed several well-known bottlings here, including the Beaune Avaux, Toussaints and Chouacheux, Pommard Epenots and Grands Epenots, and Latricières-Chambertin, none of which were produced. In 2012, my preference is for the wines of the northern Côte de Nuits in the Jadot range.