2015 Echézeaux Grand Cru

“Two thousand sixteen is impossible to summarize,” said technical director Frédéric Barnier in January, “but it’s a dense vintage with concentration, strength and length. And it was a vintage to pick late.” Jadot waited until September 26 to start harvesting on the Côte de Beaune as the firm did not consider the fruit ripe until then, but Barnier pointed out that they received some grapes as early as the 13th from some of their suppliers. The Côte de Nuits harvest took place during the first week of October, and, said Barnier,“ our patience was rewarded.” (He emphasized that in relative terms, it was the actually the Côte de Beaune that was picked later.)

The end of the season brought a bump up in ripeness, as some vineyards needed—and received—more water, said Barnier, “but the harvest involved complex choices. The problem was the non-frosted vineyards that were carrying a good crop, which included most of our Côte de Nuits wines. We focused our attention on these vineyards, picking them when they needed to be picked. It mattered much less if our tiny, frosted cuvées reached 14% potential alcohol. A key to the success of 2016 was that the leaves stayed green despite the dry summer, and were then refreshed by rain in mid-September."

The '16 reds chez Jadot were chaptalized by about 0.5 degree, but Barnier noted that grape sugars were good, in the 12.5% to 13.2% range. “And some normally low-alcohol places gave very good sugars.” Barnier normally uses about 30% new oak for all of his wines “in order to eliminate a variable and more clearly highlight the terroirs,” adding that because Jadot does a long élevage the wines have time to absorb their oak. The pHs of the ‘16s are typically around 3.6, vs. 3.5 for the ‘15s.

“The ‘16s have been tender since the beginning, with fully ripe tannins and round acidity,” said Barnier. “Even some Pinots from tiny yields and frosted vines have round, tender tannins; I think some of our Chardonnays show the effects of the frost more." He went on: "In comparison, 2005 is a beast, with very concentrated tannins and powerful structure but a bit of rusticity because the maturation was not perfect. One hundred percent of the quality of 2016 was made by ripeness, but part of the quality of 2015 was due to concentration [through dehydration], rather than full ripeness.” Like a few of his colleagues, he compared 2015 and 2016 to 2009 and 2010. “But 2015 is denser than 2009, and 2016 is at the same level of quality as 2010 but in a different style.”

Jadot harvested Pinot Noir beginning on September 2 on the Côte de Beaune and on September 9 on the Côte de Nuits. The parcels that produced higher yields tended to come in with 12.5% to 12.7% potential alcohol, noted technical director Frédéric Barnier, but very few wines were chaptalized (“and only like adding salt and pepper”). Some of Jadot's vineyards were picked as high as 13.5%. The fermentations were “not too quick” owing to the density of the vintage, noted Barnier, who typically did two punchdowns per day during the eight or nine active days of the fermentation (total maceration time was generally about three and a half weeks). The malos were “classic,” finishing between February and June, and the wines were easy to rack clear—in contrast to the ‘14s, which were leesier due to the element of botrytis.

Barnier uses more or less one-third new oak across the board, in an attempt to minimize this variable and emphasize terroir differences among his vast number of wines. Jadot uses all Cadus barrels (they own this cooper) but have recently added some new origins for the oak itself. And Barnier prefers to use barrels aged for 24 to 30 months, vs. a standard 36 months at Cadus, as he believes that the tannins of younger oak are more resistant to oxidation. “With somewhat shorter aging of our barrels, we get less vanilla, less whiskey lactone and coconut character,” he explained, adding that “the risk, of course, is to get a certain greenness.” Barnier told me that he’s particularly proud of his Beaune wines in 2015, “even in the context of the high quality of the vintage.”