I have been following the resurgence of Jean-Luc Jamet with great interest over the past 2 or 3 vintages. Afterall, the Côte-Rôties of the greater Jamet family have long been regarded as the benchmark wines of the region within the Northern Rhone. In 2013, brothers Jean-Luc and Jean-Paul announced that they would be splitting up the family’s domaine. For many years, Jean-Paul was the face of the domaine and Jean-Luc was the steady hand in the vineyards.
Thankfully, Jean-Luc has now stepped out of the proverbial shadows and returned to the fine wine arena with a resounding bang, using his prestigious holdings of some of the greatest sites of La Landonne, Chavaroche and Lancement to create his impressive new Côte-Rôtie called Les Terrasses. This is surely the type of Grand Vin that is going to propel Jean-Luc’s wines to become some of the most sought after Syrahs in the whole of the Northern Rhone and unfortunately with prices to match.
Made from 100% Syrah from 5 hectares notably 0.7 ha on Lancement (1980-1995), 0.6 ha Bonnivières, Chavaroche (0.5 ha early 1980s & 0.3 ha early 2010s), 0.7 ha on Mornachon (1985), also Côte Baudin, La Landonne, Moutonnes (0.11 ha 1945, 0.4 ha early 1980s), Les Rochains, Fongeant, 65% destemmed, with a 21 day vinification using wild yeasts, employing twice daily pump overs and 1 cap punching. Wines were aged in 20-30% new, 70-80% 1-6 year 60% 300-litre, 20% 228-litre, 20% 500-litre oak casks for 10 months, before being fined and bottled unfiltered to produce 26,650 bottles.
Jean-Luc Jamet Côte-Rôtie 2015 Les Terrasses, 12.5 Abv.
The 2015 vintage across the Rhone delivered some of the most intense and profound wines seen in many years. What separates this great vintage from the merely good ones is the way Jean-Luc has crafted a classically styled Côte-Rôtie Syrah that is both bold and powerful yet sleek and incredibly intense and seamlessly elegant at the same time. From the first drawing of the cork, aromatic waves of sumptuous dark berry fruits, exotic Asian spices, violets, crushed black pepper corns, dried herbs, garrigue and savoury new season game meat notes rise imperiously out of the glass. The palate at this youthful juncture remains taut and linear, utterly focused but texturally supremely polished and elegant with serious precision and depth in abundance. The concentration and clarity of fresh saline cassis, tart blue berries and broody black bramble berry fruits is something to behold reaffirming that this will be a vintage to cellar and enjoy over 20+ years. This is a wine that feels self-assured, confident and aware of its own talents within the serious pecking order of the Côte-Rôtie appellation.
(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Jean-Luc & Evelyne Jamet, 4624 Route du Recru Le Vallin 69420 Ampuis, France
Tel: +33(0)474 56 13 82
Greg Sherwood MW 