2017 Cote Rotie
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Tasting notes
A nose that screams Jamet – edgy herbal tones from whole-bunch fermentation mingle with peppercorn, smoked bacon and pure, vibrant blueberry fruit. There’s a hint of balsamic to the fruit on the palate – intense yet lifted and floral. Bright, with chalky tannins cloaked in pure red and blue fruit, there is just a hint of olive tapenade on the back end. Delicious. (TP)
Critic scores
Average Score
The Wine Advocate
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Restrained at first, with violet and iron and black fruit – it's there, but you have to sniff for it. Peppery palate with blackberry fruit, dried meat and black olive. Dense and youthful, with long, long fruit concentration and medicinal herbs too. Too young by a decade, it seems! Fine, furry tannins and bright acid. Reflects the concentration and stature of the vintage. (RH)
Inky, bright-rimmed ruby. Sexy, mineral-accented aromas of ripe black and blue fruits, candied flowers, olive paste and exotic spices show outstanding clarity and lift. Sweet, pliant and energetic on the palate, offering deeply concentrated raspberry, cherry, cassis and floral pastille flavors that show surprising energy for their heft. A smoky mineral nuance drives the extremely long, youthfully tannic finish, which leaves behind a sexy floral note. All whole clusters. (JR)
Just bottled, literally, the day before my visit, the 2017 Côte Rôtie nevertheless showed incredibly well, with loads of violets, pepper, game, framboise, and darker fruits. As Côte Rôtie as Côte Rôtie gets, this full-bodied beauty has ultra-fine tannins, intoxicating complexity and nuance, no hard edges, and a great finish. Give it 4-5 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following 20 years or more. Domaine Jamet is located high up on the upper plateau above Côte Rôtie, around the village of le Vallin, and Jean-Paul and Corinne Jamet have been farming 25 different plots here, spread across 17 lieux-dits, since 1984. The majority of their holdings are located in the more schist-dominated Côte Brune side of Côte Rôtie (Chavaroche and Le Truchet being the largest) yet they also have prime real estate in Lancement and the Côte Blonde. The winemaking here is traditional yet not dogmatic, and the cellars are clean and impeccably kept. While Jean-Paul likes stems, there are plenty of parcels, and vintages, that see varying degrees of destemming and aging occurs mostly in demi-muids, with 15-30% being new. His Côte Rôties are bottled unfined and unfiltered after two years in barrel. Jamet’s wines represent a quintessential Côte Rôtie and possess incredible aromatics as well as a concentrated, structured style on the palate that rewards 5-7 years of bottle age. Top vintages of Jamet’s Côte Rôtie can evolve positively for 25 to 30 years. In addition to the classic cuvée, they also release a tiny production Côte Rôtie Côte Brune in top vintages. This cuvée comes all from the Côte Brune lieu-dit and sees a touch more new wood, but is largely made in the same, classic style. It always has a touch more concentration and structure yet can also show more elegant tannins.