2023 Clos St Denis (Domaine Gagey)

Vinified with one-third whole bunches, the 2023 Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru (Domaine Gagey) bursts with notes of plums, red berries, orange zest, peonies and spices. Medium to full-bodied, suave and layered, it's supple, seamless and perfumed. Winemaker Frédéric Barnier and his team have once again delivered a strong portfolio chez Jadot. Barnier stressed the importance of sorting and of vigilance during élevage, in particular where acid rot made an appearance, and he didn't hesitate to perform a saignée for cuvées where yields where high. As I've written before, in the cellar, foudres and 500-liter barrels now complement classic 228-liter pièces, a further evolution adapting to warmer, riper vintages. What's more, barrels are now used four rather than three times, meaning the percentage of new oak overall has fallen. A cold room also helps chill down any fruit that's too warm when it enters the winery, something especially important during the warm 2023 harvest. This vintage also marks the third vintage of organic conversion for the Domaine Louis Jadot and the Domaine Gagey.

Cask sample. Spicy dark-red fruit with a marked note of crushed stones. Stony and dry on the palate. Super-fine, dry tannins, moderate fruit depth and very good length. A little severe but harmonious in that style.

The 2023 Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru has a very attractive bouquet, more floral than Jadot's other Grand Crus with cranberry, incense and light forest floor scents. This has wonderful definition and vigor. The palate is medium-bodied with a succulent entry that verges on exotic, though it is not excessive. With red fruit, orange zest, touches of white pepper and a subtle fennel note, this is very composed and persistent, and will give many years' drinking pleasure. As tradition dictates, I undertook a comprehensive tasting of around 100 wines from Louis Jadot at the winery in Beaune, divided into two sessions for the white and red. Readers should note that I interviewed head winemaker Frédéric Barnier. "The wines are 0.5% higher in alcohol in 2023 than 2022, but with exactly the same level of acidity," he adds, after I had filmed the video. "Everything from our own vineyards was around 13.5% while some fruit that we bought was over 14%. Many of the vines resisted excessive sugar accumulation. We introduced foudres so there is less oxygen whilst using the same level of SO2. The challenge was the purity of both the reds and the whites. The fermentation was not so easy for the latter, and we stopped the malolactic a little earlier. There is 0.8gm/L malic acid on 2022 and 1.1gm/L in 2023. There is 0.5% more alcohol but with the same acidity as the 2022."