Packed with telltale notes of crushed stone and juicy citrus, the nose of this ’12 Corton-Charlemagne bursts with green apple, melon, and pear fruit that’s framed with spicy ginger and fresh-cut herbs. This wine balances its silky approach with its powerful mid-palate and mouth watering-acidity, making for a mouth-feel that is almost electric; this is a gorgeous effort with breathtaking tension between its ripeness and its precision. Deriving from some of the most prized parcels on both sides of the Corton hill, allowing for a balanced, expressive wine. In fact, these vineyards are some of the oldest of the Louis Jadot holdings and date back to the nineteenth century.
- Country: France
- Region: Burgundy
- Sub Region: Côte de Beaune
In Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, where the integrity of the producer is often more important than a renowned appellation or vineyard, Maison Louis Jadot is one of the most venerable, most trusted and revered wine houses. Jadot’s esteemed winemaker, Jacques Lardière, and his team, have maintained a balance of tradition and technology in winemaking that allows Jadot’s wines to express the subtle differences between terroirs that are the essence of fine Burgundy.
Maison Louis Jadot was founded in 1859 by the man whose name it bears, Louis Henry Denis Jadot. The first of his family arrived in Beaune from Belgium in 1794 and soon began purchasing Premier and Grand Cru vineyards. With grape growing a part of his heritage, Louis Henry set about gaining experience first in the cellars, in the evaluation of wines, and then in the vineyards, in the study of viticulture.
As Louis Henry traveled he acquired a faithful clientele, and in 1859 purchased the respected négociant firm of Lemaire-Fouleux and gave the firm his name. After his death, his son, Louis Baptiste Jadot, enthusiastically carried on the work his father had begun. He expanded his export markets as well as his clientele in France, reinvesting his profits in the acquisition of vineyards in some of the finest and most famous Grands Crus and Premiers Crus of the Côte d’Or.
In 1939, Louis Baptiste Jadot died and left control of the firm to his eldest son, Louis Auguste Jadot, who had assisted in the direction of the business under his father since 1931. He opened and greatly developed the new export market of the United States, as well as those of Great Britain, Holland, South America and New Zealand.
In 1954, André Gagey joined Maison Louis Jadot as assistant to Louis Auguste Jadot. When Louis Auguste Jadot died in 1962, survived only by his wife, André Gagey was appointed managing director of the firm, with full responsibility for its operations, under Mme. Jadot’s ownership and direction. As managing director, Gagey was for nearly three decades responsible for the final decisions over selection and purchase of all grapes and wines bottled under the Jadot label, as well as the care and maintenance of the vineyards within the Jadot estate.
In 1970, aware that Maison Louis Jadot’s future growth lay in its increasing role as owner-producer, Gagey engaged Jacques Lardière, a brilliant young enologist, as his assistant and eventual technical director. Lardière is today acknowledged as one of Burgundy’s, finest winemakers, an artist with the reins of nature in one hand and those of technology in the other. In 1984, André Gagey’s son, Pierre-Henry Gagey, joined the firm with a strong background in business administration and management and an inherited knowledge of wines. In February of 1985, the négociant firm of Maison Louis Jadot was purchased by the owners of Kobrand Corporation, sole United States importer of Jadot Burgundies since 1945. In 1991, Pierre-Henry Gagey assumed the position of president.
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