Jamais Jamet

D

Dan McQ

Dan McQuillen
A very lucky group of us were treated to an eye opening night of Jamet, courtesy of Pmac, Charles, Mike and Michael who raided their stocks to present a blind tasting of three flights, each with a ringer. We met at Vecchia Roma in the Nonantum section of Newton, MA. It was my first visit there and certainly will not be my last, as Benedetto Cerasani treated us to some outstanding food in a setting much like being welcomed into his home.

Charles brought a bottle of 1996 Delas Freres Cote-Rotie Seigneur de Maugiron that had been opened the previous night to try while we were setting up (I missed this one).

We had several tasty champagnes with the appetizer course of butternut squash and shrimp pappardelle (spectacular) and semolina gnocchi:

NV Montaudon Champagne Chardonnay Brut Premier Cru
NV Gosset Champagne Brut Grande Reserve
NV Cedric Bouchard Champagne Inflorescence Blanc de Noirs (2008 vintage disgorged in April 2010)
NV Laurent-Perrier Champagne Cuvee Rose Brut
NV Paul Bara Champagne Grand Cru Brut Grand Rose

My favorites were the Bouchard and Laurent-Perrier; the two roses were a great contrast in style - both great in their own way.

Dinners consisted of duck, stuffed veal chop, or stuffed pork - I had the duck which was superb.

The flights:

1995 Domaine Jasmin Cote-Rotie
1994 Domaine Jamet Cote-Rotie
1995 Domaine Jamet Cote-Rotie

The Jasmin stood out - what a beautiful nose - and was clearly different yet all three were excellent.

1997 Domaine Jamet Cote-Rotie
2000 Domaine Jamet Cote-Rotie
1997 Domaine Jamet Cote-Rotie Cote Brune
1997 Michel Ogier Cote-Rotie

2001 Eric Texier Cote-Rotie Vieilles Vignes
1998 Domaine Jamet Cote-Rotie
2001 Domaine Jamet Cote-Rotie
2001 Domaine Jamet Cote-Rotie Cote Brune

The flights improved as we went along, with the last flight having 4 spectacular wines from which it was tough to pick a winner (I liked the 2001 regular a hair better than the others). I was also struck by how distinctively unique the Cote Brunes are. Amazingly, not a flawed wine in the bunch nor any taint of TCA in the room.

Desserts were also well done, and a few stragglers made their way from coolers to the table:

1989 Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Scharzhofberger Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel
1990 Trimbach Pinot Gris Vendanges Tardives
1989 Huet Vouvray Moelleux 1ere Trie Clos du Bourg

OMG, the von Kesselstatt was insane.

No pictures from me as I forgot my camera and my cell phone camera was unhappy with the lighting. I did not take notes, but Michael may still be tasting the wines and will come forth with his (as always) notes in due time. Frankly, an astounding night of wine and great company, thanks to the organizers. Amazingly consistent quality from Jamet and some ringers which were no slouches either.
 
Wow, what a great night that was! I, too, loved the 95 Jasmin--so wonderfully perfumed and finely-flowing. I actually thought it had a bit more in common with the 95 Jamet than the 95 Jamet had with the 94 Jamet.

This was a night when the ringers were never out of place--the Jasmin, Texier and Ogier were top-notch and added a lot to the tasting, I thought.

All of the Jamets were lovely. I was a big fan of the 98, 97 Cote Brune and 01, but just by whiskers...

I am off to an Hermitage tasting just now, which has virtually no chance of competing with this unreal line-up of classic Cote Roties (though we do have some Chaves in the line-up!). Rough life.

-Michael
 
I have to agree with the comments, 3 excellent flights of wine. I would happily drink any of those 11 bottles anytime. With the excellent food, it was quite a treat.

The only real surprise to me was the Texier which had a distinctive aroma of seashore. And not in a bad way like low tide, in a good way like fresh salt air. I didn't expect that, it did not take away from the wine but it certainly differentiated it.

The rest of the wines were really quite nice. I'm not a huge fan of the Cote Brune but I can see the appeal, and it's certainly distinctive from the "regular".

Very happy to have done this, Jamet makes delicious wines (well, other than in 2003 and 1999).
 
originally posted by mlawton: Jamet makes delicious wines (well, other than in 2003 and 1999).
Click to expand...

1999? Too rich?

I only had that wine once, in 2005, but I really enjoyed it and can still remember the hedonistic pleasure!
 
rich, yes. I find the 1999 untypical for a Jamet Cote Rotie and with such ripeness, the unique character of a wine from those special hills is hidden below the ripeness, just as if it would have been hidden by overoaking, etc.

One of the most telling comments I heard from a winemaker from Ampuis was that in most vintages as part of the Marche event, they taste all each others wines blind (on Monday,iirc). Most years, he could pick out his wine easily. But in vintages "like that one" referring to 1999, it was not as easy because there was a sameness to the wines caused by the vintage.

So as a grape beverage, sure it tasted good (so maybe "delicious" was a bad choice of words on my part, above) but as a Cote Rotie, no thanks IMHO.

Which is exactly the reason we chose not to include it in the tasting - it wouldn't have fit. We did have a bottle of the 1999 a couple of months earlier (served blind). It showed as Syrah, but from a riper area (not typical New World, to be sure - maybe Languedoc?)
 
A recent taste of 1989 Jamet Cote-Rotie was pretty memorable.

I also rather like the lighter scaled and funky 2002 Jamet declassified Syrah. A nice choice for fish stews, etc.
 
Thanks for the notes Dan. And to MLawton and Pmac for the bulk of the wines.
The "ringers" acquitted themselves well, seeming to be consensus favorites in two of the three flights (the 1995 Jasmin and the 2001 Texier in a particularly strong flight). Which is not to say that the Jamets were at all disappointing. A leftover 1/2 glass of the 1998 Jamet a couple of days after the event still had a lovely nose and finesse.
Charles
 
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