Alex Gambal wrote in his year-end newsletter ,
If Jacques Lardiere is not the true Master of the Burgundy Universe he is close. I have been fortunate to taste some older Jadots recently and they were terrific. Young his wines are often not flattering. No micro oxygenation here. He lets the wines make themselves. If you ever see any old Jadot's for sale on close out or at an auction and you have a vague idea that they have been well stored they are great values and the real deal."
Upon reading that I looked at BrownDerby.com for some older Jadot's. I found a 1996 Beaune theurons for about $30. It came out with a beautiful nose if a bit high pitched. Mushrooms reduced cranberry nose. Very vibrant medium ruby in color. Not much rust. Maybe a slight bit at the rim. Very precise flavors of semi tart, candied cherries. A pretty decent mouthful in the mid-palette. After about two hours decanted it had really fleshed out and become longer. For a village wine of 8 years it was remarkably fresh. From Robert Parker:
"Wine lovers have come to expect first rate Beaunes from the Gagey-Lardiere team at Maison Jadot, and that's exactly what they delivered in 1996. The bright sunny days of September allowed the vines on these hillside vineyards to attain full physiological ripeness, which is not an annual occurrence in these cool sites.
"I am in love with this vintage's purity and its touch of tension," said Pierre-Henri Gagey, Maison Louis Jadot's director. Jacques Lardiere, this negociant house's talented winemaker, shares Gagey's enthusiasm for the 1996s, feeling they beautifully reflect their respective terroirs. Lardiere bled (a technique of removing the watery juice of a light pressing to increase concentration) many of the 1996s, "but never more than 10%," and performed a 28 to 35 day cuvaison in order to extract a maximum amount of flavor, color, and aromas while softening the tannins. These wines will neither be fined nor filtered prior to bottling."
Drank with wonderful egg, mushroom, and country ham tart. The tart was prepared wonderfully by my sister Katy via the Queer Eye for the straight guy recipe.
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