Louis Jadot

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.

Founded in 1859, the house has grown through a long-term policy of acquisition or management of exceptional vineyard lands and owns 528 acres of vineyards, including nearly 280 acres of the Cote d’Or’s most prestigious Premier and Grand Cru plots.

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. The firm continued with a Jadot at the helm until the 1962 when Louis Augiste Jadot died, survived only by his wife.

Louis Auguste’s assistant, Andre 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. After 42 consecutive vintages at Louis Jadot, Jacques retired in 2012. Here is a wonderful interview from Wine Spectator TV with Jacques…

Maison Louis Jadot’s headquarters are located in the heart of Beaune. The most beautiful of its three cellars, used for storage of older-vintage wines and for convivial gatherings, is situated in the Couvent des Jacobins, built in 1477 and once a convent of the patron Saint Dominique, founder of the Dominican order. Maison Louis Jadot's principles of vinification balance tradition and technology, and focus on the purest expression of each wine’s terroir, taking the lightest possible hand in winemaking and a restrained use of oak maturation. For its village level Côte d'Or wines, Jadot practices a further, though expensive, practice called réplis, in which wines of a higher appellation are incorporated into a wine bearing the appellation below them. Thus, for example, Jadot's Gevrey-Chambertin will customarily contain a percentage of wines from various Premiers Crus of that village.

Jadot’s cellar practices, including long macerations, the choice of wild yeast when possible for fermentation, fermentation temperature and other winemaking methods are also designed to preserve the character of the fruit in the wines. For both red and white wines, Maison Louis Jadot places great importance on the restrained use of new oak in the aging process. Time in cask and percentage of new oak is dictated differently by each vintage. In keeping with its non-interventionist philosophy, Jadot considers that very great vintages, complete and harmonious by themselves, require minimum contact with new oak.