Interestingly, and particularly so given the generally high level of expressiveness of many of the prior wines, this is all but mute and requires aggressive swirling to reveal ripe yet elegant and airy aromas of red currant, spice, smoke, wet stone and a hint of underbrush. There is evident refinement to the mineral-driven and caressing medium-bodied flavors that exhibit lovely delineation on the mildly austere, firm and beautifully well-balanced and lingering finale. This is very classy with a Zen-like sense of harmony. 92-95 points
Producer note:
Technical director Frédéric Barnier unequivocally described 2015 as a "great vintage. The wines have everything they need to rival the best that we have made in a very long time. The growing season began with a temperate and humid spring and thank goodness it did because without that rain we would have had real problems given how hot and dry the summer was. Interestingly bud burst wasn't really especially precocious as the beginning of April was cool but as conditions turned ever warmer and drier, the vegetative growth accelerated accordingly. As such the early June flowering was precocious and rapid which contributed greatly to the homogeneity of fruit maturities we enjoyed at the harvest. June remained hot and dry but thankfully we had a storm that dropped 50 to 60 mm of rain right at the end of the month. In my view this one storm did more than anything else to save the harvest because by the middle of a baking hot July we had temperatures climb to 42° C (107.6° F) and it was bone dry.
We began to see in certain parcels the phenomenon known as bloquage (hydric stress) and it was responsible for delaying the véraison though it's hard to say exactly for how many days. Thankfully, yet again, August was more moderate because while it remained very warm, it wasn't quite as extreme as July plus we had at least some rain. This also contributed considerably to why the fruit was so balanced in its various components and it also explains why the wines are definitely ripe but not surmature in the fashion that some 2003s and 2009s are. We began picking on the 1st of September with the chardonnay and the conditions were warm and dry and we were able to take our time yet harvest rapidly as the fruit was so clean that it required almost no sorting. Potential alcohols in red came in between 13 and 13.8% and thus nothing was chaptalized.
The structural elements were also quite ripe but perhaps the most surprising aspect was how good the post-pHs were at between 3.45 and 3.6. Yields though were highly variable though on average the reds were off 30% though the whites were off only 5 to 10%. But those figures can mask the realities in certain villages because for example quantities were off fully 50% in Volnay, Pommard and Beaune. The vinifications were relatively calm and slow and lasted for around 3 weeks. I used a bit of whole cluster for certain wines in the Côte de Nuits though not all. Another surprising aspect is how much the wines have changed during their élevage as they have both freshened and become more precise. As to comparing the two Côtes, as a broad generalization I would say that the Côte de Nuits produced reds that are a little rounder than those of the Côte de Beaune but the diversity is such that it's easy to find exceptions. For us Gevrey is particularly good in the Côte de Nuits, and Beaune is the star in the Côte de Beaune. As to the wines themselves, what I find so interesting is that they aren't really like other wines that were produced by so-called very hot vintages.
The 2015s do not at all present themselves like the 2003s because in 2003 it was August that was so hot whereas in 2015 it was July. Moreover 2015 is at least good everywhere and often even great. As to style, for our reds at least, they remind me of a combination of 2009 and 2010. It's interesting to speculate as no one ever knows for sure but my guess is that the reds are likely to close up once they're bottled but the key question is for how long? Notwithstanding all the possible comparisons that one can make, for me 2015 is unique as there is no other vintage in my experience that really resembles it." For many years now Jadot has an enviable track record for producing some of the best reds of the vintage in particularly hot years (1997 and 2003 for example) and 2015 is no exception.
And I completely agree with Barnier that their portfolio of Beaune 1ers is excellent but don't pass up their Volnay and Pommard 1ers either. Lastly, the Jadot Gevrey 1ers are brilliant so there are a broad range of excellent choices. Two other value plays are worth noting, which are the excellent Côte de Nuits-Villages "Le Vaucrain" and the Monthélie "Sous Roches". Note that a large number of 2014's were also revisited below in bottle.
