Most impressive is the new Jadot facility, where a high wooden dome dominates the room and a ceiling turnstile feeds crushed grapes into four concentric rows of barrels and tanks. The impression is cathedral-like. Pierre-Henry feels cosmic dome energy helps quality, but a tasting revealed winemaking makes the real difference across a range of wines from Petites Villages to Grand Crus. A barrel tasting of dozens of Jadot 1997s was held in Toronto earlier this year, with a huge turnout of private buyers coming to the Boston Club restaurant. The tasting was the first large-scale Jadot tasting held in the city by Ontario importer, Lifford Agencies.
Taste is huge, with coffee bean, vanilla and wild game traits.
Not released yet, this serious Jadot Moulin a Vent kicks traditionally light-hearted beaujolais to a whole new level. His first vintage of Clos du Epineaux was only in 1985 and Marchand now produces some of Burgundy's finest Pommard. Over dinner at the three-star Jardin des Remparts in Beaune, Marchand admitted to a former existence as a student in Quebec of French and Canadian literature and a stint as a sailor on the St. Lawrence Seaway. A tasting in his cellar in Pommard of the Clos de Epineaux 1996 revealed a red of enormous complexity, with rich cassis and polished black cherry intensity, rating 95. Marchand admits to mentors like Guigal and a preference for biodynamic techniques of winegrowing.