Despite remarkable vintage-to-vintage consistency two observations about Jamet’s modern era feel secure. One is that the 1991 remains the domaine’s archetype both in terms of stylistic particularity and overall quality. As there, so here: for these same reasons this 2010 stands apart as the domaine’s 21st century touchstone.
The 2010 difference has always been the wine’s fusing of once-a-decade fruit purity with the kind of hedonism we expect only in warm vintages. A bottle late last year, developing beautifully, showed the classic coffee and black pepper notes of late adolescent Jamet, i.e. before the shift toward olive and game-scented maturity.
One of our group perceptively suggested that the wine’s textural seamlessness could be traced to 2010’s even ripening. ‘Even’ may seem a strange source of greatness but Jamet’s 25 parcels - largely though not entirely within the schistous northerly part of Côte Rôtie - rarely achieve such uniform success.
Cheers,
Jason
