Northern Rhône Producers

Question 1

Jamet

Inaugural vintage

Answer 1

1976

• Vineyard acquistiion and farming began in 1950 by Joseph Jamet

Question 2

Jamet

Major vineyard sites

Answer 2

• Côte Brune: schist
• Côte Blonde: granite
• Côte Rozier: schist
• Lancement: granite
• La Landonne: schist
• La Gerine: schist

Question 3

What is Jamet’s single vineyard bottling?

Answer 3

Côte Brune

• Produced every vintage

Question 4

Jamet

Punchdowns vs Pumpovers

Answer 4

• Punchdowns for destemmed lots
• Pumpovers for whole cluster lots

Question 5

Jamet

Oak treatment

Answer 5

• 20% new on Côte-Rôtie
• 35% new on Côte Brune
• 225L and 550L barrels

Question 6

Who is current head of Domaine Jamet?

Answer 6

Jean-Paul Jamet

• His brother Jean-Luc left in 2013, taking the Lancement parcel with him

Question 7

Gentaz-Derviaux

Last vintage

Answer 7

1993

Question 8

Gentaz-Derviaux

Major vintages

Answer 8

• 1978
• 1985
• 1988
• 1989
• 1990

Question 9

Rostaing

First vintage

Answer 9

1971

Question 10

Rostaing

Inheritance

Answer 10

The vineyards of Gentaz-Derviaux via his wife, Christine (daughter of Albert and niece of Marius): 4.4 ha in total

Question 11

In what year was Thierry Allemand established?

Answer 11

1981

Question 12

Summarize Thierry Allemand

Answer 12

• Cornas, est. 1981
• Son of a Valence factory worker, Thierry Allemand built his domaine from scratch after dropping out of school and discovering his love of the vine while working with Robert Michel
• Bought his first small plot in 1981 and continued to collect small plots here and there, tending his vines on the weekends while spending weekdays chez Michel (he only began working for himself fulltime in the mid-1990s)
• Started with a by-the-book approach, literally “making” his wines by adding yeast, tannin and enological enzymes as well as utilizing mechanical crushing and de-stemming
• Abandoned all of these practices after seeking advice from older growers in the area, especially Noël and Louis Verset
• Also eliminated racking and reduced the use of sulfur in his wines, believing these two factors contributed to the perception of Cornas as a rustic, aggressive wine​

Vineyard Holdings:

Cornas: 5 ha total; soil is mostly decomposed granite (gore)

• Reynards: planted in 1900 and 1934; acquired from the Versets
• La Geynale
• Chaillots: some plots on limestone subsoil
• Le Tezier: planted in 1960s
• Le Bois
• Saint-Péray: 0.35 hectares, purchased in 2005

Average Total Production: 1,500 cases

Top Wines Produced & Inaugural Vintages:

• *Cornas “Reynard”: a blend of parcels with average vine age over 40 years; usually includes old vines in Chaillots, Reynards, Le Tezier and La Geynale. Inaugural vintage 1991.
• *Cornas “Chaillot”: a blend of parcels with average vine age under 40 years; includes parcels in Chaillots, Le Tezier and Le Bois. Inaugural vintage 1991.
• Cornas “Sans Souffre”: a bottling with no added sulfur; usually from old vines in Reynards; bears a different label than the other wines and is labeled only “Cornas.” Inaugural vintage 1998
• *1990, 2002 and 2003 the parcels were blended together and one bottling was made

Style & Vinification Techniques:

• Traditional, organic, yelds have historically been low
• Not de-stemmed
• Pigeage twice daily by foot
• Aged in either old 228-liter barriques, 600-liter demi-muids, or larger 9-hl foudres
• Not racked, bottled after 18-24 months in wood
• Sulfur usage is very low, and the wines are not fined or filtered before bottling
• Powerful, aromatic, but more elegant than the village’s reputation for “hard, rustic wines”