Domaine Jamet is a reference point in Côte-Rôtie. Their holdings read like a “who’s who” of top vineyard sites in the AOC, including names like Fongeant, Chavaroche, Les Moutonnes, La Landonne, Côte Blonde, Côte Rozier,... Read More

Domaine Jamet is a reference point in Côte-Rôtie. Their holdings read like a “who’s who” of top vineyard sites in the AOC, including names like Fongeant, Chavaroche, Les Moutonnes, La Landonne, Côte Blonde, Côte Rozier, and Côte Brune. Like Chave in Hermitage, he generally likes to blend all all the sites together to present a wine that is a truly complete Côte-Rôtie, taking advantage of all that the different terroirs have to offer. (He does reserve a tiny number of berries for a separate Côte Brune bottling that is rarely seen.)

This practice of blending vineyard sites is an old tradition in the Northern Rhone, consistent with Jamet’s general approach in the winery. His Côte-Rôtie is almost all whole cluster. He uses no barriques, opting instead for the larger demi-muids. The other big names who made wines like this in Côte-Rôtie have either retired (Gentaz) or changed course (Guigal). Jamet — specifically Jean-Paul Jamet, who’s been at it since he was a 16 year old boy in 1976 — has stuck it out.