91-93

Neal Martin

Vinous

The 2018 Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses 1er Cru has a gorgeous bouquet of violet-infused black cherry and wild strawberry fruit, extremely elegant and refined and gaining intensity with every swirl of the glass. The medium-bodied palate features mint-chocolate-tinged black fruit. The oak is quite conspicuous at the moment and occludes the terroir profile toward the finish. Give it a few years to meld together so the palate matches the breeding of the aromatics. 11/2019

94-97

Jasper Morris

Inside Burgundy

Gorgeous glowing purple. An absolute bomb of ripe fruit on the nose. Sure, this is extremely ripe but that seems to work with Amoureuses. Completely captivating, glossy ripe cherries. Not too much acidity, the tannins don’t know where to put themselves alongside the massive onslaught of ripe fruit. But the ripeness defines the flavour and not the structure which holds together well. 13.9% Tasted Nov 2019.

93-95

William Kelley

Robert Parker/Wine Advocate

There are three barrels of the 2018 Chambolle-Musigny 1er Cru Les Amoureuses (Domaine Louis Jadot), and when I inquired Frédéric Barnier admitted that he had indeed retained a bit of whole bunch fruit for this cuvée. Bursting with aromas of raspberries, cinnamon, orange rind, rose petals and musk, it's full-bodied, ample and succulent, with terrific depth at the core, lively acids and a long, perfumed finish. This is one of the finest wines in the portfolio this year. "We were never worried about the red wines in 2018," explained Jadot's Frédéric Barnier, "but we worked hard with the white wines—blocking a lot of malolactic—to make them fresh and lively. Of course," he added, "the high yields helped retain freshness by retarding ripening." Anyone who has tasted with Barnier knows that he tends to come to the point, and those succinct comments are in fact a great summation of Jadot's 2018 vintage: beautifully balanced reds and whites that are impressively vibrant and precise. This was by some margin the largest range of wines I tasted from any producer in the 2018 vintage: that it was also one of the most consistent speaks volumes about the attention to detail and technical expertise of Barnier and his team. "Operating on a large scale, we know how important it is to ensure wines go dry and to avoid stuck fermentations; and we avoid cross-contamination and taste the wines regularly during élevage, so we don't have issues with brettanomyces," explained Barnier. And evidently, what Jadot's team know well, some smaller domaines have had to learn the hard way with the 2018 vintage. As the accompanying notes indicate, Jadot's 2018 portfolio offers rich pickings, and there are plenty of cuvées here that merit consideration. This important firm is a credit to contemporary Burgundy. 01/2020