DOMAINE JAMET

Located high above the town of Ampuis and the Rhône River, Domaine Jamet produces tiny quantities of stunning Côte-Rôtie. The estate was founded in the 1950’s by Joseph Jamet and he began domaine bottling in 1976. In 1991 his son’s Jean-Luc and Jean-Paul took charge of the business slowly acquiring small parcels to expand the estate. Jean-Luc left in 2013 and today Jean-Paul and his wife Corrine run 7 hectares of beautiful vineyards. The estate is spread across 16 different lieux-dits with vines averaging between 25 and 50 years old. The oldest vines are over 60 years old. All of the different parcels are vinified separately. Yields are kept consistently low (35 hectolitre per hectare), with approximately 75% of fruit coming from the Côte Brune and 25% from the Côte Blonde. The Jamets believe the "sum is greater than the parts ", so they prefer to produce a blend of Côtes Brune and Blonde rather than single-vineyard wines. Great complexity is derived from the broad palate these lieux-dits provide with a tremendous variety of expositions, soils and altitudes that result from these different plots. The cave is now completely gravity fed and the wine is made without pushing the fruit or pumping the juice. Winemaking is deliberate, thoughtful and precise blending new and traditional concepts to produce a wine that speaks of its place. Jamet Côte-Rôtie is aged using a blend of new and used oak barrels and demi-muids ranging from 3 to 10 years of age. The resulting wines are some of the most perfumed, textured and finessed one will find anywhere in the world. This is a benchmark estate that consistently delivers monumental age worthy wines!

Reviews for this winery

Without question, the hottest ticket in Côte-Rôtie over the last few years has been Domaine Jean-Paul, Corinne & Loïc Jamet’s wines. Prices are going through the roof on the secondary market, especially at auction. The Jamets carry no blame for that aside from the fact that they have been making some of the best wines in France for some time now, which, naturally, has drawn plenty of attention. Corinne and Jean-Paul Jamet’s son, Loïc, is steadily assuming a more important day-to-day role here, both in the vines and cellar. Burgundy-educated Loïc Jamet will soon find his own voice with the wines. In the meantime, nothing has changed in the style of the wines, which in 2018, 2019 and 2020 are among the best bottlings in the region. Assuming they can be found anywhere close to their opening prices (good luck), the entry-level, non-Côte-Rôtie wines deliver outstanding value compared to their big brothers and give quite a good glimpse at the domaine’s style.

Josh Raynolds, December 2022