Domaine Gilles Jourdan

Domaine Gilles Jourdan was introduced to us by Clive Coates MW, to whom we are greatly indebted - it is extremely unlikely that we would ever have discovered this tiny property. There are just five hectares of vines producing Côte d’Or Vieille Vignes, Côtes de Nuits Villages red and white and a wonderful monopole (under sole ownership) La Robignotte. The latter is from a blue marl slope, heading towards the Hautes-Côtes. It delivers very characterful mineral spice, from old vines.

Gilles’ cellar is tiny, choc-a-bloc with bottling equipment, the most recent vintage, in barrels, a small tasting table and half-assembled deliveries. There is an even smaller adjacent cellar in which bottled wines are stored, from which we have been fortunate enough to taste older vintages – wines which have way out-lasted expectations of their classifications. These are special sites. The structure, complexity and finesse belie villages status. This is clearly exceptional terroir. Despite the small scale here, Gilles has 40 pickers to call upon at harvest. He tends to harvest later than his neighbours, as demanded by his older, low production vines.

Gilles was clearly pleased with his 2017s, which will be bookended by tiny volumes in both 2016 (frost) and 2018 (hail). In 2017, although some areas affected by the 2016 spring frost did not reach the expected yields, overall volumes were good. The harvest began on 18th September, using a team of 35 pickers. The grapes were very healthy, with optimal ripeness. The first of the 2017s were bottled on 7th September 2018.