Château des Jacques - Morgon 2010

Full-bodied, dense, with a firm finish and a clean palate; it could still develop more roundness and elegance.

The estate, owned by Louis Jadot of Beaune but managed independently, has grown significantly since its acquisition in 1996. The vineyard spans 90 hectares, primarily consisting of Moulin-à-Vent, a variety in which the estate is a leading specialist. It owns plots in the finest appellations, such as Rochegrès, La Roche, Carquelins, and, more recently, La Rochelle. Cyril Chirouze continues the tradition of excellence established more than fifteen years ago.

The 2010 Morgon Château des Jacques exceeded my expectations. Notes of peat and smoky black tea, crushed stone, meaty aromas, black berries, and plum emerge on the nose and palate. Lively and harmonious, the underlying richness I had noted when it was still in the tank is now fully revealed. Its tannic structure now energizes its finish. Best enjoyed through 2015.

Is the 2018 vintage the finest wine produced to date at Château des Jacques under Jadot’s leadership? That is certainly the question I asked myself while tasting these new releases, and Cyril Chirouze and his team deserve the warmest praise for what they have accomplished. When Jadot acquired this vast historic estate in 1996, the winemaking process was reimagined with a Burgundian focus, introducing destemming, long macerations, new oak, and extended aging. To my palate, the oaky component of the wines was sometimes too pronounced, even after aging in the bottle; and that is why these 2018s stand out: they are quite simply the best-integrated wines I have tasted from Château des Jacques between 1996 and today. Deep, concentrated, and elegantly robust—after all, 2018 was a hot year—these are serious wines, built for cellaring, and I am truly very optimistic about their future. All the wines reviewed here come highly recommended.

On the palate, the Château des Jacques classic is perfectly round, silky, and full-bodied on the finish.

Since its acquisition in 1996 by the Beaune-based Louis Jadot, the estate has fully embraced its identity, and “Les Jacques” has emerged as a model of a Beaujolais wine with aging potential, while continuing to draw on Burgundian methods. Following the era of Guillaume de Castelnau (director from 2000 to 2014), Pierre-Henri Gagey handed the reins back to Cyril Chirouze in 2016—an agricultural engineer and oenologist who had previously worked as a winemaker there from 2007 to 2013. The single-vineyard wines require a minimum of five years of aging to fully express the character of their terroir. It is clear that the transition to organic farming and the construction of the new winery have marked a new milestone in the definition of these wines. We will be following this progress closely.