About Louis Jadot Wines
Louis Jadot is one of the best known, and most important wine producers in Burgundy. Burgundy is one of the smallest wine producing regions in France, but one of the 2 most famous and revered. Many of the wines are highly priced, and collectors’ classics, however there is a raft of wines, which make Burgundy accessible to wine drinkers, who want to enjoy the style of Burgundy, and Beaujolais, without having to take out a mortgage to buy!
Louis Jadot is all about Burgundy and Beaujolais, and nothing else – with vineyards from the northern region of Chablis, to the southernmost tip of Beaujolais, Jadot offer one of the widest ranges of Burgundy and Beaujolais wines in the UK, and are the number 1 premium French brand, with their classic, and easy to recognise ‘Bacchus head’ logo on the front of each of the classically labelled bottles.
Over 150 years ago, Louis Henry David Jadot founded the company, with a view, not only of creating great wines from the tip to the toe of the Burgundy region, but to acquire a considerable amount of vineyards throughout the region. From 1859, the company has stayed close to this philosophy.
Today the company owns over 80 individual vineyard sites, covering 93 hectares in the prestigious Cote d’Or area, 73 hectares in the Beaujolais region ,and 18ha in the Maconnais, home of Pouilly Fuisse.
The range is broad and covers every permutation of quality Burgundy wines, from regional Bourgogne Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, to the very peak of exclusive Burgundy single vineyards.
What Styles Of Wine Do Louis Jadot Produce?
The Louis Jadot range encompasses just about everything that you could think of, across the Burgundy region, from Chablis, in the north, to the southernmost tip of Beaujolais, and covers just about every price point, from the great value village wines, to the small volumes of top vineyard wines.
Louis Jadot regional wines – these make up over 65% of total Burgundy production and cover 28 different appelations. The wines are normally blended to produce a high quality, consistent style, and labelled Bourgogne Chardonnay, or Bourgogne Pinot Noir.
Louis Jadot Maconnais white wines – from a region in the south of Burgundy, producing rounded, creamy, smooth whites, these include Macon blanc, Macon Villages, the popular St Veran, and the well known, ripe, Pouilly Fuisse.
Louis Jadot Cote Chalonnaise wines – this is a region, just north of the Maconnais, which produces some great value, gentle, red berry scented reds, such as Givry, Mercurey, and Montagny.
Louis Jadot Chablis – a real classic, from the northernmost region of the Burgundy area, these are fresh, stylish, dry, full-flavoured whites, with a steely edge.
Louis Jadot Beaujolais – from the southernmost region of Burgundy, and made from the Gamay grape, these wines are joyous, lively, low tannin, ebulliently fruity, and range from the straight Beaujolais and popular Beaujolais-Villages, through to the richer, more intense styles of the 10 Cru villages, including Fleurie, Morgon, and Moulin-a-Vent.
Louis Jadot Cotes de Nuits wines – this is the area, where some of the very top red Burgundies are produced, and Louis Jadot has them in heaps – the classics, Gevrey Chambertin, Nuits St Georges, Chambolle-Musigny, and a very elegant white Marsannay.
Louis Jadot Cotes de Beaune – starting with Cotes de Beaune Villages, and working up to a couple sumptuous reds, including Pommard, but the stars of this small area are some of the most revered white wines in the world, Meursault, Chassagne-Montrachet and Puligny-Montrachet.
Louis Jadot Meursault - this is classic Meursault – full bodied, buttery, with a hint of hazelnuts, and baked apples. Creamy texture, with lots of rich, juicy honeyed fruit, balanced by vibrant acidity and freshness, with a beguiling, complex, dry finish. Perfectly balanced, and oh so elegant. A classic match for salmon, scallops, buttery grilled sole and herb basted roast chicken.
Matching Louis Jadot Wines With Food
Burgundy, both white and red are some of the ultimate food wines. Their elegance, restraint, perfume, and silky complexity beg to be enjoyed with something delicious, to enhance both wine and food.
The minerally, steely wines of Chablis are the perfect match to oysters, seafood, and fish dishes. As you go up the scale of Chablis, both in age, and in quality, (ie Premier Cru, Grand Cru) the richness of the dishes can increase accordingly. Scallops, pan fried sole, salmon with hollandaise, rich crabmeat and lobster all come into play.
White Burgundy – similar rules apply; as you go up the quality scale, the intensity of the dish can grow, yet, the very best white Burgundies are often best enjoyed with the simplest of top quality food, which will showcase them.
Lighter, fresh styles of white Burgundy are great with all kinds of fish, prawns and seafood, and creamy chicken casserole, or mussel and prawn pasta. As the wines get richer, they will compliment richer flavours, such as mussels, monkfish, turbot, and lest we forget, the glorious dish of buttery roast chicken, which is a perfect match.
White Burgundies are also a natural match to soft cheeses, such as camembert and brie.
Beaujolais – the gentle, exuberantly fruity flavours of these juicy, lighter-style reds just cry out for a good plate of charcuterie, with pate, hams, and mildly cured meats. The lighter styles are delicious, lightly chilled, and are perfect picnic wines, but also great with pork pies, and cold gammon. Moving up to the richer styles of Beaujolais, and there are great matches here with chicken in red wine, pork stews, roast duck, quail, and veal. Don’t forget the humble sausage and gammon steaks, which also work very well.
Red Burgundy – the Pinot Noir grape is the ultimate match with all kinds of game, so explore and enjoy all the options – its natural sweetness works beautifully with the strong flavours of game, and also venison. The higher up the scale of Burgundy you go, the richer the flavours, but also the simpler the dishes, to really showcase the wines. Boeuf Bourguignon and coq au vin are natural matches with the more generic styles of red Burgundy, since the dishes originate in that region, and the wines also work perfectly with local cheeses, such as Epoisses, and also other washed rind cheeses.