Louis Jadot 2008 Macon-Villages Chardonnay

This week’s selection:

Winery: Macon-Villages
Varietal: Chardonnay
Price Paid: $14.99 on Sale
Vintage: 2008
Area: Burgundy, France
Alcohol: 12.5%
Purchased: Kroger’s

Overall: This is a wine I have been buying on and off since around 1992 and have enjoyed it in the past (great for cutting through a rich cream sauce because of being un-oaked). 2008 was a tough growing season in Burgundy and this wine shows it, with no fruit and very little if anything going for it. I like un-oaked Chardonnay’s but this is a poor wine in a tough vintage. Ugh.



Reviews

Wine Makers Comments:
Mâcon-Villages Jadot is a clean, fresh Chardonnay with typical varietal fragrance and elegant, citrus and white fruit flavors on the palate. Vinified without oak contact, the delicate acid balance carries into a refreshing, crisp finish.

Vintage Remarks (Please note this is not a fine Burgundy wine that gets babied in the vineyard with careful attention to detail):

Region: Burgundy
Grade: Whites (B-); Reds (C+)
The 2008 harvest in Burgundy was nothing short of a miracle. Growers breathed a collective sigh of relief after picking enough healthy Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to save what looked initially like a complete disaster.

The challenges in the vineyard were multiple. Coulure, millerandage (small, seedless berries, leading to uneven bunches), mildew, oïdium, botrytis and even hail in some vineyards kept vintners on their toes throughout the growing season. Finally, in mid-September, a change in weather brought a north wind, with cool temperatures. The conditions dried the vines and helped increase sugar levels while keeping acidity levels high. Along with diligent sorting, this allowed domaines and houses to put decent grapes into the fermenting vats.

"This vintage was really a miracle," said Romain Taupenot of Domaine Taupenot-Merme in Morey-St.-Denis. "Meticulous work in the vineyard and painstaking attention to detail were the key factors for success."

Cold and rainy weather extended the flowering in June to as long as three weeks. This resulted in a natural reduction of yields due to coulure and millerandage. It also led to uneven development and ripening of grapes from parcel to parcel, making it necessary to adapt the vinifications according to the quality of grapes from each site.

Mildew pressure in June and an outbreak of oïdium in July prompted spraying to protect leaves and developing grape clusters. "We sprayed 12 times from mid-May to mid-August, once a week," said Claude de Nicolay-Drouhin, co-owner of Domaine Chandon de Briailles in Savigny-lès-Beaune. "For two years now we have decided to leave grass in the middle [of the rows] and just plough between each vine. I think it was a good decision because the grass is a perfect sponge when it's raining."
Hail, a common problem in Burgundy, created isolated damage in Meursault, Volnay, Marsannay and the southern part of the Mâconnais, around Pouilly-Fuissé. "At the bottom of the slope, in the Bourgogne vineyards on the Volnay side, we suffered significant hail damage, up to 70 percent, depending on the parcel," said Jean-Marc Roulot, winemaker at Domaine Roulot in Meursault.

Harvest was delayed until September's sunny and dry conditions quickly ripened the grapes. "We could see the sugar increasing almost every day and the fruit getting more and more concentrated thanks to dehydration, yet still with good acidity because of the cold weather," said Nicolaÿ-Drouhin.

The hail and dehydration reduced the volume of the harvest anywhere from 30 to 50 percent in some places compared with 2007. Furthermore, the cool conditions during the growing season and harvest left grapes with high levels of malic acid. The wines will change dramatically after malolactic fermentation.

Early reports suggest Chardonnay is more successful than Pinot Noir. The white grapes were healthier and the botrytis-affected Pinot Noir required diligent sorting. However, 2008 is a year where generalizations won't apply and the results will vary not only from grower to grower, but also from parcel to parcel.
Chablis may have benefited the most from the north wind. Christian Moreau of Domaine Christian Moreau Père & Fils reported that spraying kept vineyard diseases at bay, while the picking was done under nice, if cool weather. "With the good natural degree and the good acidity I really believe at this moment that 2008 will be a very rich vintage with higher acidity if you compare it to '05 or '06," he said. Volume was 10 to 20 percent less than an average year.

Dominique Lafon of Domaine des Comtes Lafon, who makes wine from several vineyards in the Mâconnais, was pleased with the results there. Despite the presence of mildew and oïdium, the grapes in general were healthy. Unfortunately, the drying north wind and late harvest dates resulted in 30 percent less volume than 2007.
Like any difficult vintage, those who did the work in the vineyards will be rewarded, but overall results will be variable. "In the end, I'm quite happy," said Carel Voorhuis, estate manager at Domaine d'Ardhuy. "It certainly won't be the vintage of the century, but it all looks better than average."
—Bruce Sanderson