JEAN-LUC JAMET, Cote Rotie

One half of the famous Domaine Joseph Jamet, the other half having been retained by Jean-Luc’s brother Jean-Paul when the domaine was split in 2013. Jean-Luc had been responsible for the vineyard, but was keen to find an expression of Côte Rôtie that was ‘digestible’, whilst still retaining the complexity of the soil and vintage, for which we might read wines that are more forward and approachable than the famously reticent wines for which his father was known. It is an interesting aside to this ambition that he has been experimenting with a small planting of Pinot Noir next to the house, which has been yielding some increasingly interesting bottles of enticingly cherry and violet-tinged Pinot since the first crop in 2015. He also makes an excellent Vin de Pays de Collines Rhodaniennes Syrah from the same plot on Le Vallin, a wine of greater seriousness than it’s modest (if lengthy) denomination would suggest. It is typically deep in colour, with a rich violet scented fruit and a graphite/cinder minerality, and quite sufficient tannic structure to reward the patient with a few years in the cellar. The domaine’s greatest wine is the Côte Rôtie ‘Terrasses’, which comes from 100% Syrah, most of it planted in the early 1980s, on the domaine’s typically fragmented holdings on the toweringly steep banks of the great river above the town of Ampuis. Fermented under wild yeasts, with twice-daily punching down, for 3 weeks, before ageing for 18 or so months in 500, 300 and 228 litre barrels, of which 20-30% are new, it easily encapsulates all that is great of this famous appellation. The 2017 has shown fascinating hints of secondary, even tertiary evolution since we first listed it 3 or so years ago, yet seems to be gathering freshness, precision and poise, with deep griotte cherry and mulberry fruit, and hint of tar to the fine, ripe tannin and lifting acidity. I suspect it will continue to evolve and fascinate for years to come should it be permitted, so delicious is it now. The 2019, a hot vintage, has yet more grip and rich minerality, and surprising freshness. It will run for years.

Jean-Luc has been joined since 2019 by his son Benoît, a young man whose quiet, thoughtful demeanor and clear grasp of his metier suggests that this wonderful domaine is in good hands.

An impish Jean-Luc Jamet in November 2025.