JASMIN COTE-ROTIE 2007

“This Cote Rotie of great purity and elegance, the kind of wines which remind drinkers just how stylistically close Burgundy and the Northern Rhone are.”
ANDREW JEFFORD, The New France

“The wines are handcrafted with great care, the aim being to faithfully reflect the beauty of the extraordinary vineyards. These are not blockbusters, they are medium-bodied wines of genuine finesse, retaining a purity of fruit and silkiness to their structure that has more than one commentator comparing them to Burgundy.”
TIM KIRK, Clonakilla

 

“One of the lucky few to have such well-balanced exposure between the granite and the schist. The wines are set to remain largely faithful to the deft enjoyable elegance of their previous decades. A top flight family domaine.”JOHN LIVINGSTONE-LEARMONTH, The wines of the Northern Rhone

 

“Over the years, I have bought Jasmin wines for personal consumption, whenever the odd bottle popped up at auction or I found a bottle in a fine wine store. A small volume was imported into Australia some years ago, but this stopped until I had the opportunity with the 2005 vintage to commence bringing the wines in myself.

The wines – even in France – are very rare, irrespective of vintage. But they are worth the chase, as I have always been impressed by the Jasmin style and quality.”
RANDALL POLLARD

 

By reading the quotes in these pages one may be forgiven for thinking that Jasmin’s wine is light and soft. This is far from the truth. Although they are elegant, perfumed and distinctly ‘cool-climate’, they still show the essence of ripe shiraz with satisfying body, opulence and length. They are high-quality, ‘complete’ wines made with care, attention-todetail and skill by Patrick Jasmin from his own 5.5 hectare estate.

Patrick is the fourth generation Jasmin vigneron and he took over in 1999 after the tragic death of his father due to a road accident. Apart from handful of small improvements, such as the addition of air-conditioning in the barrel cellar, temperature control during fermentation, and (due to the very steep slopes) the use of helicopters for organic sprays nothing much has changed in viticulture and winemaking for decades. Individually-staked vines on the steep slopes, with a mere four bunches per vine and hand picking are the mantras here.

 

Two thousand and seven is a moderate-yielding, excellent vintage, producing 38hl/ha at Chez Jasmin. The last three-tofour weeks of the season offered fine, warm, sunny weather and a wine of nice structure, almost perfect ripeness and pleasing roundness was made. This first bottling is from five small barrels and two demi-muids. Patrick thinks it is fruiter than the 2005, however I feel it is best opened many hours before drinking for the fruit to evolve. It shows peppercorn dominated spicy notes, ripe blue and black fruits with hints of leather, aniseed and dark cherries. The palate is mediumbodied but expressive, full-flavoured, round and pleasantly mouth-coating. The 30% new oak is well-hidden. It should live, improve and give great pleasure easily for 10 years or more. It is certainly one of Patrick’s better vintages.

The Domaine, viticulture and winemaking:

Patrick farms 5.3 hectares of vines located in 11 parcels in 9 distinct named sites (climats or lieu-dits) spread across Côte Brune and the Côte Blonde. He employs approximately 5% of Viognier in his classic [ie very little new oak] Côte Rôtie and commendably only produces a single cuvee of wine. Says Patrick, “I make only one wine, I don’t want to produce a small ‘super-cuvée’ and make my Cote Rotie suffer. I am proud to make only one wine with finesse and length.” Hand harvested grapes undergo a very traditional fermentation and 3 week cuvaison in cement vats. The grapes from Patrick's different lieu-dits are vinified separately as much as possible prior to blending at the end of December. Fermentation generally takes around three weeks, at relatively cool temperatures of 25-28 degrees.

The wine is then aged for up to two years in oak barrels – half in 228 litre barrels and half into 500 litre demi-muids. There is no fining and only a light filtration. The domaine is made up of the following climats: ‘Boucharey’ planted throughout the 60’s, 1.2ha, granite-based; ‘Le Baleyat’ planted in 1960-61, 0.66ha, granite-based; ‘Cote Blonde’ planted in 1965, 0.88 ha, granite-based; ‘Les Bercheries’ planted in 1981, 0.66ha, granite-based; ‘Le Moillard’ planted in 1973, 0.38ha, granite-based; ‘Le Truchet’ planted in 1998, 0.38ha, granite-based; ‘Les Moutonnes’ planted in 1996-97, 0.34ha, mica schist-based; ‘Cote Baudin” planted in 1979 and 1980’s, 0.6ha, mica schist-based; and ‘Cognet” planted in 2001 and 2004, 0.4ha, mica schist-based.

 

The Wine:

2007 JASMIN Cote-Rotie      Price $129

“Deep red. Textbook Cote-Rotie aromas of red and dark berries, smoked meat, violet, minerals and licorice, with a zesty kick of black pepper. Lush and creamy but by no means soft, offering sweet raspberry and cassis flavors, along with baking spices, beef jerky and a slow-mounting olive tapenade quality. Tannins arrive late and add structure but are quickly absorbed by the sweet fruit on the lengthy finish. This will be accessible early. Patrick Jasmin told me that this wine started out with a high pH but that the acidity has been gaining steadily. 90 points.” STEPHEN TANZER, IWC.