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2012 New World Wine Experience: Wine Star Maison Louis Jadot
Pierre-Henry Gagey tells tales about the beauty of Burgundy
Tim Fish
Posted: October 23, 2012
With hands as quick and animated as an orchestra conductor, Pierre-Henry Gagey is a natural storyteller. The president of Burgundy powerhouse Maison Louis Jadot, Gagey poured Corton Pougets 1990 (90 points, $50 on release) from magnums as he told the story of the wine, his family and Burgundy.
“I am not a star. Jadot is not a star. Burgundy is the star. It is our job to express the soil,” Gagey said, telling the crowd that Pinot Noir vines are native to the forests of the region. “Burgundy did not pick Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir picked Burgundy.”
The 1990 vintage was a superb one in Burgundy, rating 98 points on Wine Spectator’s 100-point scale. “You had to be an idiot not to produce good wine in 1990,” Gagey said.
One of the most widely distributed Burgundy producers in America, Jadot makes a range of wines, from value bottlings in the Mâconnais and Beaujolais to highly regarded grands crus. Corton Pougets lies in the northern end of the Côte de Beaune, next to Le Charlemagne and along the upper slope, where the soil is rich with chalk and iron.
While Corton Pougets is a grand cru, Gagey told the crowd that he takes great pride in the way Jadot produces wines with a range of prices. “We also want the younger generation, the kids who can’t afford a $340 bottle of wine, to get into Burgundy,” he said. “That is why the bottom level, the Bourgogne rouge, is very important for me.”
