Can someone please explain Louis Jadot?

Even after being “really into” wine for about 5 years now, my knowledge of French wine is limited. When I see “Louis Jadot” in the forums here all I think of is the bargain swill you see for $10 at Trader Joes or Costco. Is this the same producer that also makes high end premier crus and grand crus?!! If so, why would they devalue their name with high volume swill? In all honesty this is a sincere question, as I know very little about French wine. Thank you!

They’re a very large negociant and have bottles at all price and volume points.

As for branding strategy, I won’t speak too much to that because it just comes down to producer’s decisions.

A négociant is the French term for a wine merchant who assembles the produce of smaller growers and winemakers and sells the result under its own name. Négociants buy everything from grapes to grape must to wines in various states of completion.

Literally had to look up the definition. Thank you carry on!

I wouldn’t describe their lower price offerings as “swill”.
I buy the Pouilly Fuisse all the time and consider it a bargain.

TTT

I’m sure they’re also making their profits off of the 100,000 cases of Moulin a Vent and not so much off the hundred or so cases of Clos de Beze. One could argue that instead of their high volume stuff diluting their marquee bottlings, their marquee bottlings are padding the prices and prestige of their high volume stuff!

they have a lot of domaine wines, too. Jadot is a polarizing producer. The white wines under Jacques Lardiere, now retired, were wonderful young and fell apart with premature oxidation. The reds are hit and miss, highs and lows, many generic wines and some truly great ones. This is a domaine not to buy across the board but to study carefully before making purchases. Often the wines are good value, often disappointing. Personally, I prefer more artisan producers and avoid Jadot.

I will check that out. I think I tried one of their nondescript pinots and something was obviously wrong with the wine or it was just undrinkable to my own palette.

perhaps the pallette of flavors didn’t appeal to your palate, so you won’t buy a pallet of the wine.

Jadot and Drouhin, and a few others, represent a very old school approach where the same name is associated with wines ranging from daily drinkers to the best grand crus. It was not necessarily intended that way, I would not know, but at the end of the day the value of the name broadly exceeded any concern about the lower dollar wines dragging down the name’s value for higher dollar wines- in large part because within each category the wines are above average performers.

It is worth noting that many producers today- notably Ramonet and Lafon- are going in that direction, so clearly it is a business model that is viable.

Alan has it best I think- you have to pick and choose. I do not recall ever being disappointed by a Jadot grand cru- but you have to do some digging to find the grand and premier crus that are special. And those which are special are very much in the top ranks.

On the daily drinkers- generally as good as it gets along with Latour. I sold the hell out of Jadot and Louis Latour $20 and under wines when I worked retail in college, and still recommend them to this day.

With regards to the higher end white wines, always a strong spot historically- but premox has heavily damaged the reputation.

On the reds, always solid and in many cases quite superb. As with Drouhin, Bouchard or others- you have to do a lot of tasting to made educated decisions as you pick and choose.

With regards to the current marketplace, Jadot is at a distinct disadvantage because the reds tend to be very austere in youth. In a time when high end Burgundy is firmly in the sights of the broader market, but without the sophistication and tasting experience to match, Jadot seems lackluster alongside the more luscious wines of Drouhin, the bigger wines of Bouchard or the more modern approach of places like Liger-Belair (cannot stand them personally).

If you give them proper cellar time, the better Jadot wines can be superb and even magical. It is not universally true, but most of the wines I would put in the superb-magical category are from owned vineyards versus purchased fruit.

Within the United States purchasing the best wines has become problematic because Jadot, and rightly so, has tried be more aggressive in their pricing- but lacking the more immediate appeal of the current market darlings, this strategy has failed. As a result, a significant number of solid retailers no longer carry the wines.

This started with the 2012s and has only gotten worse. Beyond the austerity in youth factor, a big part of the difficulty from a marketing perspective is that many of the best wines are not from vineyards that are on the “A-list”. Cases in point- Beaune Clos des Ursules, Vosne-Romanee Les Suchots, Chambolle-Musigny Les Fuees, Chapelle-Chambertin and Pommard Les Rugiens.

The labels scare me.

Very good reds, rich, tannic in youth, need time. Some show oak in youth. I think the Beane Premier Crus are teh value play and can drink well young. Gevrey Clos Saint Jacques is a personal favourite.

Even after being “really into” wine for about 5 years now, my knowledge of French wine is limited.

Surprising as that’s a really long long time.

BTW, thanks for defining “négociant”. Who knew?

If have limited experience with Jadot,but a magnum 1976 Clos des Ursules for my 40th birthday was amazing. That used to be a value wine, but it has become quite pricey. However, the wines can be excellent values at auctions.

The description of Kent is spot on. I would add that some wines are more tannic than for their own good. I.e. 1993 Ursules was pretty tannic during its entire life and still is. But good quality overall.

Jadot was my intro to Burgundy, and with their wines spanning the range it gave me a solid grounding. There are still several bottlings I buy whenever possible, notably the Beaune Ursules and Corton Pougets.

The '14 Bouzeron is quite good.

I appreciated it. Your sarcasm , not so much

By the way, the dig by Daniel at the Jadot Moulin-a-Vent above was sorely misplaced. They make a rather firm rendition, but it’s high quality.

Tom, as always, thanks for the informed, nuanced commentary you provide here. I almost always learn something when I read your posts.

Totally agree. Their Beaune offerings are unilaterally superb, with the “Clos de Ursules” out front. I really like the Moulin A Vent vineyards they purchased from Thorin years ago, the “Chateau des Jacques”, old vines, pristine wines -