Last evening we hosted another round of Blind Pinots. Among the wines was a 2005 Jadot Corton-Greves. Plenty of cherry fruit and showing a bit more new worldy than expected. Fairly round, very fruit driven (like a big scoop of cherry ice cream with black cherry syrup). Ripe, almost warm with fair acidity and oddly accessible tannins for a 2005.
Upon revealing the Jadot, the bottle just didn’t seem quite right. I’ve got dozens of Jadot bottles in the cellar (no Corton) so I quickly pulled a couple and snapped these photos.
Is this normal for Jadot and the 2005 Corton Greves? Different bottle type. Capsules are completely different, with the Corton-Greves being blank. No bottle neck label. No alcohol content on the original labels of the Corton. The print quality on the Corton label is much less precise. Different back label. The cork was similar to other Jadot bottles but the printing was again, a little less precise. Not a particularly memorable Corton other than the unusual appearance of the bottle.
Starting with the 2005 vintage Jadot started bottling their Grand crus and CM les Amoureuse in a bottles called Le Sommeliere which were a bit bigger and much heavier to distinct them from their 1ers and village.
There was no lettering on capsule aside from Bacchus imprint on top so all is consistent with your bottle.
Bottle that you have pictured was not imported by Kobrand which is their imported but is a gray market bottle.
I went to cellar and pulled a bottle from my stock (this is one of my favorites) and lettering on a label is razor sharp.
I haven’t had it lately but when I did years ago this bottle was a tight as they get.
I will open it in next few days, too late for tonight, and will report on it. My guess is just by reading your description that it might have been cooked or poorly stored, properly stored domaine wines from Jadot are very tight at the moment, even the village (CM was the only drinkable after few hours of slow oxing it)
Here’s another close up that show’s a little code under the label on glass that’s itched. If your bottle doesn’t have it it’s a fake. If it does can you read it and write it down.
The white code is not visible on the bottle, but the % alcohol range sticker (below the main label) could be covering it. The white etching is definitely not located in the exact position as yours.
Leo, not my bottle but I believe it was purchased 3 - 4 years ago. Temp-controlled storage once received by the purchaser. The price was reportedly around $50 from PC. NY Wine Warehouse is currently selling them for $82 (no idea about source).
Just to add an extra data point, I have a few Jadot Grands Cru, including the '05 Corton-Greves, and all of the 2005-and-newer bottles are the larger heavier glass with the plain capsule and laser etched number just below the level of the label. The number doesn’t always line up with the label (imagine the logistics of trying to do that on an automated fill line!), but it’s there. These are all Kobrand bottles. My older bottles are in the “regular” bottle and capsule without the laser etching.
My bottle was as tight as it gets, completely dominated by it’s tannic structure, barely some cranberry and and cherry, polar opposite of what you had and it further closed down on second night. Can’t see this one drinking for at least 20 years… (my bottle has been in my cold cellar since release so maybe that has something to do with it)
Thanks very much for the follow-up Leo. Your bottle sounds exactly like what I expected. It was startling after the guesses were made and the troubled Corton was revealed.
