Southern Rhône

DE LA VIEILLE JULIENNE

Although Domaine de la Vieille Julienne has existed since 1905, it really entered the modern era in 1990 when Jean-Paul Daumen took over from his father who had been the first to commence bottling at the domaine. That was the first major step forward as they focusing on producing wine from their old vine Grenache – seeking true ripeness and low yields. The next new move made by Jean Paul Daumen was the creation of Vieille Julienne reserve, which made its debut with the 1994 vintage. The hard work and efforts began to pay off with a good 1998 for Vieille Julienne. The following year they produced one of the top wines from the difficult 1999 vintage. With the release of their stunning 2000 Domaine Vieille Juliene Reserve, which earned 100 Pts from Robert Parker, they quickly became one of the hottest and most in-demand, as well as expensive wines in the entire Chateauneuf du Pape appellation. Jean-Paul has never rested on his laurels to improve his wines. Since 2000 they began implementing biodynamic techniques on some parcels, which has now expanded to all vines within the Domaine. Coming all from a cool, mostly sandy terroir located in the northern part of the appellation, these traditionally made wines possess singular characters that have both richness and depth on the palate, as well as notable elegance and freshness. They epitomise this tiny terroir and are more Vieille Julienne that they are Châteauneuf du Pape.

SANTA DUC

“Jean-Marc creates some of the best Beaujolais wines that you can buy. His 2013 Morgon Côte du Py Cuvée James is one of the standout wines of the vintage: tensile, fresh, full of nervosité and joie-de-vivre and strongly recommended.” – Robert Parker

Jean Marc started his eponymous winery with his wife and partner Christine in 1989. He owns all of his vineyards with the majority being in Morgon’s famed Cotes du Py (13ha). The youngest of the vines are 50+ years old. He also owns an even tinier amount of Regnie and Beaujolais Village. The vineyards have not seen chemicals or non-organic inputs for 10+ years and work is done my hand and horse. Vineyard density exceeds 10,000 plants per hectare. In the cellar Jean-Marc uses no adjuncts with the exception of sulphur at bottling. Elevage is almost entirely in concrete with the exception of old barrique for the “Reserve”. Vinification is more in line with Burgundy (like J.P. Brun) than what is ‘normal’ in Beaujolais resulting in wines of not only finesse but also sneaky power and amazing longevity in the cellar.