2020 Domaine Philippe Jouan, Coteaux Bourguignons “Cuvée Thomas” Pinot Noir, Vieilles Vignes, Red Burgundy, France.
As noted before, Philippe Jouan has really impressed me with his 2017s and I was excited to see what these 2020s were like, and I wasn’t disappointed, as this 2020 Coteaux Bourguignons “Cuvée Thomas” way over delivered, it is an excellent and richly flavored effort showing off the vintage’s lush and luxurious fruit density, dark fruit profile and exceptional length. The medium/full palate gives seamless layering of black cherry, plush red berry, plum, strawberry and fig fruits, along with baking spices, mineral tones, a hint of reduction (leathery) earthiness and very subtle wood accents. This is a winery, based in Morey-Saint-Denis and run by Phillipe Jouan, a fifth generation winemaker, to follow, and this aromatic, taut structured and textural Cuvée Thomas Pinot Noir is a fabulous, satiny and expressive Burgundy, which I’m glad I bought a few bottles of. I highly recommend chasing down Jouan’s wines, as they represent some true terroir driven and value priced Burgundy that are lovely and rewarding, especially good with food.
Philippe Jouan, who, as mentioned here in prior reviews, took over from his father Henri, has been in charge of this small high quality domaine since 2004 and has turned this some what under the radar winery into something of an enthusiasts cult label. The techniques in the cellar, from what I understand, are little changed since the domaine started, with Philippe using 100% de-stemmed (all sustainably grown) grapes, cool fermentation(s) and employing just a minimal amount of new wood across his range of wines. The Jouan wines are not as inexpensive as they once were, with prices now rising 10 to 20% with each of the last few vintages releases, but still are remarkable values for the price. Mainly it is the problem of having less wine available due to tighter yields in the region and that there is a much bigger demand for Jouan now. Jouan’s Passetoutgrain (Pinot Noir/Gamay) and especially this Coteaux Bourguignons (100% Pinot Noir), are my favorites for quality for the money. I fell in love with Jouan’s 2017s and these 2020s are a big step up in presence and concentration with incredible mouth feel, as this one certainly has, it opened up fantastically well, after that slightly truffled nose blew off and allowed a pretty floral dimension to come through, it was even better on day two, top notch stuff.
($45 ESt.) 93 Points, grapelive