Aux Cras 2017 | Famille Gagey | Louis Jadot | Burgundy

The house was founded by Louis Henry Denis Jadot in Beaune in 1859, but the family's first vineyard came earlier: the Clos des Ursules, in Beaune, was bought in 1826, thirty-three years before the company existed. That clos is still labelled as Domaine des Héritiers Louis Jadot.

In 1962, on the death of Louis Auguste Jadot, management passed to André Gagey, who was not from the founding family. His son Pierre-Henry then ran the house for thirty-one years. That is where the name of the Famille Gagey range comes from, the one covering their own vineyards.

They make only Burgundy wines, from Chablis down to Beaujolais, with premier and grand cru parcels. They also hold Domaine Ferret in Fuissé, in the Mâconnais, and Château des Jacques in Moulin-à-Vent. In 1996 they set up their own cooperage with Tonnellerie Vicard, Cadus, to make their barrels.

Aux Cras is a Beaune premier cru. Jadot bought the parcel in 2011 — it previously belonged to Château de Chorey — and it holds vines averaging about forty years, in the heart of the Beaune hillside just above Theurons, facing south-east, on red clay with small stones. It is 100% Pinot Noir: four weeks in open vats and eighteen months in barrel.