It was a crisp spring day in April 2013 when Thibault Gagey and Jacques Lardière set out to survey a well-established vineyard named Résonance. Jacques had just retired after leading winemaking at Maison Louis Jadot for 42 years, and Thibault, whose family has operated Maison Louis Jadot since 1962, was ready to enter the business with a bold new project. They immediately felt a deep connection with the place, and after tasting through dozens of wines made with the vineyard’s fruit, Jacques sat back and said, “Perfect.”
Pierre-Henry Gagey, the President of Maison Louis Jadot and Thibault’s father, agreed. They decided to keep the vineyard’s title, and they also named their new winery—Maison Louis Jadot’s first outside of Burgundy—in its honor. With the same meaning in English and French, Résonance evokes many great things to come. They added the tiny but all-important accent mark to represent this small but special connection between Oregon and France.
Maison Louis Jadot was founded by the Jadot Family in 1859—the same year as the State of Oregon. Nurturing premier and grand cru vineyards in Burgundy, Maison Louis Jadot earned a reputation for world-class wines made in small lots, capturing the attention of Rudy Kopf, an importer for Kobrand Wine & Spirits and the founder of the wine and spirits division of Macy’s department store in New York. In 1945, Rudy made a pilgrimage to visit Maison Louis Jadot, and the long-standing relationship between the Kopf and Jadot Families commenced.
Rudy soon began importing Maison Louis Jadot wines to the U.S., and the partnership continued to blossom through shared investments and appreciation for the next four decades. In 1984, Madam Jadot transferred ownership of the historic wine estate to the Kopf Family.
The relationship between the Gagey Family and Maison Louis Jadot also goes back to the mid-20th Century, when Louis Auguste Jadot invited a young winemaker named André Gagey to join his team of vintners in 1954. André was bestowed the title of President of Maison Louis Jadot when Louis Auguste Jadot passed away in 1962.
With winemaking traditions going back generations on both sides of his family, he worked closely with the Jadot and Kopf Families to build Maison Louis Jadot into the world-class global wine brand it is today. In 1992, Pierre-Henry, André’s son, took over the role of President, and he launched the search for Maison Louis Jadot’s first winery in the New World in the early 2000s. As fortune would have it, Pierre-Henry discovered Résonance Vineyard at the exact moment when the next generation of the Gagey Family, Thibault Gagey, was ready to enter the business. Thibault became the Director of Operations of Résonance in 2013.
Resonance Decouverte Vineyard Pinot Noir is made from 100 percent Pinot Noir.
The wine reflects a beautiful and brilliant garnet color, with an expressive and complex nose of strawberry, plum, wild cherry, almond and licorice. The wine reveals an elegant palate, vibrant and complex, with delicate notes of noble wood, and very long and mineral finale.
Review:
James Suckling 93 Points
Guillemot-Michel Vire-Clesse Charleston is made from 100 percent Chardonnay.
This cuvée is produced from hundred-year old vines that the great-grandfather planted after he returned from World War I. The family wanted to honor his memory and vinify these vines the same way he did, in old demi-muids.
Charleston is a deep and complex wine that gently express itself in the glass, offering juicy white fruit flavors and a lengthy finish.
Charleston is vinified and aged for one year in demi-muids of over 10 years old. During the following harvest, the wine is racked and placed in vats for another 6 months of aging before bottling.
Fish in white sauce, poultry in creamy sauce, hard cheeses.
Review:
"The 2019 Viré-Clessé Charleston is brilliant, opening in the glass with notes of buttered citrus fruit, pear, beeswax and vanilla pod. Full-bodied, layered and textural, with huge concentration, lively acids and a seamless, multidimensional profile, it's long and penetrating. It's one of the very best wines I've ever tasted from the domaine. Readers will remember that the Guillemot family's oldest parcel of vines dates back to 1918, and the idea behind this cuvée is to work the vines and make the wine in the same way as their grandfather—who planted them—did. It spends a year in old demi-muids followed by six months in tank on the lees. - William Kelley"
- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate (August 2021), 94+ pts
Hugl Gemischter Satz is made from 50% Grüner Veltliner, 40% Gelber Muskateller and 10% Riesling.
Gemischter Satz" has a long history in Austria. It is a field blend where different grape varieties are picked at the same time and vinified together:
In Vienna, the tradition of planting different and complementary grape varieties together in a vineyard – then harvesting and fermenting them together as well – has survived to the present day as Gemischter Satz. Thanks to the dynamic efforts of ambitious winegrowers, this traditional rarity has grown in stature and recognition to become the calling card of viticulture in Austria’s capital city.
Gemischter Satz is very popular in Vienna’s Heurigen (the Viennese term for wine taverns). Historically, Heurigen were simple places, where vineyard owners would open their doors during wine season to serve glasses of this years wine and juices to guests. At most, a plate of cold meats and cheese could be served along with the delicious wine.
For the traditional wines of Wiener Gemischter Satz - the planting of different grape varieties together in one vineyard - a unique style profile has been developed; a style that reflects the wine's origin-typical aromas and flavours. The regulation for the Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC requires that at least three white quality wine varieties must be planted together in one vineyard that is listed in the Viennese vineyard register as Wiener Gemischter Satz. The highest portion of one grape variety must be no more than 50%; the third highest portion must be at least 10%. Wines without vineyard indication must be dry and without any prominent wood flavour. The Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC can be marketed with an indication of vineyard site also. Single vineyard wines do not necessarily have to correspond with the “dry” taste indication, and they cannot be released for sale prior to March 1st of the year following the harvest. Minimum alcohol % of 12.5%.
Adds an enthusiastic Herbert Schilling, head of Vienna's Regional Wine Committee: “With the Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC, we've achieved a milestone in the consistent, years-long quality policy for wine growing in Vienna. The new regulations sharpen the origin profile of Wiener Gemischter Satz and, at the same time, reflect Vienna´s diversity in the glass.”