Paul Jaboulet Aine
Overview
Paul Jaboulet Aine, founded in 1834, is a historic Rhone house and was the benchmark when JLL started in the Rhone in 1973. After the mantle slipped in the 1990s due to family divisions, it was sold in late 2005/early 2006 to Jean-Jacques Frey, a Swiss financier who also owns Chateau La Lagune in the Medoc and has a share in Champagne Billecart-Salmon. His daughter Caroline Frey, a trained oenologue, supervises winemaking. The house is concentrating on an elite “Domaine Paul Jaboulet Aine” group of wines from organic vineyards while easing back the merchant business.
Appellations
Key Wines
- Hermitage La Chapelle red — the flagship; 2012 was more markedly southern Rhone rather than Bordeaux in style, showing improved direction
- Hermitage La Maison Bleue red (formerly La Petite Chapelle) — four-star wine in 2017
- Hermitage Le Chevalier de Sterimberg white
- Crozes-Hermitage Domaine de Thalabert red — from 45 hectares, officially organic since 2009; wine with scope and heart in 2022
- Saint-Joseph Domaine de la Croix des Vignes red — an artfully blended rockface wine
- Cornas Domaine de Saint-Pierre
- Chateauneuf-du-Pape Domaine de Terre Ferme — 12 hectares bought in 2007
Style Notes
After 20 years under Frey ownership, the picture has clarified. Vineyards are better looked after than in the dying embers of the Jaboulet family’s tenure. Winemaking is less Bordeaux-centric now, with better appreciation of Le Meal’s merits in the Hermitage assemblage. The northern whites can be disappointing — JLL finds the crop harvested too early for proper glycerol foundation on serious wines. The reds are a mixed bag, though vineyard work is paying off. Best to consider each wine on its own merits.
Producer Profile (JLL / drinkRhone.com)
Founded in 1834, the Benchmark House when JLL started in the Rhone in 1973. The 1980s saw respectable wines, but the mantle slipped markedly in the 1990s. The culmination of two sides of the family holding different objectives in life was the sale in late 2005/early 2006 to Jean-Jacques Frey, a Swiss financier.
Monsieur Frey already owns Chateau La Lagune in the Medoc and has a share in Champagne Billecart-Salmon. His daughter Caroline is a trained oenologue and supervises winemaking. The late Denis Dubourdieu, champion of white Bordeaux, was the original overall advisor; currently it is Jean-Guillaume Prats (who left Chateau Cos d’Estournel in 2012). Caroline lives most of the time in Switzerland, where she has a small vineyard, and is an occasional visitor to Tain.
In 2009 the 45-hectare Domaine de Thalabert at Crozes-Hermitage became officially organic; in 2016 their vineyards at Saint-Joseph (7.5 ha), Cornas (6.1 ha), Cote-Rotie (2.7 ha), and Chateauneuf-du-Pape (12 ha) followed suit.
JLL is currently refused entry to taste — the father (whom he has never met) is displeased.
Caroline’s latest big project: seven hectares at Aloxe-Corton, 23 plots, 11 appellations, bought in 2015, renamed from Chateau Corton Andre to Chateau Corton Caroline.
Location: Les Jalets RN7 BP 46, 26600 Tain l’Hermitage. Hermitage holdings total 22.5 hectares.
My Tastings
Sources
sources/articles/JLL/Paul_Jaboulet_Aine.txt