Craggy Range Le Sol 2020

Aromas of raspberries, rose petals, warm spices and orange rind introduce the 2019 Moulin-à-Vent, a medium to full-bodied, ample and fleshy wine that’s lively and concentrated, with melting tannins and a fragrant finish. It’s typical of the seamless, satiny and perfumed style of the 2019 vintage at the Château des Jacques.

Cyril Chirouze and his team at the Château des Jacques have turned in another terrific performance at the Château des Jacques. This was a protracted harvest that began on September 10 with whites and lower-lying parcels (where yields were reduced by frost) and continued in fits and starts from three weeks, following the maturity of the estate’s different parcels. The result is wines that are in a sense paradoxical. Ethereal and perfumed, with vibrant fruit flavors and melting tannins, they’re more delicate and subtle than the 2018s, exhibiting much of the charm of a cooler vintage, yet they are nevertheless marked by the sunny, dry conditions, which manifest themselves in above-average alcohol levels. If 2018 set a new standard for oak integration at this address, 2019 immediately surpasses it: Site and cépage are front and center—perhaps because even the “parcellaire” bottlings saw 30% tank maturation—and any overt oak influence appears to be a thing of the past. Everything reviewed here comes warmly recommended, and it’s clear that under Chirouze’s direction, the Château des Jacques is, without wishing to indulge in hyperbole, entering a new golden age. William Kelley, Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate