Jones Blanc - Press reviews & Awards

Olly Smith
Mail on Sunday
March 8th 2015

" for sheer glory, the wines of Domaine Jones (a future big name and stocked by The Wine Society) are unmissable - Grenache Gris (13.5%) is a zesty rich turbo thrust of funky lemony grapefruit verve"

TIM ATKIN MW

"Focused, herbal, pithy white from the talented Katie Jones, who is making ground-breaking wines in the Languedoc-Roussillon. There are notes of nutmeg spice, citrus and pear on this beautifully framed dry white, with a bone dry, almost saline finish."

91 points

MIKE TIPPING

Yorkshire Post

19/20

"If you are going to splash out £15 on a white wine, then Domaine Jones Blanc Grenache Gris, Côtes Catalanes, 2013, would be an excellent choice."

DECANTER
December 2014
90/100

Domaine Jones IGP Côtes Catalanes 2013

A 100% old vine Grenache Gris from Leicestershire born Katie Jones - and a great achievement after vandals emptied all her vats of the 2012.  Lovely richness from batting and some gentle oak maturation, but the minerality shines forth with zesty grapefruit and spiced pears.  Alc 13.5%



JANCIS ROBINSON Purple Pages

Underrated gems from Roussillon

18 Mar 2014 by Richard Hemming

Jones 2013 IGP Côtes Catalanes 16.5 Drink 2014-2016

Grenache Gris. 4,000 bottles. Vat sample. Light apple and citrus character with a bit of floral blossom flavour. Honeyed and succulent. Smooth, foody texture. (RH)

Jones, Les Perles de Jones Vieilles Vignes 2013 Vin de France 17+ Drink 2015-2018

Macabeu from Touchon. 1,200 bottles. Really lovely scent – almonds, peaches, apricots. Really delicious fruit. Such delicacy yet really well defined flavours – typically south-west France but with gorgeous purity and lightness of touch. (RH)

Jones, Barrique 2009 Vin de France 16.5 Drink 2013-2015

Grenache Gris aged four years in (one) new oak barrel – unreleased at the time, because it was too oaky. Three years later it was re-tasted and sold (in 50cl bottles) to the Swedish restaurant market. Only 20 cases left!

Really lovely nose – oaky, yes, but there is plenty of fruit, remarkably. Such a curiosity – lovely supple fruit and toastiness. In fact, it tastes a little bit like mature Hunter Semillon. Lovely! (RH)

Jones, Muscat Moelleux 2013 Vin de France 16.5 Drink 2014

Picked at 16% potential alcohol. 90 g/l RS. Fragrant, lively, really gorgeous balance – not too much sweetness, A little pétillance really adds to the structure – pure pleasure. (RH)

2011 Vintage


ROBERT PARKER

DOMAINE JONES BLANC 2011                  90 POINTS

From the same stand of Grenache Gris that informed its 2009 and 2010 predecessors, (minus its mingling of Muscat vines, whose fruit is now subject to separate bottling), the 2011 Jones Blanc certainly suffers no dilution from the effects of what by this vintner’s standards represents an inexplicably generous 25 hectoliters per hectare. (Her old black vines had essentially their usual low yields in this vintage; only Jones’s Grenache Gris seems capricious.) Luscious lime, pineapple, and grapefruit are shot-through with saline, stony and somehow crystalline mineral impingements for a positively shimmering impression. Lentil sprout-like vegetal and nutty piquancy as well as a hint of iodine serve for further counterpoint and intrigue en route to a mouthwateringly lingering finish. I suspect that this will drink beautifully through 2015, and quite possibly beyond. Based on its ex-cellars price, it will have proven an exceptional value, and it’s regrettable that none of it seems to have made it to the U.S.

Domaine Jones Blanc 2011 Côtes Catalanes, France (Fareham Wine Cellar, £13.15)

Made from fashionable grenache gris, this is full but dry with tinned peach, melon and angelica flavours, and a touch of clove. Delicious lightly chilled with cold chicken or fresh salmon. Suzy Atkins The Telegraph July 7th 2013 

So savoury - almost salty - which I adore, especially when you're looking for a food wine. Intense but not forced, with generous vivacity. And since you mention Xmas - would see you through from smoked salmon, to turkey, to stuffing sandwiches. - Sarah Abbott MW

By Rosemary George 2011 Domaine Jones Blanc 

Grenache Gris.  Medium colour. Ripe and textured  on both nose and palate, with lots of nuances.  Some lovely southern fruit,  with a touch of spice.  http://tastelanguedoc.blogspot.fr

DECANTER
SILVER MEDAL DECANTER WINE AWARDS
Domaine Jones Grenache Gris 2011
Attractive flinty, lychee and citrus fruits.  Dense on the palate, with stone fruit flavors, pleasing hints of sweetness and a lovely structure.  Very bright attack.



By Mike Tipping 'Wines that really stand out'  Tippings Tipples - The Press
A couple of years back I wrote about wine sales and marketer turned winemaker Katie Jones, who bought a small vineyard near her home in the south of France. Since then, Katie’s wines have received much acclaim and, most recently, gold in the International Wine Challenge for her Domaine Jones Fitou 2010. Katie’s Fitou is indeed a solid, very well made red but Domaine Jones Blanc 2011 is the standout wine for me. Made from grenache gris, it has a creamy texture, with very long flavours of pear, melon, white pepper and herbs. It is dry but not overly so and has quite a pronounced minerality with smoky notes too.

A lovely Grenache Gris from Domaine Jones Jamie Goode
A while back I was enthusing here about Grenache Blanc, and several people told me to keep an eye out for Grenache Gris. Well, I found one – it’s from Domaine Jones, whose wines Ireviewed a while back. The packaging is very stylish and so is the wine. Presumably Grenache Blanc, Gris and Noir are the same variety, as with Pinot, just different clones (although we like to think of them as separate varieties).

Domaine Jones Blanc 2011 IGP Cotes Catalanes, France
13% alcohol. From an 80 year old Grenache Gris vineyard under the Queribus castle. Lovely hint of matchstick reduction on the nose. It shows broad, rounded, ripe pear fruit with just a hint of vanilla. Nice texture and depth with mineral freshness. 91/100 (Jamie Goode, Wine Anorak)

"Made from Grenache Gris from that original windswept, 80 year old vineyard, this has notes of melon and pear as well as a sense of the wild herbs which fill the air as you walk across the land.  There is a broad, textured palate, perfect to pour alongside food such as oven-baked fish or a herb roasted chicken.  This wine won a Silver Medal at the Decanter Awards" (Christine Austin, Yorkshire Post)

2010 Vintage

91 points.  From virtually pure Grenache Gris (certainly there are a few black and white vines in there) – since the cohabitating Muscat was entirely marked and segregated this year for a separate bottling – the 2010 Jones Blanc offers a knockout compendium of the seductive wiles of this cepage so seldom encountered outside of Roussillon.  Scents of narcissus, acacia, and ripe Persian melon translate into a luscious, soothingly- textured, yet refreshing palate on which fresh cress and myriad mineral nuances of seemingly crystalline nature offer a positively shimmering flavor interplay and tactile impingement.  Mouth-watering salinity; pungent smokiness; piquant citrus zest; and a bite of cress accompany the generous fruit on a long finish.  It would be a shame to miss out on some of this over the next couple of years, but that said it may well be worth following it for longer. (David Schildknecht, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate)


2009 Vintage

"
Half oak aged, this is predominantly Grenache Gris, with 5% Muscat. Intense and richly fruited nose with notes of melon and pear, as well as herb and spice notes. The palate is textured and broad with rich melon and herb fruit and a bit of bite. Lovely wine. 90/100" (Jamie Goode, Wine Anorak)

"Katie still lives in Paziols, where I once had my house, but her grapes come from Maury in the Roussillon. This deftly-oaked Grenache Blanc contains a touch of Muscat, and it’s utterly delicious. Stylish, aromatic and refreshing, with hint of orange zest, citrus fruit lift and haunting minerality.
93 points." (Tim Atkin's Blog)

"A full-bodied, richly textured dry white with ripe, stonefruit flavours and a stony, mineral core; and a 2009 Jones Muscat, in half-litre bottle, a correspondingly fragrant, medium sweet white with lusciously exotic, lychee and grapey flavours." (Anthony Rose, the Independent)

"Made from hand picked grenache gris grapes with a touch of aromatic muscat, is a full-bodied, richly textured dry white with ripe, stonefruit flavours, a stony, mineral core balanced by fine, refreshing acidity. You wouldn't know it had spent some time in oak, but it did spend about six months in three older oak casks to help round it out." (Anthony Rose's Blog)

"Very fragrant, delicate mimosa and soft wild broom blossom. Jewelled acidity and exquisitely cut-glass fruit, glowing with life. Delicious weight of pear and melon, richness without a trace of heaviness, spice and wild herbs finely etched into the framework. Tense, tightly knit and very expressive. Long, long, long. Watch this domaine! 13.3%, 17.5++ Drink 2011-2014" (Tamlyn Currin, Jancis Robinson's Purple Pages)

"Grenache Gris, with a splash of Muscat a Petit Grains. Grenache Gris isn't usually the most expressive or aromatic variety, but the addition of that small amount of Muscat has imbued this wine with a lovely perfume of honey, apricot and flowers. The palate is gloriously fruity, with a certain richness and gentle spiciness, but beautifully balanced and elegant with it. Long, too. A lovely wine." (Leon Stolarski Blog)

"Katie is not going to fuss about French bureaucracy and submit bottles and paperwork for a vin de pays label, or indication géographique protégée, as it should be called now.. She has opted for simplicity and vin de table. Half of her Grenache has spent six months in oak, but it is so beautifully integrated that you simply wouldn’t realise. There is some attractive spicy fruit on the nose and palate, with hints of white flowers and a fresh finish and lovely mouth feel. I was dead impressed. Here is somebody who until last year had never actually made wine – true she has worked in wine for years, but that’s quite different from making it. She does have access to some expert advice, but she has still got to implement it." (Rosemary George MW, Taste Languedoc)

"The delightfully different Jones blanc 2009 is made from Greanche Gris, blended with a smidgen of Muscat. It is bone dry, with flavours if citrus and tropical fruit, honey, plenty of minerality and a linering white pepper finish." (Mark Tipping, York Press)

"A medium to full bodied wine, with round complex structure. There were minerals, herbs, passion fruit, pear, melon and white flowers. Soft, silky, supple and spicy. Very sublte oak and very expressive." (Clive Patman, Bin Ends Wine Club)

"Aromatic floral nose with light coconut cedar and toasted honey tones; exotic peachy touches on the palate vs chalky texture, nice balance of fruit vs lees/toast versus steelier side, quite elegant actually and drinking well already." (Richard James, WineWriting.com)