Romain Jambon

Brouilly

‘Tranch’ (Slice) as his friends call him affectionately, is a true lad from Beaujolais. He is the fourth in a line of Jambon; a surname closely associated with Beaujolais.

When we first met him, it was a cold, drizzly day in Odenas and as we drove along the country road we spotted him working in his fields at the top of a hill along the side of the road . His vineyards sits on an invisible line between two ‘crus’; Brouilly and Côte de Brouilly. This property is 100% Brouilly; 7 hectares of vines surrounding the house. A stint in New Zealand as a winemaker gave him valuable experience, but it also taught him what he didn’t want to do. Bucking the trend in Beaujolais, Romain wanted to make wine in the Burgundian style. He de-stems in ‘Burgundian’ fashion and tills his soils; ‘I like to till the soil to push the roots deeper.’ He ‘fell into’ Gamay when he was a child. ‘It’s an easy varietal to cultivate, it can be made into fresh, new wines or make great wines for cellaring like Burgundy’s Pinot Noir’.  He began in 2010 with his first bottling of Brouilly.

He is among the youngest winemakers anywhere as he became an independent winemaker at the ripe old age of 23! He is also a doting father of a 1 year old girl. Somehow he also finds time to play full back with the Odenas-Charentay soccer club. Romain Jambon indeed is one of the young guns and a rising star of Beaujolais.