Posts Tagged ‘Jura’
Two racy whites
Côtes du Jura 2013, Fleur de Savagnin, Domaine Labet ($41.50, 10783248)
The estate was certified organic in 2012. Technically a 100% Savagnin, this is actually a blend of Savagnin Vert (65%) and Savagnin Jaune (35%) from five parcels planted between 1940 and 1989. Fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. Matured 12 months on the lees in large oak barrels, which were regularly topped up to prevent oxidation. Unfiltered. Reducing sugar: 2.8 g/l. 12.5% ABV per the label, 14% per the SAQ. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Lean nose of quartz, wax, faint honey and lemon. Flavours are similar but also include “tart butter” (quoting another taster) and a hint of fennel. The fruit is vibrant and pure, a state only amplified by the dazzling, mouth-filling acidity and minerality. The effect is not so much tense as energetic, acrobatic even, and it lasts through the long, racy finish. A subsequent bottle paired brilliantly with a selection of fine cheeses. I always enjoy Labet’s Fleur but this is sensational. (Buy again? Yes, despite the $6 price hike from the preceding vintage.)
Côtes du Jura 2013, Chardonnay, Bajocien, Domaine Labet ($42.50, private import, 6 bottles/case, NLA)
100% Chardonnay from organically farmed vines rooted in Bajocien limestone. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Matured on the lees in barrels. Minimal sulphur dioxide. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Oats and lemon with hints of pear/apple, wool, hay and burned fennel. “Not as clean or precise as wine number 1,” though equally engaging and appealing. Bright acidity turns the fleshy fruit tart while the extract rounds the sharp edges. Complex flavours entwine in a sunny, hazy mid-palate. The finish is as long and minerally as the Fleur’s but also a little softer. It’s rare to encounter a Chardonnay with this much character, especially at this price. Accessible now but so balanced and deep it can age for several years. (Buy again? Yes.)
MWG November 12th tasting: flight 3 of 6
Two sparkling rosés
Crémant du Jura 2011, Rosé, Domaine Labet ($26.75, private import, 12 bottles/case, NLA)
A 60-40 blend of organically farmed Pinot Noir and Poulsard from 30- to 40-year-old vines. Macerated on the skins for several days. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Matured on its fine lees in fûts (42%), vats (32%) and barrels (26%). Allowed to undergo malolactic fermentation. A small amount of yeast and sugar was added to the finished wine, which was then bottled and matured. After three years, the bottles were disgorged, given a small dosage and corked. 12.2% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Lovely if understated mix of minerals, red berries (“old cherries” per one taster) and rhubarb with faint honey, old wood and floral overtones. In the mouth, it’s dry, minerally, haunted by fruit and wood, animated by fine bubbles and brilliant acidity. The long, clean finish has hints of toast and – could it be? – tannins. This was shown on trade day at the Salon des vins d’importation privée and restaurateurs were understandably all over it. (Buy again? Oh, yes.)
3B Rosé, Método Tradicional, Filipa Pato (c. $25.00, private import, 6 bottles/case, NLA)
A 70-30 blend of Baga and Bical from the Bairrada region (whence the three Bs); the vines average 30 years old and are rooted in sandy and clayey limestone soils. Manually harvested and gently pressed. Allowed to clarify by settling, then cool-fermented (16°C) with indigenous yeasts in 650-litre barrels and stainless steel vats. Sparkled using the traditional method. 11.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Importations du Moine.
Dense though not particularly fruity nose: “cream soda meets barley candy,” terracotta, melon, a hint of strawberry and a whiff of musk. More viscous than the buoyant Labet. Fruitier, too, though not bonbon-ish, thanks in part to the mineral substrate. Mild effervescence and soft acidity may explain the slight lethargy. A touch of peppery bitterness and astringency enlivens the long finish, which is more felt than tasted. Dry at first, the wine seemed to gain sweetness as it warmed and breathed. The member who donated the bottle said the white 3B is even more interesting. (Buy again? Maybe.)
MWG November 12th tasting: flight 1 of 6
Three Arbois reds
Arbois 2012, Poulsard de l’Ami Karl, Domaine de la Pinte ($24.25, 12616515)
100% biodynamically and organically farmed Poulsard from a single vineyard planted nearly 40 years ago. Manually harvested. Destemmed. Maceration and fermentation, with indigenous yeasts and daily pump-overs, take place in tanks. Matured in 50-hl oak barrels for eight or nine months. Lightly filtered before bottling. 12% ABV. Quebec agent: Raisonnance.
Fragrant nose of red berries, sweet spice, cedar and slate. Light- to medium-bodied, silky textured, wonderfully fresh, fluid and alive. The pale cherry-cranberry fruit is bright with acidity and deepened by a savoury, woodsy substrate. Chewing reveals fine, tight tannins, showing the wine to be more structured than first appears. Long, spicy finish. Bordering on magical – even New World fans and self-proclaimed Poulsard haters gave it a thumbs-up. Serve lightly chilled. (Buy again? Done and done again!)
Arbois 2011, Trousseau Grevillière, Domaine Daniel Dugois ($24.55, 12210419)
100% Trousseau from vines planted in the one-hectare Grevillière lieu-dit in the 1950s. Manually harvested. 100% destemmed. The lightly crushed grapes are cold-macerated then fermented with indigenous yeasts for around 18 days. Matured in large oak barrels for 18 months. Lightly filtered before bottling. Reducing sugar: 1.7 g/l. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: Symbiose.
Jammy red berries and crushed leaves. Round, extracted and mouth-filling. The fruit, which tastes stewed, is structured only a little by the streaming acidity and soft tannins. Decent length but heavy for a Jura red, lacking detail and devoid of excitement. Some drinkers report it needs a few years in the cellar or many hours in a carafe to start strutting its stuff; maybe that explains it. (Buy again? A bottle to age and see what gives?)
Arbois 2013, Poulsard, Jacques Puffeney ($31.50, private import, 12 bottles/case)
100% organically farmed Poulsard from several different parcels in Montigny and Arbois. Manually harvested. Fermented in vats with indigenous yeasts for 15 to 20 days, then racked into neutral foudres for malolactic fermentation. Matured in barrels for around two years. Unfiltered and unfined. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: Vini-Vins.
Closed nose, somewhat slatey and offering up an unusual aroma one taster described as “cold poutine.” Slowly develops minty raspberry and cedar shake notes. Similarly closed and unexpressive in the mouth. Light- to medium-bodied. The fruit is lean, the acidity brisk, the tannins light and tight. Minerals and spice come out on the long finish. Classic natural Poulsard – hazy, earthy and complex – but somewhat enigmatic and austere for now. Will be interesting to revisit in a couple of years. (Buy again? Yes, especially since this is the retiring Puffeney’s next-to-last vintage.)
MWG October 8th tasting: flight 4 of 7
Going live
Vin de France 2014, Y’a bon the canon, Anne et Jean-François Ganevat ($28.35, 12624152)
Organically farmed Gamay (reportedly from Château de Grand Pré in the Beaujolais) blended with smaller amounts of old indigenous varieties from Ganevat’s vineyards in the Jura (Petit Béclan, Gros Béclan, Geusche, Argant, Peurion, Portugais Bleu, Isabelle, Enfariné and maybe others). Manually harvested. Nautral vinification. Unfiltered. Unfined. No added sulphur. Reducing sugar: 2.8 g/l. 13% ABV. Quebec agent: Rézin.
Rich, glowing red, deeper than expected. Fragrant nose of red berries – especially cranberry – and pine forest floor, eventually developing pepper, slate and beef larb aromatics. In the piehole, it’s supple, light- to medium-bodied and a little spritzy, a tart and juicy mouthful with great fruit-acid balance. Relegated to the background, the slim tannins are most obvious as a lingering, faintly bitter astringency. The long, lip-smacking finish leaves a cedary aftertaste. So fresh, so alive, so food-friendly (grilled pork with fresh herbs or roast chicken with same would be killer). Drink lightly chilled. In an ideal world, this would be $5 cheaper but, then again, it’s a compulsively drinkable natural wine from a cult producer and the exchange rate is punishing these days. (Buy again? Imperatively.)
SAQ.com shows this as unavailable but I bought mine at one of the larger Sélection stores yesterday afternoon (the clerk went to the back room and pulled the bottle out of a case still on the delivery pallet). Note that there’s not a lot around and it’s certain to disappear fast.
Two other noteworthy wines are also going live this week. First, one of the MWG’s favourite private imports is premiering at the SAQ: Côtes du Roussillon 2013, C’est pas la mer à boire, Domaine du Possible ($32.25, 12623088), which, like the Ganevat, is showing as unavailable on SAQ.com but which I purchased yesterday (see here for some background on the winemaker and my tasting note from last November). Second, a restocking of the irresistible Alsace 2011, Trilogie, Domaine Barmès Buecher ($19.95, 12254420).
New wave vin jaune?
While many delicious wines were poured at last Sunday’s Small Secrets x Bar Barbara pop-up, this stood out in more ways than one.
Arbois 2007, Vin Jaune, Domaine André et Mireille Tissot ($77.25/620 ml, 10322581)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Savagnin from several parcels. (This is the generic bottling. Now in charge of the estate, André and Mireille’s son, Stéphane, has also been making vineyard-designated vins jaunes since 1993 and recently introduced a Château Chalon.) The grapes are manually harvested, pneumatically pressed and fermented in tanks with indigenous yeasts. The resulting wine is transferred to 228-litre barrels for maturation. Contrary to conventional practice, the barrels are not topped up (the wine lost to evaporation is not replaced). A yeast veil soon forms on the surface, protecting and flavouring the wine. After six years, the wine is racked, lightly filtered and bottled in clavelins, squat 620-ml bottles (620 ml said to be the amount left from a litre of wine). No sulphur is added. 15% ABV. Quebec agent: Les vins Alain Bélanger.
Gorgeous outgoing nose. Lightly oxidized yellow plum and apple with hints of limestone, nuts and curry powder. Bone dry yet there’s a sweet fruitiness unlike anything I’ve encountered in a vin jaune and a freshness whose only parallel (in my experience) is found in Gahier’s 2005. Buoyant acidity enlightens the rich bordering on dense texture, while the fruit is faceted by mineral and butterscotch undertones and white and yellow spice overtones that perfume the long, long finish. Wonderfully pure and clean. Is Tissot pointing the way to a more immediately accessible, fruit-driven vin jaune? In any case, even in its infancy, this is delicious on its own and synergistic with aged Comté and walnuts. It also worked well with shards of old Gouda. (Buy again? Oh, yes. In fact, it’s the kind of wine that, if I had the money, I’d buy a dozen bottles of and open one every two or three years to track its evolution over its sure to be decades-long life.)
Bordel de Noël workshop (2/6)
Bourgogne Vézelay 2012, La Piècette, Domaine de la Cadette ($27.15, 11589691)
See the delightful Wine Terroirs blog for background on and pictures of the estate and many of its wines, though not the Piècette. 100% organically farmed Chardonnay from several parcels. The hand-picked whole clusters are pressed and the must is transferred to stainless steel tanks and new oak barrels (two-thirds to one-third for the 2010; not sure about the 2012) for six months’ alcoholic and malolactic fermentation (no added yeasts or bacteria). Unfiltered. 12.5% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Powdered quartz and lemon, some green apple and a floral note. Fruity but dry. Fresh and just tense enough, with a clean attack, smooth mid-palate and lingering faint bitterness. The oak is so discreet as to almost be unnoticeable. Complex and elegant, showing more than a little of the rectitude and integrity that makes good Chablis so appealing. Worked with nearly everything on the plate except the cranberry relish, which proved more than the wine could handle. (Buy again? Yes.)
Côtes du Jura 2012, Fleur de Savagnin, Domaine Labet ($35.25, 10783248)
Like a few other Jura winemakers, the Labets use the “fleur” (flower) moniker to designate unoxidized wines. 100% Savagnin from organically farmed vines averaging 25 years old in several parcels, including the celebrated En Chalasse vineyard. After pressing, the must is allowed to clarify by settling for 24 hours. Fermented with indigenous yeasts in large, neutral oak barrels. Matured in newer 228-litre oak barrels that are topped up weekly. 14% ABV. Quebec agent: oenopole.
Fragrant nose of Meyer lemon, apple/pear, wax candles and hints of almonds and porcini. The richness of extract doesn’t interfere with the wine’s fluidity, due largely to the grape’s inherent acidity, here present if not as trenchant as in some earlier vintages. The sharp strata of fruit and minerals are softened by a gossamer scrim of creamy oak. Finishes long and clean. Very impressive. In a tasting full of delicious wines, this was the most popular with the assembled tasters. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was also the most versatile in terms of food pairing, handling everything from smoked salmon to turkey to cranberry relish with aplomb and positively singing with the roasted Brussels sprouts. (Buy again? Imperatively.)
Octavin and Gahier tasting (4/4): Savagnins
Arbois 2011, Zest de Savagnin, Domaine de l’Octavin ($50.48, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodyamically farmed Savagnin from 70-year-old vines grown in the Les Nouvelles vineyard. Macerated on the skins for three months, making this an orange wine, then matured in old barrels for around ten months. 12.9% ABV.
Complex nose of orange peel, floor wax, faint pine needles, sawed wood, peach and lemon, among other things. Smooth and round on the attack and surface though a strong acidic undercurrent quickly makes itself felt. Richly flavoured if a little monolithic for the now (of all the wines in the tasting, this is the one I most wished had been carafed), the fruit wrapped around a mineral core. Textured more like a red wine, with light tannins coming out on the long finish. Better balanced, more complete and fresher than many orange wines. Fascinating if a bit elemental; the future looks promising though. (Buy again? Gritting my teeth at the price but yes.)
Arbois 2005, Vin jaune, Domaine Michel Gahier ($71.00/620 ml, Primavin, NLA)
100% Savagnin. Matured sous voile (under a yeast veil) in old oak barrels for more than six years. 13.5% ABV.
Lightly oxidized nose of straw, apple and dried pear, developing nori and pastry notes as the wine breathes. A marvel in the mouth: so fresh and delicate yet also so present, focused and balanced. The fruit is pure, the acidity bracing. Threads of caramel, vanilla and nuts intertwine on the minutes-long finish. Obviously oxidized but not at all fino-like. Such a buoyant wine – each sip just carries you along. A synergistic match with 36-month-old Comté and walnut bread. In short, one of the best vin jaunes I’ve tasted and easily the most delicious. As remarkable as it is now, Gahier says it needs another ten to 20 years to develop fully. (Buy again? As nearly everyone at the tasting said: yes, price be damned.)
Octavin and Gahier tasting (3/4): Trousseaus
Vin de France 2012, Corvée de Trousseau, Domaine de l’Octavin ($32.83, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Trousseau from the Les Corvées vineyard (and maybe other parcels). The whole grapes are vinified using carbonic maceration. The wine is denied Arbois AOC status because the alcohol level, 9.7% ABV, does not reach the required minimum (10%). “Boire du trousseau, ce n’est jamais une corvée” (Drinking Trousseau is never a chore) is written on the label.
I’ve seen darker rosés, though few as murky. Kaleidoscopic nose of cedar, “pale red tomato,” banana peel, red grapefruit, rhubarb and more. Faint carbon dioxide prickle. Light-bodied is putting it too strongly: the fruit is diaphanous, almost rainwatery (“eau de gazpacho” was how one taster described it) and yet the wine has the wherewithal to stand up to dried sausage, which brings out its fruit and makes you appreciate its mineral and acid backbone, dryness and length. A watercolour of a wine, quite unlike anything else I’ve encountered. (Buy again? At $23, I’d jump on it. At $33, a single bottle will have to do.)
Arbois 2011, Zerlina, Domaine de l’Octavin ($35.52, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
Biodyanmically and organically farmed Trousseau (50%) and Pinot Noir (50%) from the En Curon vineyard. 12% ABV.
Red berries with a hint of rubber and spice. Light- to medium-bodied, dry and silky textured. Clean on the attack, lightly structured and brightly lit. The fruit is ripe and fleet, shaded with earthier flavours. A lingering astringency and fine minerality colour the finish. (Buy again? Yes, with only a little grumbling about the price.)
Arbois 2011, Trousseau, Les Grands Vergers, Domaine Michel Gahier ($31.50, Primavin, NLA)
Les Grands Vergers is the lieu-dit (named place) where the 60- to 70-year-old vines for this 100% Trousseau are grown. (The area around Gahier’s village, Montigny-les-Arsures, is considered the homeland of Trousseau.) 12.5% ABV.
Perfumy red fruit with a few black currants thrown in, faint cinnamon, old wood and smoke. Medium-bodied. There’s a freshness and a bell-like clarity to the fruit, a hallmark of all the Gahier wines. Structured with fine, firm tannins, tensed with acidity, grounded in minerals and earth that last well into the finish. A beauty. (Buy again? Yes, in multiples with no grumbling whatsoever.)
Octavin and Gahier tasting (2/4): Poulsards
Arbois 2011, Cul Rond à la cuisse rose, Domaine de l’Octavin ($27.54, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Poulsard from the En Curon vineyard. Immediately after the grapes are crushed, the skins are removed to avoid colouring the juice (which, like that from nearly all red grapes, is clear); in other words, this is a blanc de noirs (assuming you’d call the pale Poulsard a black grape, that is). 11% ABV.
Muted, yeasty, sweaty nose that required coaxing to reveal the rumoured stone fruit. A bit spritzy on opening, which may explain the nose. Medium-bodied, possessed of a relatively dense, heading toward waxy texture. There’s an appealing tartness and a cider-like quality to the fruit. The finish is long and mineral-packed. Should probably be carafed an hour before opening. (Buy again? Sure.)
Arbois 2012, Dorabella, Domaine de l’Octavin ($31.27, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodyanmically farmed Poulsard from 50-year-old vines from the La Mailloche vineyard plus a little form the En Curon vineyard. Vinified using carbonic maceration, like many Beaujolais. 11% ABV.
Pale red, the colour locals term rubis. Fruity, yeasty, cedary, tomatoey nose with a whiff of stinky feet. Light-bodied with lowish acid. The discreet fruit is marked by meaty, bloody and spicy notes. There’s also a bit of fizz, which may be intentional. A little disappointing compared with the disarmingly charming 2011 tasted last November but quite possibly in need of a few months to find its footing. (Buy again? A bottle to see how it evolves.)
Arbois 2012, Ploussard, Domaine Michel Gahier ($25.00, Primavin, NLA)
100% Poulsard (aka Ploussard) from 50-year-old vines in various parcels around Montigny-les-Arsures. 12.5% ABV.
Medium red. Raspberry (a bit candied), sweet spice, quartz and blossoms (musk rose and violet?). Medium-bodied. Iron and light red fruit are the dominant flavours (“blood on white strawberries” quoth one taster), while acidity streams and tannins lightly rasp. Decent length and a lingering tang. A textbook example of the grape and an excellent pairing for charcuterie. (Buy again? Yes.)
Octavin and Gahier tasting (1/4): Chardonnays
Breaking from its usual focus on a single winemaker, the most recent Jura Oenorama tasting was a study in contrasts that featured two lesser known estates: the dynamic, even edgy Domaine de l’Octavin and the more traditional Domaine Michel Gahier.
Founded in 2005 by Alice Bouvot and Charles Dagand, Domaine de l’Octavin owns five hectares of vineyards around its home base of Arbois. Its wines are as natural as they come: made from organically and biodynamically farmed grapes using a non-interventionist approach with no added anything (including sugar, yeast or sulphur) and bottled unfiltered and unfined. What’s more, the winemakers are open to experimentation; one of their wines is a blanc de noirs made from Poulsard, for example. As the owners are amateur musicians and classical music nuts, several of the wines have been named after characters in Mozart operas.
Media-shy Michel Gahier is based in Montigny-les-Arsures, where one of his neighbours and friends is Jacques Puffeney. Farming at the 6.5-hectare estate is fundamentally organic, though not certified as such. The wine-making is very traditional. The red grapes are destemmed and cold-macerated, then fermented for about one month with some punching-down of the cap early on. The wines, both red and white, are matured in old foudres and barrels and bottled unfiltered. Though off many drinkers’ radar, Gahier’s wines are much prized by Jura connoisseurs (they feature prominently on the list of Arbois’s Jean-Paul Jeunet, the Jura’s only Michelin two-star restaurant) and remain reasonably priced.
We began with a flight of Chardonnays.
Arbois 2010, Pamina, Domaine de l’Octavin ($34.15, Les Importations du Moine, 6 bottles/case)
100% organically and biodynamically farmed Chardonnay from the La Mailloche vineyard. Fermented with indigenous yeasts. Underwent malolactic fermentation. Matured on the lees in second- to fifth-fill barrels for two years, occasionally stirred and regularly topped-up. Unfiltered, unfined. No added sulphur. 13% ABV.
Yeasty nose with nuances of lemon, browning apple, chalk and a whiff of burned rubber. Medium-bodied. Tart yet the wine remains more soft than angular. There’s straw upfront, fruit (yellow apple?) in the background and plenty of chalky minerals. A faint hazelnut note creeps in on the finish. Not what you’d call a tightly focused wine but fun to drink. (Buy again? Sure.)
Arbois 2011, Les Follasses, Domaine Michel Gahier ($25.50, Primavin, NLA)
100% Chardonnay from the high-elevation, slow-ripening Les Follasses vineyard. Matured in neutral barrels, which are kept topped-up. 12.5% ABV.
Appealing nose of limestone, spice, apple, lemon zest and a faint lactic note. Fruity but dry, round but also ethereal. Crunchy minerals add flavour and texture while the zingy acidity combines with a saline note to make the long finish a lip-smacker. Fresh and tasty – what’s not to like? (Buy again? Def.)
Arbois 2010, Les Crêts, Domaine Michel Gahier ($27.50, Primavin, NLA)
100% Chardonnay from the hilltop Les Crêts vineyard. Matured about 15 months in a large foudre and then another 12 months in smaller (600-litre) demi-muids. 12.5% ABV.
Strong burned match odours slowly gave way to hints of stone fruit, lemon and minerals. The richest and smoothest of the three. The fruit tends to apple and pear, the minerals to flint as much as chalk. Dry but a shade less than Les Follasses, the residual sugar rounding the wine and taking the edge off the sustained acidity. A faint nuttiness echoes through the very long and minerally finish. Balanced and complex – just lovely. (Buy again? With pleasure.)
Contrary to what some U.S. merchants claim, Gahier’s Les Follasses and Les Crêts bottlings are not made in an oxidative style: the barrels are kept topped up, so no yeast veil develops and the only oxidation that occurs is through the barrel staves. Gahier does make a sous voile Chardonnay, the La Fauquette bottling.
Brett happens 