WINE MINUS Ø - Spotlight: The Jura

MIDNIGHT CORRESPONDENCE MAY 2021

THE JURA: This tiny, mountainous region, situated between Burgundy and Switzerland, escaped attention from the global wine community for many centuries. Despite containing the first AOC in all of France - “Arbois,” 1936 - the Jura has maintained a remoteness that has allowed it to remain true to its 600+ year winemaking history.

As Ed writes in his ‘trip notes’ following two separate visits to the region:

… unscathed by outside influence, trend and fashion—Jura has its Trousseau, Savagnin, Vin Jaune and Poulsard. This is a place of no conglomeration, no cosmopolitanism, no wine press scoring frenzy, no compulsion for new smoky vanilla taste and heavy, fat, gargantuan high-alcohol wines. It is an aria and a delight. It is the great little restaurant we all want no one to know about. It is the twinkle of the star, a place unto itself.

As such a place, “natural wine” comes rather naturally to the Jura. The region’s producers are not pushing back against modern winemaking/growing practices so much as they are simply making wine they way they have been making wine for generations.

This month, some hyper-natural, hyper-beautiful, and hyper-rare new Jura wines arrived on our shop floor. They represent only a tiny glimpse of this magnetic region, which - once you catch the Jura bug - we anticipate you’ll want to know all about. For more, start with Ed’s extensive Jura Notes from 2011.

MIDNIGHT CORRESPONDENCE MAY 2021

**Benjamin Benoit Arbois Pupillin Ploussard 'Le Grapiot' 2019**
From the 25 year old Jura producer who has recently been named Hachette’s Top Winemaker of 2021, this is one of six single vineyard Pupillin Ploussards. Made in tiny quantities and imported in even tinier ones, this is WOW from the first sniff through the long, ethereal finish. Floral, intriguing, alive, it is a wine that begs you to keep returning for another smell, another taste and keeps responding with new sensations and impressions. For more Benjamin Benjoit, click here.

**Jean Bourdy Cotes du Jura Blanc Savagnin 2017**
Made from the briliant local grape Savagnin (“not Sauvignon!” says Jean-François), it is the grape used for the great specailty wines of the Jura - Vin Jaune and Chateau Chalon: wines made under a yeast called “flor.” In this case the Côtes du Jura Savagnin is aged less - four years in barrels that are not topped up - for freshness and complexity. JF calls it a “baby Vin Jaune.”

SKINNY DIPPING IN THE WATER TOWER MAY 2021

**Jean Bourdy Cotes du Jura Blanc 2017**
All wines from the Jura usually surprise tasters the first time they try them. This wine is probably the most surprising, partly because its obscurity in being Chardonnay from the Jura adds a little of the unknown and unexpected, and partly because it’s Chardonnay (if we allow for objective honesty, Chardonnay is the most over-planted grape on earth, and it is often “big” or manipulated, but it is well known so it sells) and most of us already “know” the grape. Once one gets past these factors, there is a “hmmm, this is not bad” kind of impression, followed by a “wow, this is really cool” conclusion. Jean-François makes a particular point about this bottling: it is Jura. It is the wine of this place, and its identity is more than the grape, it is the ground too. We agree. The oldest vines in this bottling are from 1904. It uses no new wood and no filtration, it is produced in OLD barrels, in fact this very vintage is from the barrel in our photo above. It is a dry, lean, chalky wine, not brimming with minerality, but it is its own thing. An individual wine of depth, complexity and energy. Take a few good sips before you judge it. It is a lovely individual expression that becomes habit forming.

**Champ Divin Cremant du Jura Brut Zero NV**
A brand new Demeter certified sparkling from Fabrice and Valerie Closset-Gaziaux. 80% Chardonnay and 20% Savignin, the wine is refreshing, lively, and textured. It comes from Jura’s South-Revermont, the region’s “premier plateau.” It’s here that Fabrice and Valerie settled after many years of work on sustainable agriculture projects in Africa and many more assisting Loire winegrowers convert to organic. On their own five-hectares, the couple now applies their extensive knowledge of agronomy to biodynamically farm Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Savigin.