2000 Jacques Puffeney Vin Jaune

Sure, you might stumble upon a forgetton Jura wine at the bottom of an expansive wine list while out to dinner, but a whole selection of Jura wines by-the-glass?

Barrel Thief, a Richmond, Virginia wine shop/bar/cafe,* decided to feature a practically never before seen by-the-glass program featuring solely Jura wines. They weren't popular with customers, nor easy to get a hold of. Hence, their existence being challenging and worthwhile. The newest 5+ entries are devoted to featuring those wines. Read on.

Puffeney (pew-feh-nay) is imported by Rosenthal Wine Merchants. According to the MadRose website, "Puffeney usually waits 8 1/2 years to make a final determination as to whether the appropriate quality level has been reached" as opposed to the usual 6 1/2.

2000 Jacques Puffeney Vin Jaune
-toasted, honeyed walnuts, lanolin, unexpectedly tannic (heck, this is practically a baby vin jaune), the walnuts really take over otp**
*disclaimer - the author is a former manager of aforementioned BT
**shorthand - on the palate

vin jaune

Vin jaune is the pride and joy of Jura. Crafted from the grape savagnin and using a purposefully oxidizing fermentation process, the closest thing to compare to the final product is a dry sherry.

Savagnin's lineage is difficult to trace, although it's thought to be related to the traminer family. To the dismay of many an Aussie producer, genetic tests recently proved that the albariño they thought they had planted over a decade ago as an investment was, in fact, savagnin.

The process used for fermentation is called sous-voile or 'under the veil', which is very similar to the flor that is essential to sherry production. The yeast forms a tight seal over the wine and allows a certain amount of oxidation under the watchful eye of the winemaker. The voile develops over a period of 2-3 years, and by law is aged 6 years, 3 months.

The result, which is packaged in 500mL clavelins, is complex (and usually pricey) to say the least. Serve at cellar temperature, and if you're lucky enough to come across a bottle of your own, make the effort to explore the classic food pairing with Comté cheese or a poulet de Bresse, if you can get your hands on one.

Totally worth it.

La Percée du Vin Jaune
A festival held in a different town in Jura every year during the first week of February. Despite the cold, (Jura's climate is Burgundian with tougher cold spells), thousands of people come out to celebrate the 'Opening of the Yellow Wine'!

case in point: Jura wines

Wedged between Burgundy (Cotes de Beaune) and the Swiss border, the tiny and obscure region of Jura is a treasure hold of funky and nutty wines (seriously, some taste of walnuts).

Six AOC's: Arbois, Chateau-Chalon, l'Etoile, Cotes du Jura, Cremant du Jura, Macvin du Jura.

Arbois is arguably the most famous region, followed by Cotes du Jura. Chateau-Chalon only produces vin jaune (more on that in the next post). l'Etoile is named for tiny star-shaped fossils in the soil (noted by the red star on the label), and very good méthode traditionelle wines comes from the Cremant AOC. Macvin is the newest AOC (circa 1991).

Varietals range from revered native grapes to classic Burgundy numbers.

Red: Poulsard (Ploussard), Trousseau (Trousseau Gris), Pinot Noir
White: Savagnin, Chardonnay

Major Players: Stéphane (Andre et Mireille) Tissot, Jacques Puffeney, Berthet-Bondet, Julien Labet, Henri Maire (ph)*, Pierre Overnoy (ph)

*shorthand - post-humously

Henri Maire & Louis Pasteur?
Pasteur was actually born in Arbois, and the family vineyard on which he experimented is now owned by the Henri Maire domaine. Maire is widely credited for keeping the Jura wine industry afloat with his cheap, prolific line of 'Vin Fou' or 'crazy wine'. Think Georges Duboeuf, for better or for worse.

Check out Peter Liem and Brooklynguy for more Jura-love.

Also, Ms. Mumu puts on quite a show: she has several in-depth posts starting with this one about the Jura, its producers, AOC restrictions, etc. etc. Très organized and a ton of detail for the über-geek.

incantation

This is not about me.

This is about fear.

This is about the fear of forgetting all of the spectacular wines I've had the privilege to meet and love. Blurs of red, white, and rosé.

Moments of personal clarity hidden in a 750.

This is also about the fear that amid a point-driven, mediocre-saturated market, wines of character and finesse aren't getting into the right hands.

This is about wine.

This is about wine with terroir, purity, and some soul.

Great wines. Small-production wines. Sustainably-produced wines. Weird wines. Wines that keep you up at night.

Wines of this caliber need to be advocated and celebrated, and easily accessible information about them can only aid this quest.

the terroirist project

The hope of the terroirist project is to keep a catalog of the worthy wines (admittedly, mostly French & Italian) and to give some background on the more obscure producers, regions and varietals.

Input is GREATLY appreciated in the form of increasing the accuracies of my findings.

Tasting notes are only included to give a general idea of the style of wine---they are not meant as definitive descriptions, just personal reflections.