Just a little Jura
Single vineyard, certified biodynamic farming, hand harvested, spontaneous fermentation, two years aging in large oak barrels…
Attributes on tech sheets are seldom able to sum up a wine. If I were to describe this wine to a customer, I might mention a few of those things but too often, as soon as I say the word Chardonnay, I see eyes glaze over or expressions tighten. People are instantly put off by the idea of drinking one of the world’s most popular varietals. Too many of us have been scarred by supermarket Chardonnays that are unbalanced, made from over ripe fruit, or made worse by the overuse of oak. But that’s not what Chardonnay is.
Chardonnay is a winemaker’s grape. It’s easy to grow and it’s easy to alter in the winery. But intelligent producers know that the best thing to do is cultivate healthy soil and leave the vines alone. The right thing is to let the grapes speak for themselves. Allow the rainfall, the sunlight, and the vines do the heavy lifting.
This week we pulled the cork on a 2018 Chardonnay from Bénédicte & Stéphane Tissot. The grapes came from one of their vineyards, Les Bruyères, after which the wine is named. Triassic clay and blue marl subsoils are the hallmark of the site and contribute to the wine’s glimmering minerality. The altitude at which the vineyard sits keeps the grapes from over ripening thereby allowing them to maintain greater levels of acidity. While these are all things I might explain to someone if they were interested in a wine from the Jura, they wouldn’t exactly help explain the unique personality of this wine.
Galileo Galilei famously said, “wine is sunlight held together by water.” Never has this quote rushed into my mind so quickly then when we tasted this wine together. Have you ever walked into a bakery and gotten a nose full of confectioner sugar? Have you ever grilled a pineapple? This is what I smelled when I swished the wine around in my glass. Fresh butter, cornmeal, and brilliant salinity were what I noticed when I took a sip.
This wine could easily age another decade but I’m glad we were able to check in on it last week. Now I know that I’m only going to love it more as it gets older. The finish was incredibly long, the acidity never subsided. There was food on the table in front of us, but I didn’t want to take a bite of anything because I didn’t want the flavor in my mouth to disappear. I think we talked about this wine for about an hour as we sipped.
While I would never turn down a glass of Chardonnay, Chris is the real ambassador of the varietal in the shop. I’ve seen him convert lovers of Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and the much-maligned Pinot Grigio, into admirers of Chardonnay. He’s the one to whom all Chardonnay questions should be directed. I’m so glad we were able to enjoy this wine as a team because it reminds me how special sharing a bottle like that can be.
