Steven, both Mann and Weinbach were great visits, Weinbach’s tasting room with antique furniture and lots of “Old World Charm.” Weinbach’s cuvée Ste. Catherine was the wine that got me interested in Alsace, but I’ve had bottles of their PG and Gewürztraminer that combined opulence with elegance and complexity, not heavy richness, that was quite special. I love the Mann '08 Schlossberg, looking forward to the 2010 version! 
Great Puffeney writeup. Kind of odd about the appointment. Big fan of his wines, though I’ve never had Vin Jaune. I’d love to see more pictures if you have any. Thanks for sharing.
Unfortunately, I took only that one picture, should have taken a photo of the house from outside, it’s really beautiful. Normally, when doing winery visits I also like to walk the surrounding vineyards for a while, but unfortunately, there was no time that day.
After the visit to Jacques Puffeney, I headed back to the Sud-Revermont, but stopped in Arbois. Unfortunately, Chocolaterie Hirsinger, producing the best chocolates I’ve eaten so far, was closed. I had received orders from five friends and my wife and had to disappoint them all. Last year when we were in Arbois, pretty much all places I wanted to go were closed: La Balance, Jean-Paul Jeunet, Bistro de la Tournelle, Bistro des Claquets. This time, at least Bistro des Claquets was open. What a great place. There’s a table commune where all kinds of people sit, the plat du jour was a very tasty blanquette de veau and they served a 2008 Côtes du Jura Savagnin from Salvadori with it. I loved the place.
The Sud-Revermont is as rural as it gets. Lons-le-Saunier is the largest town around with around 17,000 inhabitants. Most of the Sud-Revermont is “douce France” with green plains, small hamlets and villages and mostly agriculture. If you drive up the hill from the Route Nationale south of Lons, there’s the small village of Rotalier with a handful of vignerons, among them Domaine Labet.
Domaine Labet used to be run by Alain and Josie and is now mostly steered by their children Julien, Charline and Romain. In between 2003 and 2009 (?) Julien Labet had gotten roughly three hectares to make his own wines (Julien Labet instead of Domaine Labet) with conversion to biodynamics and no use of SO². Nowadays, however, there’s only Domaine Labet again. You can read about Domaine Labet on Wink Lorch’s blog: Domaine Labet, a family affair | Jura Wine, Food and Travel
Today, the Domaine has roughly 15 ha of vines around Rotalier, some in the same lieu-dits as their neighbours. There are lots of different wines on the wine list. There’s Pinot Noir, Poulsard, Trousseau, Chardonnay ouillé, Chardonnay non-ouillé, Savagnin ouillé, Savagnin non-ouillé and a Vin Jaune, Crémant as well as a Vin de Paille. Since some vineyards are already certified organic and others currently in conversion, there are separate organic fillings of some wines, too (all of which were sold out though).
The philosophy of the Domaine is basically as follows: all wines are fermented with wild yeasts, they rest on the lees for quite a long time (mostly 18 to 24 months), mostly in used pièces and are not or only very lightly sulphured upon bottling. There are a few Cuvées and quite a few single vineyard bottlings. The specialty of the Domaine lies in non-oxidative Chardonnays that get sold under the name of “Fleur de Marne” with the name of the vineyards. There are different types of soils in the vineyards: limestone soils (partly reddish), different types of Marnes from Lias and Trias. Mostly, the Domaine has Sélection Massale vines, but also some clones.
Here’s a summary of their vineyards, taken from their entry on the official Jura Wine website:
En Chalasse: Marnes Bleues du Lias. Savagnin: one parcel with roughly 25 year old vines, one parcel with roughly 10 year old vines, 50% Sélection Massale, 50% Klone. Chardonnay: 65, 55 and 30 year old vines, 100% Selection Massale.
Les Varrons: red-orange argilo-calcaire soils. Roughly 80, 70, 65 and 45 year old Chardonnay vines, 100% Sélection Massale
La Reine: Orange yellow argilo calcaire soils, roughly 115 and 95 year old Chardonnay vines, 100% Sélection Massale
En Billat: Blue clay with slate components. Roughly 115 and 75 year old Chardonnay vines, 100% Sélection Massale.
La Bardette: Marnes Bleues du Lias, Sub-soil of limestone with marine fossils. Over 65 year old Chardonnay vines. 100% Sélection Massale.
Le Montceau: Marnes Noirs, limestone sub soil. Over 65 year old Chardonnay vines. 100% Sélection Massale.
La Beaumette: Marnes Bleues. Over 50 year old Chardonnay vines. 100% Sélection Massale.
The tasting was with Charlene Labet who is super-friendly and very knowledgeable about her wines, the influence of the different soils, the micro-climate in the different lieu-dits, etc. There really seems to be great attention to detail at Domaine Labet. I also really liked the tasting/vat room which had something of a barnyard.
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We didn’t taste through the whole range as it would have been a little hectic, I had only two hours. So we focused on the dry whites.
2011 Côtes du Jura Chardonnay “Fleurs”: This is the basic non-oxidative Chardonnay that spends 10 months in used Cuves. Medium yellow. Light and floral in the nose, some lemon. At first a bit flat in the mouth, but there’s a nice chalky acidity and more interest in the back end of the wine. Good for the price.
2011 Côtes du Jura Fleur de Chardonnay: This comes from just one parcel with pure limestone under a reddish, thin topsoil. 10 months elevage in used pièces. Medium golden yellow. This is quite individual with zero fruit, zero, zero, zero. There are yellow and dark green herbs and spices and lots of wet stone. This continues on the palate, it’s very austere, fully dry, chalky, linear and very salty, in fact mouthwatering. A challenging wine, I really liked it, bought it, but will cellar it for some years first.
2011 Côtes du Jura Fleur de Savagnin: This comes from several different parcels, inter alia the lieu-dit “En Chalasse”. There was some Botrytis in 2011. Elevage is 10 months ouillé in used pièces. Golden yellow. In the nose this is creamy-spicy with fresh porcini mushrooms, Aloe Vera and fresh green herbs. In the mouth, it’s fairly round, has nice and bright acidity and is fairly lean despite quite a high alcohol level (14.5 % Vol.).
Then we went on to the specialty of the Domaine, the single vineyard Chardonnays:
2011 Côtes du Jura “Les Varrons”: From two parcels in the lieu-dit “Les Varrons” with 70 and 80 year old vines. 18 months elevage in used pièces. Medium yellow. In the nose, this is very chalky, it has whiteish fruit and is very floral. Quite rich in the mouth, but more vertical than horizontal, precise lemony acidity. Chalky finish. Beautiful.
2011 Côtes du Jura Fleur de Marne “Le Montceau”: From a parcel with over 70 year old vines. 18 months elevage in used pièces. Medium yellow. Quite austere and backwards in the nose, very spicy, some funk, a lot of fresh tobacco, maybe some apple. Also quite austere on the palate, fine acidity, maybe a bit foursquare. I liked this the least of the single-vineyard Chardonnays, but it’s excellent nonetheless. Charlene Labet said that Le Montceau usually produces the Chardonnays with the most volumen and body.
2011 Côtes du Jura Fleur de Marne “La Bardette”: See above for the vineyard description 18 months elevage in used pièces. Medium yellow. Quite inviting in the nose, some apple, more fruit than in the other single-vineyard Chardonnays. On the palate, also a bit richer, the salty-minerally note present in the others is not so present here, but there’s more fruit, it’s easier to drink. Long finish, a bit broad maybe. Good.
2010 Côtes du Jura Fleur de Marne “En Chalasse”: This was my favorite of the single-vineyard Chardonnays, but it’s also a different vintage. 18 months elevage in used pièces. Medium yellow. Some ripe quince in the nose, but mostly tobacco, wet earth, white truffle. Bright acidity in the mouth, an immense volume, great precision, it’s slightly adstringend in the finish (tobacco again). Marvellous. I retasted this with the wife when I got back home and it fully confirmed its very good impression at the winery. I bought six and traded two with other vintners during the trip, should have bought a twelve-pack at least.
Then finally, we also tasted some oxidative wines.
2010 Côtes du Jura “Cuvée de Garde”: This is the “Tradition” at Domaine Labet, here consisting of mostly Savagnin and only a little Chardonnay. Elevage 18 months non-ouillé. Medium golden yellow. Only very slightly oxidative in the nose, some ripe apple, nutty notes as well as greenish-herbal notes. Very salty in the mouth, beautiful acidity, very clear and precise. Long, salty finish.
2009 Côtes du Jura “Cuvée du Hasard”: 100% Chardonnay from different old-vine parcels. Elevage 3.5 years non-ouillé in used pièces. Medium golden yellow. Dried fruit in the nose, figues and apples, nuts, only light oxidative notes. Mouth filling, very direct, clear, salty in the long finish. Absolutely marvellous, this is an oxidative wine for people who don’t care much for oxidative wines, it won’t scare them away.
2006 Côtes du Jura Vin Jaune: Golden yellow. Not too oxidative in the nose again, ripe apple, lemon peel, herbal notes, baerawecka. Very bright, direct, precise and clean in the mouth, great lemony acidity. A marvellous Vin Jaune, built to age and clear as a mountain stream.
Charlene Labet told me that the Domaine looks to keep the oxidative notes in their oxidative wines subtle, but that there are others who deliberately look for strong oxidative notes in their wines as some locals really like the wines with strong oxidative notes.
In summary, I was really impressed by the visit, the domaine and their wines. It was my first time trying the wines of Domaine Labet as their wines are not available in Germany. I found all wines to be super precise and different enough to justify their policy of filling lots of different single-vineyard wines. I also like their philosophy of intervening as little as possible in the cellar and am fairly confident that - even without or with just very little SO² - the wines are stable enough to age well.
Next stop in the Jura was at Peggy & Jean-Pascal Buronfosse in Rotalier-La Combe. La Combe is a little hamlet adjacent to Rotalier that’s in a quite secluded little valley and home to two domaines: Jean-Francois Ganevat and Peggy & Jean-Pascal Buronfosse. I didn’t know their wines, but got the tip to go there, a good tip as it turned out.
Peggy & Jean-Pascal Buronfosse are career changers, Jean-Pascal used to be in agriculture, but regarding corn. Both wanted to run a mixed farm with animals, vegetables and some wine in the Sud-Revermont, but with time, it got focused on wine. The domaine was started sometime early this century.
Today, the domaine works with 4.5 ha of vines, most of the plots rented. Their vines are a mix of old vines and young vines, some of which they planted in the last years. Currently, there’s Chardonnay, Savagnin, Poulsard and Pinot Noir, the latter, however, from a clone that in the Jura is referred to as “Savagnin Noir”. The next project is to plant some Trousseau. Their soils consist mostly of “marnes” soils with a lot of marine fossils mixed in, but there are also orange-reddish limestone-debris soils.
Peggy & Jean-Pascal work organically and with as little intervention as possible. The wines are fermented with native yeasts, never chaptalized and mostly aged in used pièces for 18 to 24 months without batonnage. There’s no fining, only a very light or no filtering and only a little sulphuring at bottling (or no sulphuring at all). As with their neighbours, for the Buronfosses it is particularly important to have wines that express their origin. That’s why they offer lots of different bottlings, if at the expense of availability. Of a lot of wines, there are just one to three barrels, i.e. oftentimes way under 1,000 bottles. What’s interesting is that despite working as non-interventionalist as possible, Peggy & Jean-Pascal have no big interest being put into the vin naturel or no sulphur “movements”. For them, using as little sulphur as possible doesn’t seem to be a dogma and not nearly as important as filling stable wine into bottle.
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The tasting was one of the most interesting of the whole trip. We tasted through the range with Jean-Pascal Buronfosse and his current intern. His wife said Hi, but didn’t have much time. We tasted in a fairly cold garage and sat there for almost three hours. We tasted both red wines and a large part of the whites. Jean-Pascal explained all wines, soil types, how he and his wife like the wines, what the general perception was, etc. It was really very informative. I liked the wines, they’re quite pure and you can really sense that there’s no “make-up” at all.
2012 Côtes du Jura Poulsard “Le Montceau”: From the lieu-dit “Montceau” with 65 year old vines. 10 months elevage in used pièces. Rosé coloured. Very floral in the nose with violets and rose petals. Just ripe raspberry, too. Light on the palate with good drinking flow, lemony acidity. Drinks like a white wine or a rosé. Very pure.
2012 Côtes du Jura Pinot Noir “Les Fontaines”: From a Pinot Noir clone that was named “Savagnin Noir”. From the lieu-dit “Les Fontaines” with limestone soils and roughly 75 Jahre year old vines. Elevage 14 months in used pièces. Transparent cherry red. It doesn’t smell like Pinot Noir to me, rather floral, earthy on the base, clear red berry fruit. It’s the florality that didn’t have me think of Pinot Noir. Medium Tannins on the palate, medium acidity, light body. Fairly short, but such a good drink with very positive karma. Lovely.
2012 Côtes du Jura Chardonnay “Marcus Terentius Varro”: 100% Chardonnay, ouillé. According to Jean-Pascal, the wine was an accident because it went through a second fermentation in bottle even though prior to bottling there was no fermentable sugar left according to laboratory analyses. It wasn’t supposed to be sold, but several wine bars in Paris sold it like warm rolls and got raving customer response. Light yellow, lots of CO² that goes away fairly quickly though. Yeasty in the nose, not quite clear, some pear. A bit flat on the palate after the CO² has gone away. Pear again. Good summer drink, but without much substance.
2011 Côtes du Jura Chardonnay “Les Ammonites”: From marnes bleues soils with marine fossils. 18 months elevage in used pièces. Light yellow. Seems a bit closed down, some yellow apple, very agreeable. Quite mild acidity on the palate, medium to low tension. Drinks well, but could be a little more energetic.
2011 Côtes du Jura Chardonnay “Les Varrons”: From the lieu-dit “Les Varrons” with limestone soils with a clay surface. 60 year old vines. Light yellow. Pear and herbs (tarragon mostly) in the nose, some saffran. Quite linear. Chalky acidity in the mouth, great brightness, very direct, medium body, salty in the finish. Very well done.
2011 Côtes du Jura Savagnin “Entre Deux”: From the same parcel with two different Savagnin-clones (Savagnin vert and Savagnin jaune) from 40 year old vines on average. 9 months elevage in used pièces. Medium yellow. Very floral in the nose with yellow blossoms, some pollen, greenish fruit (Kiwi, Reineclaude). Very direct in the mouth, nicely salty, clear acidity. Long finish. Very good.
2011 Côtes du Jura Savagnin “L’Hopital”: From the lieu-dit “L’Hôpital”. The elevage was in between ouillé and non-ouillé. Medium yellow. You can sense very light oxidative notes - some nuts, dried fruit, but also fresh notes of September apples. Linear and compact in the mouth, good acidity, minerally, long finish. Also very good.
I really liked the domaine. Both Jean-Pascal and Peggy Buronfosse are very sympa, know what they’re doing and seem to engage in the region. Peggy Buronfosse for example helps a lot with the organisation of the annual “Le Nez dans le Vert” Festival for organic and biodynamic growers from the Jura. I also liked their approach to work naturally and non-interventionalist without putting on a “rebel” hat like some of the vin naturel enfants terribles. At their domaine, quality seems to be the highest goal and they’re rather looking at ways to reach the quality with the least human (and chemical) intervention as possible rather than following a certain approach in the vineyard and cellar and imposing the results onto the market no matter what the quality is. I would personally expect great things to come from Domaine Buronfosse in the future.
Also in the Revermont, but more to the North and in an equally rural area, near St. Lothain, you can find the little domaine of Didier Grappe. I needed to go visit Didier Grappe after Bernard Robbe at L’Anversis had made me taste Didier’s non-oxidative 2010 Savagnin a year earlier, which simply blew me away.
Didier Grappe studied oenology in Beaune and founded his domaine in 2001 in St. Lothain, first with just very few wines, but he has expanded in the meantime to a little over 4 hectares. Some of the vineyards are his own, some rented. There’s a mix of older vines and vines planted by Didier himself.
As other producers in the Jura, Didier said that what he learned in Beaune rather taught him what he doesn’t want to do than what he wants to do. His preferred way is one of minimal intervention in the cellar. His vineyards are Ecocert certified organic. The wines are not chaptalized, fermented with wild yeasts, they are not filtered and fined and are mostly bottled without adding SO². Only some wines are very lightly sulphured upon bottling. Inclusive of the naturally occuring SO², practically all wines have less than 20 mg/l free SO².
Of course, Didier advises to store his wines at a constant lower temperature, but he’s also of the opinion after a lot of experimenting that his wines are stable enough to live without adding SO². His precautionary measures are no or very low botrytis, a full fermentation and a long elevage in barrel.
The domaine doesn’t make single vineyard wines and has a smaller range of wines than many other domaines: There’s a non-oxidative Chardonnay, a non-oxidative Savagnin, an oxidative Savagnin, a red wine cuvée (Poulsard, Trousseau, Pinot Noir, a Crémant, a Vin de Paille and a Macvin. There’s also a Vin Jaune, but so far only from one vintage (2005).
I found the range to be variable with some wines I really liked and some wines that didn’t fully convince me.
2012 Côtes du Jura Rouge “Insouciantes”: Cuvée of Pinot Noir, Trousseau and Poulsard. This was a little bretty in my view. There was blackberry, too. But it did smell of barnyard. It was better in the mouth with fine fruit, fine acidity and good substance while remaing fairly light.
2011 Côtes du Jura Savagnin: This is the non-oxidative Savagnin. Medium yellow. Appley, autumnal in the nose, some yeast, yellow spices. Fully dry in the mouth, fine acidity, round mouthfeel. Medium long finish. I preferred the 2010 version to the 2011 version as it seemed a little fresher and more high-toned, but this one was very good, too.
2009 Côtes du Jura Chardonnay “En Longefin”: Medium yellow. quite fine in the nose with subtle apple and quince notes, lemon juice as well. Not very complex, but with finesse. The wine goes a little in all directions in the mouth and is not super focused. Medium body, quite mild acidity. Fairly short finish. Quite good, but not for me.
2008 Côtes du Jura Savagnin: This is the oxidative version having spent three years in barrel without topping up. Medium yellow. Only very lightly oxidative in the nose, very good finesse, apple, lemon, nuts, saffran. Very fresh in the mouth, again only with hardly noticeable oxidative notes, bright acidity, great volume in the mouth. Very long finish. Excellent juice.
2005 Côtes du Jura Vin Jaune: Light golden yellow. Quite oxidative at the moment: mushrooms, fresh walnuts, strong Fino-Sherry notes. On the palate, it’s salty, it’s good good acidity, is very linear, with excellent structure and - again - strong Fino notes. For my personal taste, the oxidative notes mask the finesse a bit too much, but that may change with time.
Macvin du Jura Rouge: Pale plummy colour. In the nose, this has Rancio notes, there’s plum, raspberry and cinnamon. On the palate, it’s sweet, but not sticky, quite mouthwatering actually. Long finish. Very good.
In summary, I was really satisfied with the 2008 Savagnin non-ouillé and quite satisfied with the 2011 Savagin ouillé and the Macvin. However, the other wines really didn’t blow me away. I’ll retaste some of my purchases at home though and am quite optimistic that they’ll show better. Anyhow, Didier Grappe is a very nice guy and I like his philosophy of winemaking.
Last stop in one week of Eastern France was in Burgundy at Alain Michelot in Nuits St. Georges
With time passing by, I increasingly develop a passion for the wines from Nuits St. Georges, partly because many are still affordable, but also because I’ve had some terrific wines from there. One of my best bottles of Nuits St. Georges was last year at Bernard Loiseau in Saulieu - a 2005 Nuits St. Georges Les Cailles from Domaine Alain Michelot, a producer I hadn’t had encountered before because their wines aren’t available in Germany. This great wine was a good reason to stop by the domaine. Their domaine is located right in the center of Nuits St. Georges in a very pretty building.
The domaine has roughly 8 hectares of vines, of which roughly 7.5 are in Nuits St. Georges. Their holdings are impressive: There’s Les St. Georges, Les Vaucrains, Les Cailles, Les Poirets St. Georges on the Southern end and Aux Chaignots, Aux Champs Perdrix and La Richemone on the northern end. There aren’t many bottlings of Aux Champs Perdrix and La Richemone (Perrot-Minot La Richemon is the only one I have encountered so far) because both 1er Crus are quite small. In addition to those Nuits St. Georges 1er Crus, there’s a village bottling “Aux Perdrix”, a Bourgogne Rouge and a village “Vieilles Vignes”. Then, there’s a tiny bit of Morey St. Denis (Village and 1er Cru Les Charrières) and since 2010 a Clos de Vougeot. The Morey St. Denis holdings were acquired through marriage at some point. The Clos de Vougeot parcel is rented. It’s in the Petit Mapertui that’s on the border of Grands Echézeaux.
The domaine is run by Elodie Michelot and her husband together with Alain Michelot. Nothing unusual happens in the cellar, the grapes are fully destemmed, there’s a few days of cold soaking and in between 16 and 20 months of élevage with a fairly moderate share of new oak (up to roughly one third). While I had expected to taste 2011s and nothing but that, I was surprised to see that the Domaine has a really large choice of older vintages, too. 2005 was completely sold out as was the Les St. Georges from all vintages including 2011. But most wines were still available from 2011 through 2004 (2005 excepted). Elodie Michelot explained that the domain sells a lot to restaurants and to invidiuals and not so much through merchants and especially their restaurant customers appreciate to be able to also buy some older vintages.
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The tasting was in the very cold Michelot cellar. Since I had the choice, I decided to taste three 2010s and one 2006. It was very interesting to listen to Elodie Michelot’s explanations on the wines, how the characteristics of the vineyards come through in different vintages, how the growing season typically passes in the different vineyards, etc.
2010 Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Cailles: Juicy, transparent cherry red. Very fine in the nose with small berry aromas (red and black currant, blackberry), earthy undertones, very transparent and elegant. In the mouth equally fine as in the nose, some muscles in the background, fine acidity, nice aromatic transparency with cherry and red currant notes. Quite sturdy tannins in the finish. My guess is that this will need some time to lose its tightness.
2010 Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Aux Champs Perdrix: Medium cherry red. More fruit forward in the nose: raspberry, blackberry, black cherry, a bit earthy in the background. Quite robust in the mouth with mouth coating tannins, but also crunchy fruit and fine acidity. Elegant in the finish. Very pretty, but also nothing to drink young.
2010 Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Vaucrains: Juicy, dense cherry to plum red. Very impressive in the nose: dark fruit, plums and blackberrys, but not heavy or clumsy, but fragrant and pure. Very muscular on the palate, fine acidity, fine grained tannins, but really a lot of flexed and tightened muscle to deal with. I’d guess that this will need at least 15 to 20 years to be really approachable.
I loved the wines, but there really doesn’t seem to be much chance to approach these young. When asking Elodie Michelot for a 2006 that’s approachable now, she had to think for quite a while, but then decided for the La Richemone to be the most accessible now.
2006 Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru La Richemone: Juicy cherry red. Really young and a bit closed down in the nose, needs a lot of aeration and warming up the glass to wake up. There are fine spicy notes, some freshly roasted coffee, dark berry fruit and light overtones. On the palate, it’s also still very young with crunchy tannins, a wonderfully animating acidity that at first seems bild, but gets more prominent in the back end. Red berries dominated finish. Quite pretty, but it seems still very far away from being ready.
I was really quite impressed by the wines, they seemed very clean, pure, precise and vineyard specific. Elodie Michelot’s explanations on how the wines should taste were spot-on. I bought quite a lot, but I’ll have to be very patient now until the wines can be approached.
I just ran across this thread now, Steve; belated thanks for your geeky, eclectic selection and thoughtful notes-commentary.
thanks for bumping this thread, Ian. Really enjoyed reading it, Steven – great job with the posts and photos. Especially loved the post on Nicole Chanrion, I’ve had a couple of vintages ('14 and '15) of her wines, really enjoyed them and they’re great QPR, fascinating to see how she does this pretty much on her own.
What will become of Puffeney’s nice neat little cellar now that he is purchased?
We had a bottle of the Christian Busin NV Rose for Mothers Day today. K&L is direct importing it and its an enjoyable sparkly. I’ve never heard of it before, other than this WB reference. It’s an elegant wine, that deserved better than paper cups, screaming kids, and a platter of Noah’s bagels.