When my wife and I were in France in September, the brother and sister-in-law of a woman we know here treated us to a delightful lunch at their summer place in Vermot in “la France profonde” that included a cheese course with a vin jaune of some sort. I liked the vin jaune and recently bought a bottle–a 2005 Puffeney. Would this be ready to drink? Should it be decanted? Any cheeses in particular that go particularly well with it? Our host back in September served it with a tomme of some sort.
Hi Randall, it’s early to drink 2005 Vin Jaunes now. The 2005 was just released last year. You’ll miss some complexity. If you have several bottles, go for it. If you have just one, I’d buy another bottle of Vin Jaune and save the Puffeney for in 10 years. After all that Puffeney stuff is quite rare, at least where I live.
Adam, there are around 15 or more different types of Tomme from the Haut Jura (towards the Swiss border). If you go into any fromagerie in the Jura, you’ll find a huge selection of different tommes. And a lot of them go very well with Vin Jaune. On my last visit, I bought a tomme that was aged in Marc and covered with chestnut tree leaves. It was tough to eat on its own, but went very, very well with Vin Jaune.
If I do decide to give in to the impulse to open this soon, would decanting help bring out some of the flavors?
MacArthur had a diverse selection of vins jaunes, so it wouldn’t be hard to source another bottle, I think.
