Clos du Jaugueyron: Bordeaux the Old-School Way
6/21/16 -
Admittedly I’m not often wooed by Bordeaux. This is a region that today supplies the world with blue chip wines on the high end, industrial plonk on the other, and mostly boring wines falling somewhere in between. This is truly a shame for a region with such a rich history and well-documented winemaking potential, and also because I happen to be a bit of a traditionalist. I like Bordeaux with my steak, simple as that. Luckily for me there are an increasing number of honestly-made wines from this region that are becoming available in the states, but one winemaker truly stands out in my mind: Michel Théron of Clos du Jaugueyron.
Michel moved to Bordeaux in 1988 from the Languedoc in the south of France to study winemaking. His original plan was to complete his studies there, and then move back to the Languedoc to take over the family estate, but love prevailed when he met his Bordelaise wife. Not long after, the couple purchased a small parcel in the village of Cantenac in the Haut-Médoc in 1993 and produced their first vintage in 1994. The estate now covers 7 hectares in Cantenac, Arsac, and Margaux on soils of gravel, sand, and some clay. Michel is a big proponent of organic viticulture; he has never used synthetic sprays in his vineyards, and obtained Demeter certification in 2008. His vineyards have healthy, living soils that are far from the norm in the region.
Jaugueyron’s winemaking adheres to a similar philosophy and it is quite simple: Michel believes that all great wines are made in the vines, as opposed to in the cellar. To this end, the process is happily straightforward: grapes go into the tanks whole-cluster to promote a gentle extraction; native yeasts carry out fermentations; and the wine is then transferred to barrique, usually 25% new, but that proportion changes according to the needs of a specific vintage and cuvée. Since there is such a light extraction, racking is kept to a minimum to gain structure from the lees, and batonnage (or stirring of the lees), is employed to promote even more contact. The results are wines of terroir, not marred by chemicals or new oak, with unmatched purity and finesse.
Perhaps my favorite aspect about these wines is that while they are no doubt age-worthy, they are simply delicious now, showing beautiful fruit and balance, and becoming more complex as they sit open on the dinner table. With such a simple, old-school approach and such stunning results, it’s hard to believe that there aren’t more producers taking notice of Michel’s work and attempting to follow suit. But I’ll try not to think about that, and instead I’m going to sit down with a dry-aged rib eye and drink some Clos du Jaugueyron. Tim Gagnon
