Domaine de Saint Pierre: Pure Jura Deliciousness
Fabrice Dodane tasting in his chai. (Photo: Jason Malumed/MFW)
I’ve been a huge fan of the wines made by Domaine de Saint Pierre since I first encountered them in the beginning of 2014. I remember it quite clearly: I walked into my friend’s wine shop and I spotted a big, fat bottle with a bright red label that was turned just enough to the side that all I could read was “Petit Curoulet.” I promptly asked what it was, and was told that it was a new arrival from the Jura. Enough said; I took it home for dinner that night. I opened it while cooking and it was showing reductive notes (the sulphuric aromas that are a sign of lack of oxygen in the winemaking process). No matter – many reds from the Jura do, so into the decanter it went. I revisited the bottle an hour later and it was singing with bright, crunchy red fruits and chalky minerality that screamed Poulsard (I would later find out that it was a blend of Poulsard and Pinot Noir). I was hooked, and immediately scoured the internet for what little I could find on the producer.
It turns out that the man behind the label was Fabrice Dodane. Fabrice was not a newcomer to the wine scene, having studied enology in Beaune before working several years at the cooperative in Pupillin. He started working at Domaine de Saint Pierre in 1989 as a manager and took full control in 2011. The estate covers approximately 6 hectares in the Arbois and Côtes du Jura AOCs with the vines planted in limestone and marl soils. Saint Pierre achieved organic certification by ECOCERT in 2012, having started conversion in 2002. All wines are fermented with native yeasts either in tank or neutral barriques; vinifications for the reds are done without the addition of sulphur. The whites are done flawlessly in both the traditional sous voile method as well as topped-up, or ouillé style.
Flash forward a few years, and a couple of meetings in New York with Fabrice, and his wines are staples on our shelves here at Chambers Street. They are clean, balanced expressions of their terroir, and drink almost too easily. The arrivals of the 2015 reds are a reason for excitement, offering pure, focused examples of Jura varietals for enthusiasts and novices alike. We also have new white arrivals in the form of Château Renard, a luscious, easygoing Chardonnay, and the Savagnin Sous Voile that spends around 6 years under a thin veil of yeast. We even have a little bit of the 2011 Melon a Queue Rouge (a distant, red-stemmed cousin of Chardonnay), the old vines of which were replanted after the 2011 harvest. All of these wines offer thoughtful insight to the terroir of the Jura, and are a testament to Fabrice’s deft winemaking ability. As with many producers, it’s always very satisfying to trace the progression of their wines over the course of multiple vintages. And given how great each subsequent vintage of Fabrice Dodane’s wines are, it is even more so.
-Tim Gagnon
