Jura New Arrivals: Domaine du Pont de Breux, Saint Pierre, Buronfosse and Bodines!
11/6/14 -
(Jean-Charles Maire)
We were lucky enough to meet and taste with Jean-Charles Maire at Domaine du Pont de Breux in the Spring of 2013 and finally his brilliant wines have arrived at Chambers Street! In his own words "The domaine was created in 1992, situated in the communes of Marnoz and Salins-les Bains. It consists of 4 hectares of vines and 16 hectares of fields for grazing Charolais cattle. This permits the isolation of most of the vines, avoiding the pollutions generated by "conventional" neighbors. Almost none of the vines touch parcesl treated with chemicals. The unique quality of the wines of Salins come from the soil — the "marnes" on which the vines grow are Kimmeridgian, the same as in Chablis. They bring to our wines a minerality and a beautiful finesse. On these soils we grow the Chardonnay, Savagnin and Poulsard in the lieu-dits "les Charmoz" and "Pont de Breux." Only the Trousseau grows on more classic Jura soils, one part on the scree of Mont Poupet in the lieu-dit "Les Riantes," and the other on marnes in "Le Calice et Vignole." Vinifications are done without added yeasts, without any additives, in the most natural way possible. Sulfur is used in very small doses."
After months of fighting with French and American authorities (the new European "vin biologique" — organic wine — is not legal in America) Jean-Charles removed the offending mentions from his beautiful woodcut labels and the wines have finally reached New York, albeit in tiny quantities. The whites are remarkably crystalline and mineral, in particular the 2004 Savagnin which spent 9 years in barrel under a "voile" that came and went and was bottled at 10.8% alc. The 2006 Vin Jaune is simply superb, and the Trousseau Vieilles Vignes is light, elegant, complex and simply delicious!
Most of our afternoon with Jean-Charles was spent touring the vineyards in his truck, crawling up and down the slopes of Mt. Poupet. The vineyards show the quality of his organic farming, with no deep plowing, only a minimal "griffage" to not disturb the life of the soil. This is organic viticulture at it's finest on some of the greatest terroir in the Jura. Althought the very difficult vintages of 2012 - 2014 will limit the amount of wine available from Pont de Breux (and all the best estates in the Jura), we hope you will try a few of these distinctive wines and we will do our best to keep a small quantity coming in over the next few years. NOTE: These are complex natural wines that have just arrived in the US - they need decanting 3 to 4 hours before drinking - or open the night before, recork and enjoy the next day. DL (Photos: Eben Lillie)
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