Samplings from the Jura…

6/11/13 - 

(Many thanks to Wink Lorch for the use of her picture of the waterfall in the beautiful town of Baumes-les-Messieurs...)

A week or so ago I was helping a local (Chambers Street Wines) customer pick out a six bottle gift for an out-of-state loved one, when he turned to me and asked, out of the blue “so what’s up with the Jura?” Before launching into an oft rehearsed spiel “Jura is an eastern French wine region – about an hour and half by car from Burgundy – very close to the Swiss border…” I found myself asking “why do you ask?” He’d been hearing about the Jura; perhaps he had stumbled across an article; he’d been eyeing the uniquely shaped bottles with their embossed logos for years as we discussed the neighboring red Burgundies to the left and Rhônes to the right. I steered him to a bottle of 2011 old vine Poulsard from Stéhane Tissot, a wine that had been the popular favorite at a recent tasting of Poulsards. A regular drinker of red Burgundy, he was pleased to find a wine of old vine intensity and Burgundian delicacy for such a reasonable price ($24).

I ruminated on this encounter. Perhaps there are others in this position who are curious about the wines of this secluded and bucolic part of France. Conclusion: It’s time for a Jura mixed six pack. Fate seemed to have a hand in the creation of this Jura Sampler. In preparing to host Jura wine writer Wink Lorch, we’d put quite a few new selections on shelf. We’d also recently received our first shipment of wine from Raphaël Monnier of Domaine Ratapoil in the Arbois after a year in hot pursuit of the wines. All in all, things seemed to be coming together to offer quite an exciting Jura sampler.  As is always the case with our pre-selected boxes, the wines therein are chosen to give you, Dear Customer, an opportunity to taste a full range of styles from the region. These wines hail from a handful of lesser known growers we have come to love over the past few years. To further tempt you, we’re offering this mixed pack at a discount that exceeds our standard 12 bottle discount of 10%. All in all, we think this is an exciting chance to get to know the Jura or – if you’ve already been bitten by the Jura bug – to discover new vignerons. As this region hasn’t yet been awarded its own category on our website, below you’ll find a list of everything we have in stock from the Jura. Happy browsing! -Sophie