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VIN JAUNE ARBOIS 2016

Grandes Parcelles

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2016   2017  
Several generations have been necessary to patiently built one of the largest and greatest estates in the area, focused on key appellations such as Château-Chalon, l’Étoile and Arbois. The Domaine MAIRE & Fils covers nowadays 234 hectares of vines producing all the area grapes varieties.

100 % Savagnin, the only vine variety authorized for this wine.
The wine’s long maturation in oak barrels helps achieve its wonderful deep, limpid golden colour. Its very intense nose contains a range of aromas: cooked apple, curry, saffron and walnut. Its mouthfeel has a lively, powerful and well-formed attack. The mouthfeel confirms the aromas in the nose, providing a remarkable range of flavours: fresh walnut, curry, green apple, dried fruit and saffron. A grandiose finish.
This dry, powerful wine ages wonderfully well. It can also be enjoyed at any moment, from the appetizers to the dessert: Comté cheese, gougères (baked savoury choux pastry made of choux dough mixed with cheese) and mushrooms on toast, snails, crayfish, poultry, white meat and fish. For fine dining, it is also an excellent choice to serve with lobster and white truffles. It is also wonderful for making cream sauces.
Serve at a room temperature of 14–16°C. (57-61°F.). Bottles can be decanted into a carafe after they have been uncorked for a few hours. Opened bottles keep very well.
This remarkable wine is ready to drink as soon as it is bottled, but can also be kept in a cellar for several generations.
The Jura wine region is small in size but large in its remarkable diversity. It covers 80 kilometres between Burgundy and Switzerland, in the eastern France. The Arbois AOC is the oldest and largest of the Jura's four geographic AOCs. In particular, it was France's first AOC (created in 1937).

The vines oriented South East, allow the grapes to ripen under the best conditions. Late variety, the Savagnin offers a nice balance between sugar and acidity, necessary for the elaboration of the Vin Jaune. Cultivation mode: The work in the vines, is based on the respect of the nature and the soil.

For young vines, located on steep slopes, to avoid erosion, we cultivate a row out of two, practice soil reassembly to aerate the lands subjected to settlement due to moisture, and grass with plants. Such as clover, which, by competing on the vine, can modulate its mineral and water supply and control its vigor and yield. The Guyot double size is necessary for the Savagnin to better control its performance. The restructuring of the vines contributes to the harmony of our cuvée: the young vines bring the exuberance, the freshness and the acidity. While the older specimens bring the structure and character of the Vin Jaune.

Vin Jaune undergoes a specific and typical ‘film’ maturation technique.The Savagnin is the latest grape, and must be 'overmatured' (even with noble rot) it is harvested from the second fortnight of October for a duration of about 1 week. Harvested mainly mechanically, we also harvest it manually so as not to rush our young vines. The Savagnin is pressed directly into vats and vinified individually into dry white wine, followed by a short maturing (until spring) on fine lees.

The wine is then intoned in oak barrels, with a 'small day' of 5L, so that the development of the veil is done quickly. We seek a controlled oxidation, the veil acting as barrier between ambient air and wine. These barrels rest quietly in our cellars, marked by high thermal amplitudes (between 10° and 23°C) and very dry atmospheres to juggle between finesse and power! Our barrels selection was carried on oak barrels of 5 wines minimum so as not to give 'woody' to the wine. Rich in yeasts and micro-organisms they promote the formation of the veil. Their capacity of 228L, offer the best volume ratio of wine and surface exchange with air to ensure the development of the veil and the specific aromas of this wine.

It is thus aged at least 6 years and three months, without intervention, but with a regular follow-up and an attentive eye. This process, which respects the natural evaporation of the wine, causes the creation of a thin film of yeasts on the surface. The one which patiently nourishes the wine of the famous "yellow taste": complex aromas of walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, spices… At the end of its ageing, the resulting nectar is bottled in 62-centilitre (volume of a litre of savagnin remaining after maturation) ‘clavelins’ - bottles specially designed for this wine.
JamesSuckling.com - 90 points - May 2024