VinoLoverThe Jura region is one of the most outstanding French areas in terms of winemaking. Located in the Jura Massif, a chain of mountains north of the Alps that make up Franche-Comté, it is an atypical region that is becoming more and more talked about for its wines, especially the natural ones.
Jura produces wines from five main grape varieties, the whites Savagnin and Chardonnay and the reds Poulsard, Trousseau and Pinot Noir. Besides the four geographical AOCs (Côtes du Jura, AOC Arbois, AOC L’Étoile and AOC Château-Chalon), and the two specific wine styles (AOC Crémant du Jura and AOC Macvin du Jura), more and more producers are producing wines outside these frameworks.
Here is a selection of great natural Jura wines, made without sulphites and with minimal intervention, which you should not miss.
Raphaël Monnier’s young red wine Ratapoil Partout 2019 is a fragrant, light, natural wine with 12.5% alcohol content, made from Ploussard, Trousseau and Pinot Noir grapes.
Its production process consists of a semi-carbonic maceration for 15 days and spontaneous alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts. It is then aged for eight months in stainless steel tanks, and finally bottled unclarified, unfiltered and without added sulphites.
2. Domaine De La Pinte Arbois Chardonnay 2018
Domaine De La Pinte Arbois Chardonnay 2018 is a creamy and structured white wine, with 13.5% alcohol, made from 100% Chardonnay, from the Domaine De La Pinte winery.
In its elaboration, it goes through a spontaneous alcoholic fermentation process with indigenous yeasts and an ageing process of ten months in old foudres of 2,500 litres.
3. Domaine des Bodines Arbois Pinot 2018
The Domaine des Bodines Arbois Pinot 2018 from the Domaine des Bodines winery is another of the great natural wine options that the Jura region has to offer. It is a captivating and fragrant wine, made from 100% Pinot Noir, with 13.5% alcohol.
Its production process consists of spontaneous alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts and ageing in French oak vats, with no added sulphites.
4. Vin Dzi 2018
Deep, mineral, 100% Chardonnay and 12% alcohol, the Vin Dzi 2018 aged white wine by Amélie Vuillet et Sébastien Jacques is another of our favourite natural Jura wines.
Its production involves spontaneous alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts, ageing for twelve months in oak barrels and bottled unfiltered, unclarified and with no added sulphites.
5. Maxim Lannay Don’t Take My Coconnuts 2018
Maxim Lannay Don’t Take My Coconnuts 2018 is an exclusive and eccentric wine, made from Chardonnay with 11.5% alcohol content.
It is a natural wine that undergoes a two-month skin maceration, a spontaneous alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts, a twelve-month ageing in used barrels, and an unclarified, unfiltered bottling with no added sulphites.
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