Today’s wine is a perfect example of why so many Burgundy lovers—and Burgundy
makers, for that matter—are making the pilgrimage east to France’s Jura region.
Aside from the fact that it is a bucolic, completely unspoiled place—with the Swiss Alps looming in the distance—the lure of the Jura is fairly obvious: If you’re a wine geek, especially one who loves white Burgundy, you can get strikingly similar Chardonnay from the Jura, grown on limestone and brimming with racy energy, for less. In the case of wines like today’s 2017 from Domaine Courbet, we’re not talking “next-best-thing” to Burgundy, we’re talking “just as good, if not better.” Especially when you factor in price, the amount of varietal purity and soil character you get in “Les Rondos” is truly extraordinary—this is a serious single-vineyard bottling with the texture and impact of Premier Cru white Burgundy, which is not something I say lightly: Having spent lots of time in the Jura and Burgundy both, I say without hesitation that Domaine Courbet is bridging the gap in grand style!
Not that it’s such a wide gap: It would take you a little over an hour by car to get from Beaune, in Burgundy, to the Courbet family’s home village of Nevy-sur-Seille, right beneath the famed hill of Château-Chalon in the center of the Jura. Founded in 1869, Domaine Courbet is now run by the father-son team of Jean-Marie and Damien Courbet, with Damien taking control in 2011. A long résumé belies his youthful exuberance—stints at California’s Au Bon Climat, Alsace’s Zind-Humbrecht, and Nicolas Potel’s projects in both Burgundy and South Africa are among the highlights.
Having such wide-ranging international experience must only have deepened his appreciation for his home region, which is underpinned by a vein of Jurassic limestone as profound as anything found in Burgundy. The similarity of the Jura terroir (and wine) to that of Burgundy was enough to attract noteworthy Burgundians like Guillaume d’Angerville, who was so moved by a Jura Chardonnay he was served blind in a restaurant he started searching for vineyard land in the region—land he soon found to create his critically acclaimed Domaine du Pelican.
But, as my friend Chris Miller, MS, noted when we offered a wine from Domaine Courbet previously, this tiny property “was the go-to Jura wine for top wine lists well before the region’s recent renaissance.” Located in a section of the Jura known as the upper Seille, the Courbet domaine’s holdings span 7.5 hectares of vineyards, located on the lower and mid-slopes of the Jura mountains. Farming has been organic and biodynamic since 2005, with official certification expected for the 2019 vintage. Everything is harvested manually, and today’s wine comes from a limestone-rich, southwest-facing, .7-hectare parcel planted in 1987/’88.
Today’s ’17 from the “Les Rondos” vineyard is not the kind of oxidative style of white that once defined the Jura (whose famous vins jaunes develop a voile, or “veil,” of yeast as they mature, like some dry Sherries). As has become increasingly popular in the region, this Chardonnay undergoes a fully ‘Burgundian’ élevage (aging) in French oak barrels for about 10 months, during which time the barrels are continuously topped up to maintain freshness. This aging in wood is followed by another five months or so in tank before bottling.
Just 10% new barrels were used for aging the 2017 Les Rondos, so, aside from a hint of creaminess and a touch of warm spice, this wine is all about fresh, layered fruit and deep limestone minerality. It is generously textured and deeply satisfying, shot through with a jangling chord of freshness—in short, killer Chardonnay! In the glass, it’s a shimmering yellow-gold with flecks of green at the rim, with aromas of bruised yellow apple, pear, and salted lemon complemented by notes of chopped hazelnut, drawn butter, wildflower honey, crushed oyster shells, and wet stones. It drinks beautifully now after a 30-minute decant, so be sure to pull some corks soon and serve in all-purpose white wine stems at 50 degrees. Like all great French Chardonnay, it offers nearly incomparable versatility at the table: chicken, fish, pork…you name it, this wine is ready for it. I look forward to re-visiting this delicious white alongside some wine-poached scallops, especially after happening across the attached recipe. Bring it on! Cheers!
