The Courbet family’s home village is 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 and 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. Located in a section of the Jura known as the upper Seille, the Courbet holdings span a mere 7.5 hectares on the lower and mid-slopes of the Jura mountains. Farming has been organic and biodynamic since 2005 and everything is harvested manually.

Named after the daughter of Damien Courbet, “Violette” is a microscopic barrel selection of the estate’s oldest and best-performing Trousseau vines. This special, highly limited cuvée ferments/ages in mostly neutral French barrels and is easily the most luxurious and highly polished red I’ve tasted from them. Upon first sip, I was immediately reminded of Foillard’s top Morgon cuvées in a warm vintage. It’s plush and darkly fruited, erupting with a bold core of ripe black cherry, black raspberry, iron, damp soil, candied violet, and black rock. The medium-plus-bodied palate is beautifully textured and generous, delivering wave after wave of silky berry fruit and finely crushed minerals. This is ridiculously profound stuff. Enjoy now and over the next 5-7 years.