“I make my Jura wine like I make the ones from Burgundy.” This is Florent Rouve’s philosophy at Domaine Rijckaert in the Jura, and tasting today’s wine will transport you 50 miles west into the heartland of Côte de Beaune. Actually, the vineyard sites sourced for today’s bottling are directly in line with those of Puligny and Chassagne—albeit at higher elevations—which further adds to its palatal illusion.
It’s easy to pick out the nutty mellowness of traditional Jura wines, but when Rijckaert makes an appearance, you can believe a curveball is coming. After the 2015 was revealed to me during our tasting, I still (stubbornly) made an argument for it being a $50 White Burgundy—and I’m no stranger to the fine wines of Domaine Rijckaert, as they are constantly in my personal rotation. Whether you’ve enjoyed their previous offerings or you are brand new to the wines of Rijckaert, this 2015 Chardonnay—a year of great ripeness and concentration—is Côte de Beaune’s doppelgänger. It’s a rich and luxurious pleasure that shows off a balancing act of density and precision. This is a perfect wine to blind your Burgundy-drinking friends on, so purchase this by the case and stun your guests (or yourself at the very least!).
After relocating to Burgundy in 1990 and crafting wine for a négociant producer in Burgundy’s Mâcon, Jean Rijckaert branched out and formed his own eponymous domaine in 1998. His heart was loyal to Burgundy, yet he had a newfound love for Jura, so the solution was to purchase vineyards and build a cellar in both regions—why choose when you can have both? After 15 years of building a core of wines that enraptured the most privy wine bars and restaurants, Jean handed over management and winemaking duties to his fellow co-worker, Florent Rouve, a bright mind who began his career in forest management and narrowed his work to the vine. Today, Florent continues adhering to Burgundian tradition while preserving the mineral subtleties of Jura’s terroir. Still, these wines strongly mirror the structure and roundness oft found in great Puligny and Chassagne-Montrachet.
Since Domaine Rijckaert has miniscule vineyard holdings in both Burgundy and Jura—four and five hectares, respectively—being their caretaker is realistic. Today, we’re focused on those in Arbois, an appellation in Jura’s northern section and the main location of Rijckaert’s single-vineyard sites. They mostly face eastward and enjoy a mixture of gravelly limestone and grey marl soils. The vines, on average, are 30-35 years old and yields are restrained—on par with that of Puligny-Montrachet. They also employ sustainable methods throughout their vineyard holdings, plowing biannually while eschewing pesticides. All grapes are harvested by hand and the wine undergoes both alcoholic (triggered by indigenous yeasts) and malolactic fermentation in used French oak—the majority of barrels are 6-10 years old. Throughout the wine’s 18 months of aging on lees, Florent makes sure to frequently top off the barrels to decrease oxygen contact with the juice. Racking and bâtonnage (lees stirring) are avoided, keeping the wine pure, yet simultaneously rich and rounded. It is bottled without fining in their own cellar.
In the glass, the wine shimmers a pale straw, light golden core with flashes of green on the edge. This is an open and highly perfumed wine and the nose leads with freshly cut yellow apple, Bosc pear, honey, raw hazelnut, melted butter, lime blossom, salted lemon, crushed stone, yellow flowers, and the subtlest of baking spice. The palate is warm and inviting, unafraid to flaunt the ripe profile of the ‘15 vintage. But its roundness and depth is perfectly countered with a backbone of freshness and fine-tuned acidity that carries into a prolonged finish. This wine will continue to improve over the next 3-5 years if cellared properly, but there is absolutely no reason to wait; it is in its prime now. Let this open up with a 30-minute decant and serve just under cellar temperature in large Burgundy stems. Play matchmaker and partner this wine with the attached seared scallop recipe.
