It’s really a beautiful thing when you drink what you believe in. Sure, there are tons of tasty, cheap, easy-swilling rosés out there for your summertime barbecues. Rare are those rosés made with passion and careful conscience regarding viticulture, environment, terroir, and history of the place it comes from.
Domaine des Ronces produces rosé with verve, delicacy, and an extraordinary pedigree. This multigenerational domaine understands that a fine wine is not necessarily the most expensive wine, but a bottle that represents the time and place it came from to the best of its ability. And what a place! The Côtes du Jura AOC is famous for its wide range of traditionally-styled wines made from varieties you might not encounter in other places (Poulsard or Savagnin, anyone?). But today’s wine is proof that some producers are dedicated to pushing the boundaries and revitalizing ancient traditions. In doing so they’re not just making great wine, they’re bringing new life and flavors to a historic region.
This one-hectare jewel box of a domaine was founded by Georges Mazier in 1950. It’s nestled among the rolling hills and forests dotting the commune of Orbagna, at the heart of the Côtes du Jura AOC. The Mazier family has produced traditional Jura wines ever since—Crémant de Jura; Chardonnay; Savagnin; Poulsard; Trousseau; and the beautiful Pinot Noir responsible for today’s rosé. The domaine was turned over to Georges’ son Michel in 1986. He developed their vineyard holdings to the current six hectares and championed the ancient methods of organic farming, undertaking the slow conversion from the more conventional methods used prior to the 2000s. After years of hard work, 2013 was Domaine des Ronces’ first entirely organic vintage.
In 2014 they began to include biodynamic practices such as dense cover cropping, using nettle teas, spraying with powdered quartz, and packing manure into horns to be buried at intervals in the vineyard. Each carefully chosen ingredient is part of a comprehensive farming method that stretches far beyond the bounds of conventional viticulture. They achieved their Demeter certification under the guidance of third-generation winemaker and viticulturist Kevin Mazier—son of Michel and grandson of Georges. Today the domaine is a closed system, minimally dependent on imported materials and fiercely dedicated to the living dynamics of the farm, the vine, the animals, the wine itself. Every bit of viticultural work is designed to encourage long-term health in the vine while revitalizing the microbes hard at work in the surrounding soil. Ultimately it’s about expressing terroir: healthy soil means nutrition and moisture for a vine untouched by chemicals or drip irrigation systems. The deeper that vine digs its roots into a robust, natural soil, the more transparently the grapes represent the nuance of that place.
The 2018 rosé is made from 100 percent biodynamic Pinot Noir grapes grown on clay and limestone soils in a dry-farmed method. Sheep and chickens graze on the cover crop between the rows during the vines’ dormancy, before the cover crop is tilled under to provide nutrition for the vines during the fruit-bearing season. All grapes at the domaine are hand-picked and sorted for quality in the vineyard. The first and most delicate press is used for the rosé. Indigenous yeasts carry out primary fermentation before the wine goes into stainless steel for six months. Malolactic fermentation is inhibited to preserve the delicate, fruit-forward notes typical of Pinot.
While the
Jurassiens are famous for an incredible range of color in their wines, including
corail (coral) and
rubis (ruby), this is a true light pink—bright and glossy in the glass with the faintest hint of cantaloupe orange. The nose is light and slightly spicy, with notes of fresh ginger, yogurt, white flowers, and strawberry purée. Texturally it’s soft as a rose petal and equally delicate with medium acidity and a straightforward freshness. Like most of my favorite rosés, it is savory and bone dry with a light herbaceous palate balanced by the echo of strawberry on the nose. The whole bottle can (and will) disappear very quickly if you don’t pair with a little food to slow yourself down. Make a pile of hot, cheesy
gougères fresh from the oven and luxuriate in the long summer afternoons.
