Ganevat’s superb wines in all their glory

Every season hath its pleasures;
Spring may boast her flowery prime,
Yet the vineyard’s ruby treasures
Brighten Autumn’s sob’rer time.
Thomas Moore

Fall is my favorite season in Los Angeles, watching the birds change color and fall from the trees.
David Letterman

Mists and mellow fruitfulness apart this is also the time of year when we receive our precious allocation of wines from Jura, truly the region that time and consumers forgot.

La Combe, a tiny hamlet of clickety-click inhabitants above the village of Rotalier, is home to the larger-than-life Jean-François Ganevat. Jean-François came back to run the family estate in 1998 after ten years working in Burgundy with Jean-Marc Morey and he combines his passion for the Jura terroir – here ideal for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - with a staunch defence of Burgundian techniques; low yields and most recently biodynamic methods for which he has now gained Demeter certification.

Rotalier is in the southern half of the Jura region and so all of the Ganevat’s vines are located in the Cotes du Jura AOC, the biggest of the few AOCs in the Jura with 700 hectares. The winery produces a multitude of wines from Savagnin, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Poulsard, and Trousseau.  And Melon-Queue-Rouge to which we will return later. The majority are produced using a method referred to in the Jura as “ouillé”.

Winemakers in the Jura make the choice of producing their white wines using either the “ouillé” or “sous-voile” method (Vin Jaune must be made sous-voile). “Ouillé” means that the barrels are topped up as the wine ages. This is the normal practice throughout the world of wine, and prevents the wine from slowly oxidizing in the barrel. In contrast, a wine made using the “sous-voile” method is not topped up in the barrel. As a result, a thin layer of yeast forms on the top of the wine, which the Jura winemakers refer to as the “voile” or veil. This prevents the wine from turning into vinegar in the barrel, and allows it to slowly age and develop a range of unique flavours, including the nuttiness and spices that are so pronounced in Vin Jaune.

Ganevat’s whites are simply extraordinary. Some of his vines are more than 100 years old. His Chardonnays are grown on fantastic soils: “marnes blanches” and “marnes bleues” which confer a nerve and exquisite minerality that one would associate with the great Cortons.

He vinifies all of his scattered parcels separately respecting the primacy of terroir, moved towards biodynamic methods in the vineyards and now works without sulphur for his reds and only a tiny amount for the whites. His Chardonnays would get the stoniest of burghounds whiffling appreciatively. Florine Ganevat, from vines planted sixty years ago, is beautifully composed. From the delicate nose of acacia to a mouth filled with yellow apricot to a fine, persistent finish seasoned by dry spice, this is an effortless Chardonnay. Les Grandes Teppes (ninety year old vines, twenty four months sur lie, aged in demi-muids) may hide initially under a reductive veil. But evolves into a stunning wine comparable to a top Burgundy. Pale gold, it has a scent of honey, quinces and white flowers. The complexity of the nose continues on the palate. The wine is thicker and creamier than the Florine with phenomenal mouthfeel, length and mineral presence. A veritable vin de garde. The Chalasses Vignes Vieilles from 108 year old vines has tremendous vitality with a fine precise almost flinty nose and slithery acidity. Épatant!

Cuvee Marguerite, however, is made from Melon a Queue Rouge, a red stemmed grape that, according to Stephane Tissot, evolved from Chardonnay in the Jura. “Chardonnay on poor clay soils near Arbois eventually became another grape, the red-tailed grape we call Melon-Queue-Rouge. It is not the same as Chardonnay, but it came from Chardonnay. “ Other Jura producers believe that Melon-Queue-Rouge is a cousin of Chardonnay or even the same grape.

Marguerite is only sold in magnums. Form an orderly queue rouge.

Savvy about Savagnin

Savagnin is cultivated on the poorest marly soils in Arbois and the rest of the Jura region.  It has been suggested that the grape is originally related to the Traminer from the Bolzano area of northern Italy and may be the same as the Gringet of Savoie (Dominique Belluard disputes this). Savagnin is best known as the variety used in the vin jaune (yellow wine) of Chateau-Chalon aged for 6 years on ullage in barrel. Vin Jaune undergoes a process similar to sherry, whereby a film of yeast (une voile) covers the surface, thereby preventing oxidation but allowing evaporation and the subsequent concentration of the wine. The result is a sherrylike wine with a delicate, nutty richness.

Ganevat’s Savagnin Cuvee Prestige is pure delight, remarkably fragrant with hints of orchard fruits (cut apple) mixed with walnut, dry honey, white pepper and a note of peatiness. His Vin Jaune is one step beyond with so many tangible and intangible qualities: a butteriness verging on the aroma of warm cheese (Comté, natch), a cachet of oriental spice, an array of toasted nuts and some eyeball-loosening acidity.  This will age forever and a day.

Savagnin Blanc Ouille Chalasses Marnes is Savagnin topped up. The wine acquires sherry-style nourishment from the yeasts and reveals all the concomitant nutty/dry spicy notes that you might expect. Here be aromas to get all seekers-after-and-snapper-uppers-of-considerable-trifles to snuffle keenly. Combine bruised apple and yellow plum, add melting butter, fenugreek, walnut, and finish with an electric charge of withering acidity. The intensity of the wine is balanced by its freshness. Poulet cooked with wine of similar complexion and served with as many morels as you can afford would be a condign match.

Les Vignes de Mon Père is based on Savagnin topped up aged for nine years in barrels and is a massive, explosive, imposing wine with the complexity of a vin jaune. The wine is so long, the mouth so intense and spicy.  Truly amazing - ce vin va vous mettre sur le cul.

Unlike most critics I am a big fan of Jura reds which may come from Pinot Noir, Trousseau or Poulsard/Ploussard.  Or Plou et Trou as they are known.

The Trousseau comes from a terroir which is marne with big stones. It is apparently not necessary to do a green harvest on this cuvee because the vines are from a selection of old vines that only give small yields (selection massale). The vines face due south - a tremendous exposition but are on a 50% incline! It has cherry red colour, aromas of red fruits and blackcurrants and is lively and fresh on the palate with pronounced acidity and just a hint of musk and sous-bois. The Pinot, from even tinier yields, has brilliant red fruit aromas and flavours. It is pared down, stiletto sharp, with a dimension of purity that I love.

J’en veux, a melange of various red grapes, has a terrific nose of red fruits and spices and a mouth which is round, fresh and spicy with a good bite.. “Un vin de table fait de bric et de broc”, with crunchy tannins, a savoury, rustic red, pure quafferama.

Those whose profession is boxing off wines would also presumably do a double-take when confronted with a twinkling, pink-tinged Poulsard (otherwise known as Ploussard). I have heard supposedly reputable experts on wine airily declare that the glory of the Jura is white wine and that the reds are as insignificant as they are insubstantial. This shows not only a lack of taste but a serious cultural misapprehension. The whites (or rather yellow wines) are the art of the possible and an improbable triumph. They are wines without compare. The reds, however, capture the spirit of the region in a profound way. They are lithe, lean, earthy, crunchy, mineral, rasping, occasionally angular, but my, how pure – and what delicious food wines! From ethereal Poulsards through aromatic, medium-bodied Pinots to rustic, musky Trousseaus we’ve drunk Jurassic reds that seem to be the very distillation of rocks and fruit. And some of the wines age with amazing grace.

L’Enfant Terrible Vieilles Vignes Sans Soufre to give its full moniker comes from 50 year old Poulsard from yields as low as 10 hl/ha vines conveys skittish aromas of morello cherry, redcurrants, wild strawberry and quince. I have described it in other pages as rose-hued, slithering hither and thither across the palate with the slicing angularity of a razor blade dipped in pomegranate juice or cracking whip flavoured with raspberry liquorice.

Vin de Paille is not a white vehicle delivering an assortment of Melton Mowbrays but a selection of naturally super ripe grapes which are left to raisin traditionally on straw mats to concentrate the sugar before pressing.  This version contains Poulsard, Savagnin and Chardonnay.

The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine
The nectarine and curious peach
Into my hands themselves do reach
Andrew Marvell – The Garden

Check out these stats -360 grams residual sugar, 8.7g/l acidity. An exotic, regal nectar of apricots and peaches and plum jam in one sip, quinces, gooseberries and pineapples dusted with preserved ginger in the next. And the finish comes as if the sweetness had been carved to a point and layered with gently toasted brazil nuts.  I don’t give marks out of 100, but this would surely max out with extreme prejudice.

The wines (all on allocation) are:

2008 CHARDONNAY, CUVEE FLORINE GANEVAT

2008 CHARDONNAY, GRUSSE EN BILLAT

2008 CHARDONNAY LES CHALASSES VIEILLES VIGNES

2008 CHARDONNAY LES GRANDES TEPPES VIEILLES VIGNES

2008 CHARDONNAY, CUVEE MARGUERITE - magnum

2008 SAVAGNIN OUILLE CHALASSES MARNES

2005 SAVAGNIN CUVEE PRESTIGE TRADITION

1999 SAVAGNIN OUILLE VIIGNES DE MON PERE

2002 VIN JAUNE SAVAGNIN VERT - 62cl

2009 VIN DE TABLE ROUGE “J’EN VEUX” SANS SOUFRE

2009 TROUSSEAU PLEIN SUD SOUS LA ROCHE SANS SOUFRE

2009 TROUSSEAU PLEIN SUD SOUS LA ROCHE SANS SOUFRE - magnum

2009 POULSARD “L’ENFANT TERRIBLE” VIEILLES VIGNES SANS SOUFRE

2009 PINOT NOIR “JULIEN GANEVAT” Z SANS SOUFRE

2002 VIN DE PAILLE - 1/2 bottle