2019 Michel Gahier Chardonnay "Les Crêts", Jura, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

Arbois Blanc Chardonnay Les Crets: The grapes for this cuvée are sourced from a hilltop vineyard (Les Crets meaning “crest of the hill”) where the Chardonnay has been grafted onto the rootstock of the local grape variety known as “Melon Queue Rouge”. The wine is aged for about fifteen months in large foudre and is then racked into the smaller format (600 liter) demi-muid for another year of elevage.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

The Gahier family has been resident in the Jura since 1525. The family domaine is 6.5 hectares with the vineyards concentrated in the village of Montigny-les-Arsures, the place recognized as the home of Trousseau. Michel Gahier has learned from the best. Gahier is a neighbor and friend of Jacques Puffeney, both living in Montigny-les-Arsures, a viticultural district that is acknowledged to produce some of the finest wines of the Arbois appellation. His observations and ongoing dialogue with Puffeney have instilled skills and sensibility that produce undeniably outstanding wines that clearly express the very particular terroir of this corner of the Jura.

Gahier harvests and vinifies his wines parcel by parcel. Each wine ultimately is derived exclusively from a single vineyard site. The viticulture is organic (although not “certified”). The wines, both white and red, are aged in old foudres and barrel. The wines are bottled without filtration.