My Trip to France: Jura Wine 101

Ep 79

Ever tasted a wine so unique that you either absolutely love it or completely hate it?

I was first introduced to Jura wine at a French wine shop here in Seattle. I saw a bottle of Savagnin and asked the wine clerk how is this different from Sauvignon Blanc? 

The owner said I had to try it and people either love it or hate it! I ended up loving the unique wines of Jura and I knew that Jura would be a stop on my dream vacation trip.

Today, we are exploring Jura’s unique grape varietals, how the phylloxera epidemic shaped today’s Jura vineyards, and the rare winemaking techniques that produce Jura’s distinctive oxidative wines.

I’m also sharing tips for visiting Jura, from must-see subregions to the gorgeous town of Château-Chalon. I'll also share my personal winery experience at Domaine BAUD - Génération 9 and the exceptional wines that left a lasting impression.

So, if you are ready to go on a journey through a lesser known region with unique grapes and age-old winemaking traditions that create some of the most distinctive wines you’ve never heard of, then today’s episode is for you.

Resources:

Rue de Vignerons - https://www.ruedesvignerons.com/en/

Episode Highlights:

• Jura 101 - The basics

• 5 main grapes found in Jura - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Savagnin, Poulsard and Trousseau

• Traditional method of Savagnin and the modern method of Savagnin

• Terroir of Jura

• Subregions of Jura including Côtes du Jura, Arbois, Château-Chalon AOC, L’Etoile, and AOC’s for wine (Crémant du Jura, MacVin du Jura and Marc du Jura)

• The unique wines of Jura (Vin Jaune, Macvin de Jura, and Vin de Paille)

• My personal wine tasting experience in Jura

• Domaine BAUD - Génération 9 experience

• Wine stand outs in Jura - Deux Grains Tradition, 2022 Brut S and Chateau Chalon Grand Cru

• Tips and recommendations for visiting Jura

Transcript

0:23

Okay. Recording episode 79 of the Quark and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. One second. Welcome back to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. So glad you're here. Is this is if this is your first episode, welcome. Can't wait to start talking to you about wine. And, of course, if you've been here for many, many episodes, thank you so much. It means a lot to me. So today, we are continuing the mini series on France and French wine. So if this is your first episode, go back and listen to the rest of this mini series if you wanna learn more about French wines. As you know, I took a trip to France. This was a dream trip that I've been wanting to do forever. And my husband finally made the plans and just made it happen, and it was so amazing. And I wanted to make sure I shared everything I learned with you. So, today, we are gonna be talking about the region of Jura. And Jura is not a super well known region in France. I was first introduced to this region when I was at a French wine shop here in Seattle. And I found this wine, and it was called Savigneur. Savigna? I think that's how you say it. The the what I saw when I of course, let me just say it in the way that I read it first was, this bottle says Savignon. Like, is this different than Savignon Blanc? And I ended up taking it to the clerk, the owner who was working there, and I was like, what is this wine? He's like, oh, you've got to try it. Now here's the thing. People love it or they hate it. It's a very unique wine. And this was when I was first introduced to the very special wines of the Jura region. I tried it. I was definitely in the Lubbock camp, and that was just the start of me wanting to learn more and more about this tiny little region. It's about an hour, east of Burgundy. So while we were staying in Burgundy, we took a little day trip over to Jura. So just as I did in these, in the previous episode, I'm gonna give you a little intro to the wine region just to kind of what do I wanna say? I'll give you a little intro to the wine region just to kinda get you started, and then I'm gonna share more about my personal experience tasting here. And then I even threw in a couple tips at the end for visiting Jura if that is on your bucket list. So let's start with the basics. So as always, I'm gonna start with the grapes of the region. And so, unlike the regions that we discussed in last week's podcast, Burgundy and Beaujolais, Jura is home to over 40 different grape varieties. And there actually used to be many more grape varieties before phylloxera, which you've never heard of this. It's this tiny little aphid like bug, that came from America. And then, somebody brought clippings or something from America to Europe, and it devastated vineyards. It completely destroyed all the vines because it eat because it would eat the root stock of the European vines. And so, we fixed this by grafting the European vines on American root stock. But, of course, before we did that, there was a lot of destruction that happened. And so, Phloxera hit Jura in 18/79 and destroyed over 90% of their vineyards. Now, fun fact, it was actually a native of Jura, Alexis Milliday. He was one of the first few to devise the principle of grafting those French vines onto American rootstock. Now, like I said, while you could find a large number of different grapes here in Jura, there are 5 main ones to know. Those are so the first two, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. You're probably pretty familiar with these. These are pretty common. I'm not gonna go into them too much. You can actually learn a little bit more about them talking, about Burgundy in the previous episode. Now one of the fun grapes, that is unique to this region and from the area. This is a grape called Savigna. Now, this grape, when you look at it, the the word itself looks a lot like Savignon Blanc. And the full name of this grape is actually Savigna Blanc. And I'm still probably not saying it right. I, for the longest time, would just call it Sauvignon, just because I wanted to make sure I differentiate it. I'm like, it's not Sauvignon, it's Sauvignon. But then when we were in French, they kept saying it in a different way. I had them say it many times to me. I kept trying really hard to get it right. I still don't get it right all the time, but I but I try. Okay? So the spelling of this is s a v a g n I n, Savagnin. And so this wine, it's super famous. It's the star of the region because it's used to make the famous Vingent, which we will talk a little bit more later. In terms of the more familiar typical wines, Sauvignon makes 2 different styles. The first is the traditional, and this is what Jura is known for. And this is that wine that I tried at that wine shop where he was like, ah, you're gonna love it or you're gonna hate it. It's oxidative, meaning it's put in contact with oxygen. It's really nutty and golden and, like I said, super unique. They're also making it in a more modern style. This is non oxidative, and it's sometimes blended with Chardonnay. These wines, if you're looking for these, they'll be labeled Ouillet, o u I l l e, and that means topped up, meaning that it just doesn't have contact with oxygen. If you're still not sure what I'm talking about, don't worry. We're gonna go deep into this when we talk about that famous wine. This can be a more aromatic and fresher style, that Ouillet. I'll be honest, I prefer the traditional style, but there's a wine for everybody. Alright. And then the 2 other grapes are red grapes that are, local or indigenous to the region of Jura. The first one is Pulsard. This is an old variety, like I said, native to the region. It was actually mentioned as early as 1386 under the name Polozard in a charter referring to a plot of land. This is a very perfumed this grape produces very perfumed, high quality wines. You get flavors of red cherries, berries, herbs, and white pepper. It is not particularly powerful though, and it's also very pale in color. So, it's often blended with other reds or sold as a Rose. The other red grape that is native to the area, also ancient, kinda seeing a pattern here. Right? 1 of, Trusseau is one of the only grapes to really make it out of Jura, actually. So it was based here, and you can still find plenty of trousseau, in Jura. But what's pretty cool is it also traveled to Spain and Portugal where it's known as Pastardo. This wine, opposite of the Pulsarde, is a deep red color with a higher alcohol content. It produces spiced, peppery, and red fruited wines. So, again, those 3 kind of popular grapes or the, like, 3 indigenous grapes of Jura that are well known, Trucaut, Pulsarde, and Sauvignon. And then Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are also. So those 5 are kind of what Jura grows most. Now let's talk a little bit about the terroir of Jura. So the Jurassic period is actually named after Jura. It's the Jura mountains are, in near the region of Jura. Right? That makes sense. And they're representative of the geological developments that occurred 145 to 200000000 years ago, AKA the Jurassic period, which is why Jura is one of the regions that I am able to pronounce. Jurassic Jura. I can do that. The key soil types in Jura that include limestone at higher elevations, clay in the lower flatlands, deposit of marl throughout the most regarded vineyards. And so this includes this let me say that again. And deposits of marl throughout the most regarded vineyards. And if you're like, Haley, what the heck is marl? Don't worry. I also had no idea what this was. Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. Many vineyards in Sura are planted on steep slopes. There so there is a concern for soil erosion. So because of this, many farmers plant strips of grass around and throughout the rows to help prevent it. Now I mentioned Jura is very tiny, but they do, of course, still have subregions. So the there are primarily 4 subregions that, like, are based off, like, a location, and then they also have AOCs, which are what these subregions are as well. Remember, an AOC is essentially, like stands for something like appellation of con of control, And it basically means, like, it's similar to America's AVAs. It means, like, this region produces this style of wine, but it can also mean just like a set of rules for a style of wine. So the AOCs that are locational, like a specific area in Jura, you have first the Cote de Jura. This covers most of the region of Jura. So if you're looking at a map of Jura, you're gonna see primarily Cote de Jura. It's a little bit in the north, and then most of the South of Jura is considered Cotes du Jura. A wine can be called Cote du Jura if it is made from any of those five varieties that I mentioned before. Bauxard, Truceau, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Now, another region is the Arbois. This is one of the first 6 AOC or goodness. This was one this was one of the 6 first AOCs in France in 1936. It's located in the northern area of Jura, one of the and it's one of the largest towns in Jura as well. Here, just like Cotes de Jura, you can find all 5 of those varieties. Then we have a very special region. It's called Chateau Chalon. And, actually, the first time I heard of this region was when we my husband and I were on a wine tour in Burgundy. And the guy who was giving the tour is actually from the Jura region. And so when we mentioned that the next day we were gonna do a day trip to Jura, he's like, oh my gosh, I'm from there. Like, you have to visit Chateau Chalon. Like, if you have any time in your day, go to Chateau Chalon. And I'll be honest, because it was called Chateau Chalon, like the chateau in the front, I thought he was talking about a specific winery. It is not a specific winery. It is a very small region in the middle of Jura, and it is gorgeous. Like, he was very, very right that we needed to go there. If you've seen any of my photos that just, like, look so gorgeous of the region of Jura, I probably took them in Chateau Chateau. Like, the views just go on for miles. I'll talk a little bit more about this, when I give my suggestions at the end of the podcast. But here in Chateau Chalon, they only make Vingon, which again, we'll talk about what that is. They make Vingent, but it's just called Chateau Chalon because it's the only wine that they can make in the region. Now, Southwest of Chateau Chalon is a region called Lettois. And, this place makes, this little region makes Sauvignon, chardonnay, and some poursard. The name, Letot, means star because and they call it that because the village is surrounded by 5 hills that essentially form points of a star. Some people also believe it's called that because the vine fields are scattered with star shaped fossils. And then our other AOCs, like I said, there are AOCs for regions in France, and then there are AOCs for just, like, a style of wine that has a set of rules. So we also have the Cremont de Jura. So this is a sparkling wine made just like champagne, but not in the region of champagne. You have the McVin de Jura. This is a late harvest fortified wine. And then the last one is mock de jera, which is I think I wrote it down somewhere. That is a hard liquor, and it's made with the distillation of the grape skins. Okay. Now let's talk about the unique wines of Jura. I've been mentioning it many times. It's finally time for me to tell you what it is. So we're gonna talk about Vingent. And I never say this this one right. I swear to God, the, the person working at the winery said it, I don't know how many times, and I kept trying to repeat how she said it, and it never sounded like exactly how she was saying it. So the way that it looks is just Vin, v I n, space, and then Jean, j a u n e. And, again, a wine labeled Chateau Chalon from that region, it's going to be a Vingent. It's just made in the Chateau Chalon region. Vingent basically means yellow wine. It gets its color and its unique aromas because it is Oxidated. And I spoke about this earlier, but Oxidative wine simply means that the wine was in contact with oxygen. The way this happens is the wine is put in a barrel, sounds familiar. Right? Is required to be in that barrel for 6 years 3 months, at least. Can be more. Now, when wine is in a barrel, some of it evaporates. And that's because the barrel is porous. There are these little tiny little holes in the wood. So the wine will evaporate. Typically, any other time when winemakers are making wine and putting it in barrels, they actually do this process of topping off the wine. And that is where they add more wine to the barrel to keep it from getting in contact with oxygen. When they're making Vingent, they do not do that. So, typically, contact with oxygen is avoided with most wines because it can be excuse me. Because it can be overwhelming. And if you have too much oxygen contact, it can ruin the wine. This is also what happens once you open a bottle of wine. Once it's in contact with oxygen for too long after you've opened it, that's a bad thing. But here's what happens with Fingon that prevents that from happening. They avoid this due to a special layer of yeast called vollet that protects the wine in the barrels. It forms at the top of the barrels. And if you know anything about sherry, this should sound familiar. The only difference is that Vingent is not fortified. Vingent is made with late harvested sauvignon grapes. And those late harvest, they wait for a little while, so there's a little bit of a higher sugar content. So then the wine itself will have a higher alcohol content. That said, it still only gets up to about 13 to 15%. Think about these wines, incredibly age worthy. They are powerful yet elegant with notes of nuts, dried fruits, spices, and even cheese. And like I said, Chateau Chalon. So if you see something labeled Chateau Chalon is Vingent, so it follows the same process, but it was made in the Chateau Chalon region. Otherwise, if the wine was made anywhere else, it's called Vingent. Another wine that we mentioned that was a special grape is or I mean, special grape. Is a special wine, is called MacVin de Jura. This is a vin de liqueur that is made by blending hardly fermented grape juice with marque de jure, which is the distillation of the marque aka grape skins. It's usually drunk as an aperitif. It can be made anywhere in the region and any of the region's main grapes, so those 5 that I listed before, can be used in its production. Though the white grapes, Chardonnay and Sauvignon, are the most common. This is one of those because it's a liquor, it is not age worthy. So you just drink this right away. And, finally, the last kind of special wine of the region is called Vin De Paile. And this is it looks like Vin De Paile is p a I l l e. Hopefully, I'm saying it right. This is a style of sweet wine that was traditionally made from grapes that were dried out on straw mats. Paile is French for straw. This can be made from Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Poursard, or trousseau. Now let me tell you about the wine tasting that I did. So we we had planned to go to more than one winery in Jura, but we, my husband and I, when we took this trip the night before we went to Jura, we went to the Michelin Star restaurant. It's the only Michelin Star restaurant we've ever been to in our lives, and we did the wine pairing. So we woke up a little, let's just say tired the next morning. So we ended up, canceling one of our early reservations, and then we just went over to Jura later. I'm so glad we still made the trip over, but it is a little funny. It's like the fanciest of restaurants we go to is the place where we drink too much wine. But, anyway, the winery that we went to, it's called Domaine Beaul, b a u d. I think I'm saying that right. Domaine Beaul, generation 9. And the experience that we got to do is actually book this through that same website that I booked, the Beaujolais webs or the Beaujolais, tour on, and that was Rue de Vinerons. I can put it in the show notes again if you're curious. But we actually got to go into the cellar and learn about all the wine that was made, and they had a special barrel where, like, where one end of the barrel was where you usually have, like, the wooden circle. It was actually like a clear circle. So you could see inside the barrel, and this was one of those barrels where they were making Vingent. And so you could see the on the top of the wine. It was super cool. If you go on my Instagram, and check out my reels. If you're listening to this in real time, it should be just, like, about couple weeks ago, and you'll actually get to see that. And if you're listening to this in, like, a while from now, just go back to around October of 2024, and you'll find it. It was really cool. I honestly like at first, the barrel, and it actually had a light in it too so you could see in it. The barrel looked empty, and then she moved the barrel a little bit, and I could see the wine swish back and forth. It was it was really cool. In terms of wine standouts, I had a couple that I mean, they were all good. We ended up getting a case here as well, but a couple that were kinda special and unique. One was called Du Grand Tradition, and so like du du trois. Yeah. I'm like, I'm trying to make sure I say it right. So du means 2. And so this is actually a 50 50 blend of Chardonnay and sauvignon. And the Chardonnay is oye, which means that it's topped off, so that it's just kinda made in the more modern and what we're used to style of Chardonnay. And the Sauvignon spent 3 years under that layer of yeast. So we're getting 2 very different styles of wine and then blending them together. It was also a blend of vintages as well. So I think this was just super fun. It had both the floral and nutty notes to it. I absolutely love this one. Another cool wine we tried was their 2022 Brut s, they called it. This was their sparkling wine or one of them. It was 70% chardonnay, 30% pinot noir, aged in a barrel for 24 months, had lots of apple, lots of fresh mineral, just like a perfect sparkling in my opinion. And then the other one that really stood out was the Chateau Chalon Grand Cru. I wasn't sure how I was gonna feel about the VIN VINJON, and this style of wine because it's often compared to sherry. And to be honest, I'm still learning to like sherry or at least learning to appreciate it. I like sweeter styles, but the dry ones, I'm not a huge fan of. And these, the Vingent and the Chateau Chalon are very dry wines. Like, there is no sugar in them. And then we tried it, and it was so, so good. I like, all my worries disappeared. I'm like, this is the coolest thing I've ever tried. It's just this really powerful but elegant wine. It's really well balanced. It's somehow rich and full of flavor and nutty, while at the same time being really light. It was super, super fun. They also had us try it with the Comte cheese, which is the cheese of the region. And of course that paired beautifully. So that was really, really nice. I it was really fun to try. If you ever get a chance, try Vingent or Chateau Chalon. It's really cool. We also really enjoyed the moc vin de jure, which as a liqueur, I was kind of surprised, but I guess because it has a little sweetness. And then the Vendee Paes, which is the sweet wine. I do love a sweet wine every once in a while, so we like that too. Now if you're planning a trip to Jura anytime soon, a few of my suggestions. So before you go, book tastings. I couldn't find any, like, day tours like I did in Burgundy here in Jura, but I was able to book tastings either directly at wineries or through the website rue des Vinerons. My recommendation, start in Arbois. That's that biggest city in Jura and also one of the wine regions. It's about a 45 to 60 minute drive from Bonn, that's where we were staying, or about a 1 and a half hour drive from Lyon. In the city you'll actually find lots of smaller tasting rooms that you might not need a reservation for. We did go into one of them, and we were just able to taste with the the guy that was there. So that was kind of cool. And I saw a couple other wineries that I, I saw a couple other little shops or wineries in the city that I recognized. I just had too much wine the night before to do too much tasting that day. So definitely start in the city of Arbois. That's also where I recommend having lunch. Though, be sure to book a reservation for lunch. These places book up so fast. We went on a Sunday, which I feel like is normally not a time that French people go out. And the place we got lunch at, I'm sorry, I cannot remember the name of it. But it was packed, and we had a reservation. There was somebody in front of us who tried to get a table for 2, and they said, we're so sorry. We're just we're completely filled up. So get a reservation for lunch, book tastings ahead of time. If you don't have time or something happens that you just wanna take a quick trip, you could potentially visit some of the smaller tasting rooms in Arbois without a reservation, but don't count on it. And then, of course, don't miss out on Chateau Chalon. Like, this region is gorgeous. It's a 100% worth going for a visit. You will need a rental car, which you pretty much needed the rental car anyway to get to Jura. There really isn't a good way to get here otherwise, and driving the car isn't too bad. Just ask my husband. But the we basically just, like, looked up Chateau Chalone on the map. I found a spot that looked like a lookout spot and then just put it in the map, and then we just followed that all the way there. Now I will admit, at some point, I felt like we were going on, like, the most back roads of back roads, and we were climbing high. So I was like, Cody, should we turn around? How do we feel about this? We're like, no. No. No. I I think we're getting there. We're getting there. And we were, and it was such a cool view. And, I mean, you don't have to book any reservations. You don't have to do anything special. There is also, like, a couple parking, like, lots. Like, I think they're used to this. They're very small, so you kinda have to get lucky in finding a spot, but it is 100% worth it. And I mentioned this in previous episodes talking about planning for the trip, but it's worth saying it again. If you want to bring wine home from your trip to Jura, get in contact with a wine importer before you go wine tasting. Honestly, even before you get to France. That was my mistake. I did not do that. Tell them the wineries that you'll be tasting at so that they can start the conversation with the winery and get everything set up for you. We had the problem where we added this winery on a little last minute. We told our importer about it, but they weren't able to get in contact with them in time. So then when we were doing the tasting, we're like, hey, working with this importer, we purchase it here, and then you send it to the importer, and they're like, we don't know. So we ended up having to do a little bit of the back and forth via email and then send, like, a wire transfer from the US. You're gonna wanna avoid all that. Just talk to the importer ahead of time and tell them the wineries that you wanna visit so you don't have to deal with that that challenge. Okay. That's Jura. It is it is such a cool region. And if you're visiting the region of Burgundy, I so if you're going in a beautiful time when there's lots of sun, I can just imagine how beautiful it is. Alright. And if you know a wine lover in your life that would enjoy this podcast, please share it with them, find your favorite episode, send it their way, or if this is your favorite episode, take a screenshot right now, post it on your social media, tag me at corkandfizz. I would so so appreciate it. And don't forget to subscribe, so you never miss an episode. I release new episodes every Wednesday. Next week's episode is part 1 of an interview with my tour guide from Burgundy. This tour was the experience of a lifetime and I was so lucky that Kim agreed to come chat with me on the show. Kim has been in the Burgundy tourism industry for nearly 25 years and has so much knowledge to share. I cannot wait for you to hear it. Thanks again for listening, and if you wanna learn more about wine, come follow me at Cork and Fizz on Instagram. And if you're interested in exploring new wines, perhaps like these wines from Jura, we actually did a special tasting on Jura wines a little while ago. Come join my virtual tasting club, the Cork Crew. Head to corkandfizz.com/freeclasspass to come check out a tasting for free. Cheers.