Frédéric Puffeney 2011 Pinot Noir, Arbois Contrôlée, Jura, France. 12.5% ABV; SRP ≃ 9€; Purchased several years ago for $25/bottle.
A wine to confuse your senses!
Color is a pale, delicate garnet. The nose offers rich, dark notes of eucalyptus, earth, black plum, and dried cranberry. On the palate this wine defies my every expectation: blackberry and cassis, bold tannins on the front palate, massive notes of soil and vegetation across the mid palate. So pastoral and rural in style, it is bound to challenge you, too! The wine confounds my brain with full-bodied notes from a mid-bodied mouthfeel; how I’d love to see how many Somms would match this wine correctly in a blind tasting!
I had prepared a meal of comfort food for my spouse: Italian bruschetta, chicken teriyaki, steamed broccoli, and a Mediterranean cucumber-tomato salad in balsamic vinegar. The high acidity in the wine would be an easy match; while I feared the dark flavors of the wine would be too much for the lighter fare, I was wrong. The wine played well off the vinegar and tomato from the bruschetta; it calmed and contrasted the teriyaki on the chicken; it felt full against the broccoli, and held well against the salad. This wine has enough oomph and body to pair with steak or even a cold weather stew, but Puffeney himself suggests terrine or cheese- obviously comté is the perfect cheese for any wine from the Jura, but I can attest that goat cheese, a creamy blue, and Dutch gouda all are delightful matches with this unusual-yet-delightful pinot noir.
The Jura continues to be a delightful, favorite region to me- what unusual wine region do you love to taste or collect? Let us know!
WIYG?
à votre santé!
Related Articles from JvB UnCorked on the Jura:
https://jvbuncorked.com/2016/07/19/now-i-am-alone-puffeney-arbois-vin-jaune-08/
https://jvbuncorked.com/2016/01/13/in-appreciation-jacques-puffeney-winemaker/
Château D’Arlay Vin Jaune
12 MayChâteau D’Arlay Vin Jaune 2007, AOC Côtes du Jura, France.
One taste of a jura wine is all you need to know that they are unusual and special wines. I fell in love slowly with vin jaune, but loving the most unusual of historic and traditional French wines can have quite an impact on you. This wine is made entirely from savagnin grapes, matured in barrels for at least 6.5 years without topping off or added sulfite. The wine, left to oxidize, forms a protective covering of natural yeast. There is nothing else like a Jura Vin Jaune, one taste will make you agree.
The ’07 D’Arlay vin jaune is light gold in color with a sherry-like nose of oxidized yeast and subtle tree fruit. In the mouth, it manages to be both rich and delicate. In addition to perfunctory fruit, secondary notes of almond, walnut, mushroom, dried earth, and salt are prominent. This is a wine created to complement food and the high acidity allows it to pair with comté cheese and a piece of bread, a simple fish appetizer, and white meat entrée. But if you love cheese, the meal can end there- vin jaune was made to complement cheese, and that was the catalyst for my love of it, and the reason why you should taste it, at least once in your life. Street price is approximately $60/bottle, but this is something you hoard for yourself or share with friends but don’t just pop open while you’re cooking, unless you live in the Jura.
à votre santé!
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Tags: Chateau D'Arlay, Jura Wines, Vin Jaune, White wine review, Wine Commentary