xElite Jura Whites: Ganevat, Guillot, and Borde

Located east of Burgundy, the Jura region offers a head-spinning diversity of incredible wines, which can make it difficult to track all the rising stars. Estates in the region tend to be small, with highly fragmented holdings across multiple appellations. Beyond the traditional styles you might expect (dry whites and reds, sparklers, fortified and sweet wines), it’s typical that wineries here might also produce oxidative whites, including the legendary Vin Jaune. With such broad portfolios and inescapably minuscule production numbers, the distribution of these wines tends to be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it situation. All to say that with some sleuthing, the Jura continues to be a source of insane values, with detailed, mineral wines, humming with energy and verve. A select few wineries have seen their stock rise in the past years, but there remain plenty of tremendous and under-the-radar wines to be found. We’ve collected a few of our favorite attention-deserving whites - all ready for your discovery, and In Stock now!

2020 Amelie Guillot Arbois Chardonnay Vieilles Vignes
2019 Amelie Guillot Arbois Floral Vieilles Vignes (Savagnin/Chardonnay)
2017 Amelie Guillot Arbois Savagnin Vieilles Vignes
2014 Amelie Guillot Arbois Vin Jaune Vieilles Vignes

In terms of size and scale, Amelie Guillot’s winery just outside Arbois proper is deeply representative of the region, with modest holdings and nearly a dozen different wines produced. Beyond that, there’s not much typical about this estate, where since 1995, Amelie has worked alone on her 3.2 hectares, solely responsible for the labor-intensive biodynamic farming on her old vines, to say nothing of the cellar work. The Chardonnay comes from two plots of nearly 70-year-old vines, planted in the usual blue and gray marls. Naturally fermented and with a minimum of sulfur, like all her wines, it ages on the lees for a year in old barrels, for a fresh, mineral style. Savagnin comes from vines of a similar age, but is made in an elegant and delicately oxidative style. After crush, the juice goes into partially-filled old oak to age sous voile for four years. This process, also used for Vin Jaune, sees the wine sit under a protective raft of yeasts for an additional two years. This creates incredibly complex bottles full of fresh green fruits, with additional notes of nut, brioche and gentle curry spices. Pure, intense and vinous, her savagnin is a great introduction to these oxidative wines, with engaging citrus and tart apple flavors wrapped around a firm core of acidity, buoyed by marzipan, fresh herbs and white spice. Amelie also offers Floral, a blend of the two grapes, co-fermented and produced in a topped-up, or ouille style. It ages in steel for a year, giving it a racy edge, laden with citrus, and exuding finesse. Her wines are sommelier catnip – always precise, enticing and pitch-perfect.

2018 Jean-Francois Ganevat Cotes du Jura Les Varrons VV

Hard to believe that a wine from one of the Jura’s most well-known names might qualify as under the radar, but with 35-40 cuvees in a normal year, it’s always hard to keep up with everything going on at Chez Ganevat. The 2018 Les Varrons is the first release from a chardonnay vineyard recently acquired by the domaine. The vines, planted in 1949, are on an eastern-facing site at 250 meters elevation, with the typical Jurassian mix of iron-rich marls and limestone, here in the form of gravel. Like his other estate plots, the vines are tended biodynamically and hand-harvested. Winemaking is in line with the other chards, with whole cluster fermentation, malo, and aging for three years in demi-muids. No fining, filtering or sulfur. Dense, mineral, and saline - vibrant with tart stonefruit and apples, all packaged on an energetic frame. Great persistence and plenty of evolution to come.

2019 Domaine de la Borde Arbois Pupillin Foudre a Canon Savagnin Nature
2007 Domaine de la Borde Arbois Pupillin Vin Jaune
2013 Domaine de la Borde Arbois Pupillin Vin Jaune
2014 Domaine de la Borde Arbois Pupillin Vin Jaune

Julien Mareschal from Domaine de la Borde is a Jura native, although he comes from a line of cereal farmers, rather than grape growers. He initially intended to join the family business, but switched his agricultural education midstream, gaining his winemaking diploma in Dijon. After stages in Burgundy and Bordeaux, he returned home to set up shop at the young age of 23. Julien bought his first vineyard in one of the region’s hippest enclaves, Pupillin. Finding himself surrounded by some of the top names in the region (think: Overnoy, Bruyere & Houillon), Julien drew inspiration from their quality and ethos, converting the vines to biodynamic farming, giving his five hectares of old vines new life. For his Savagnin Nature, Julien chose a topped-up style, the grapes partially destemmed and naturally fermented in large oak, up to 1,500 liters. The wine sits on the lees for about 20 months – this long elevage keeps the wine stable with minimal sulfur. Tightly wound, this wine offers classic notes of wild green apple and citrus, along with white spice and some florality and sea spray. Vibrant acids and minerality, good texture and long length, finishing dry with a hint of grip. The Vin Jaune is aged for 82 months in Julian's infamously cold and humid cellar, which results in a glacial evolution and brings a deep layer of complexity to the flor. This is one of the finest examples of Vin Jaune being produced today, and should not be missed!