Evelyn and Pascal Clairet founded the Domaine de la Tournelle winery in the Village of Arbois in the Jura region of France in 1991. A sleepier and more off-the-grid place for viniculture on the eastern border of France in the foothills of the Alps would have been hard to find.
That is changing…and quickly. Through the terroir-driven, organic and unique wines being created by Jacques Puffeney, Philippe Bornard, the Clairets and others, the wine world is paying close attention. And I’m personally the lucky beneficiary of this.
I like this vineyard.
Evelyn and Pascal have a studied and aggressive approach to biodynamic farming and natural winemaking, and are focused on taking their small 15-acre estate and discovering the qualities of the indigenous grapes of the region.
On their website, they clearly list the detailed notes for each vintage. It is like going to a restaurant and seeing the recipe. You may not be a cook, but seeing the purity of the ingredients, the careful stewardship of the process, and a Farmer’s Almanac-like attention to the results brings you in touch with the process and adds weight to your thoughts on the characteristics of the wine.
The Ploussard grape is the lightest of the red grapes grown in Arbois, behind Trousseau and Pinot Noir. As far as I can tell, Ploussard is uniquely local and not grown anywhere else. It is often typified as an inexpensive Pinot Noir replacement, or a blending red, but this is most definately not my experience with Ploussard as represented in this bottle from the Clairets.
The ’04 Ploussard de Monteiller wine is pale, almost Salmon in color, and light to medium bodied. But it is remarkably floral. Out of this slightly colored wine, come a deep bouquet and rich flavors.
This is a spring and summer wine and for me, a perfect choice over Rose. It’s elegant, sippable and a natural match for late spring and summer afternoons hanging out and picking at a plate of fruit and cheese. I’m puzzled actually that I like this bottle. It’s so light and fresh and easy.. but it has a lot of character with bright acidity and real body around the alcohol.
At $28 a bottle this seems just right.
Available from Chambers Street Wines and a growing number of online wine sites.
My thanks to Sophie Barrett, the Jura wine-buyer at Chambers Street Wines for saying ‘Try this’ to the wines from the Jura.
