"The charm of the Jura and its wines come from the sense that time has grown genuinely mossy and amnesiac here. Small vineyards, old vines, curious grape varieties seen and tasted nowhere else, vinification methods that would be regarded as obtuse or mad by the oenological conformists who pass judgment at international wine shows. If you are one of those people who long to escape from the shallowness and tedium of wine fashion, then the Jura is for you." Andrew Jefford, The New France

France's Jura is truly one of the final frontiers of wine. You may be 50 miles east of the Cote d'Or, the beating heart of Burgundy (near the border with Switzerland), but you might as well be in a galaxy far, far away from modern wine tastes. If today a handful of grapes hold nearly despotic sway over people's palates and the world's wine styles all seem to be marching, lemming like, off a cliff into some homogeneous ocean where everything looks and tastes the same, well, the wines of the Jura are absurd and eccentric, unique and invigorating and extraordinary values in the context of the long-lived complex wines that they are.

We’re over a decade into the third millennium, and Jean-François Ganevat is reputed to have no computer. He fulfills orders for his 40-50 different wines (40-50!) by fax machine. And he gets back to people when he wants. We speak from experience:

We had our importer fax some questions over to Jean-François on November 4th. We received an answer from him March 27th.

Vin Jaune flies in the face of viticultural orthodoxy.

It is a rebel, a wine that somehow miraculously weathers the slings and arrows of time to gain a depth and complexity that makes it unlike any other wine on Earth. Though the most obvious comparison is with Spain's oxidized Sherry, Vin Jaune is denser and more robust, and it also has a strong tail of acidity that Sherry simply does not.

One of the Most Compelling Vinous Experiences on Earth
2004 Macle Château-Chalon
"Yellow Wine" at Its Most Elegant and Ageworthy

"One of those wines that seems to riffle through a repertoire of the natural world as you sniff and sip."
- Andrew Jefford, The New France

For those of you who know well the shocking pungency, the singularly compelling character of Vin Jaune, Jean and Laurent Macle’s Château-Chalons have long served as the benchmark for this illustrious appellation. (Essentially, Château-Chalon represents the pinnacle of Vin Jaune.) Macle farms only four hectares in Château-Chalon; his yields hover around 25 hl/ha, and he has a reputation for crafting the finest wines the Jura has to offer.

"Under Veil" but No Longer Under the Radar
2008 Macle Côtes du Jura
Jura's Pinnacle of Elegance and Refinement

Since we first started offering Macle's Côtes du Jura - four vintages ago! - we've loved witnessing this wine go from relative obscurity to up-and-coming darling of the U.S. wine scene.

The wines and their producer deserve it.

Jean Macle, who now applies his craft with his son, Laurent, is simply tops in the Jura when it comes to rendering sous voile ("under veil" or semi-oxidative style) wines with striking breed and harmony. These are some of the most complex, singular and food-friendly wines out there, and Macle's version really does represent the pinnacle of elegance and refinement from this region.

You should be both alarmed and invigorated by the fact that the bottle(s) Joe and I picked as our "Wines of the Year" are unquestionably some of the strangest, most curious and unforgettable wines you will ever put in your mouth, period.

No, you probably didn't see this coming but our 2008 picks for the best of the best are the 2004 and 2005 Jean Macle Cotes du Jura! (We couldn't decide between one vintage or the other, so we picked both. Complete notes on each bottle below.)

How's this for a tasting note: Lemon pith, green apple skin, bright marmalade, orange rind, mushrooms, fresh green moss and pine needles, moist dark earth, pulverized cooking spices and a complex mountain stream medley of rocks, stones and pebbles all energized by a blow-horn-like citrus acidity that will send shivers down your spine and electrical pulses across your palate. (As wild as these wines are, they are *made* for food, check out this recipe.)

Jura's Wiseman Returns
2007 Macle Côtes du Jura
Jura's Pinnacle of Elegance and Refinement

When we sent out our first Macle offer two and a half years ago, we said, "This is crazy, but these are great wines. Let's do an email and just see what happens..." By the time of our 06 Côtes du Jura offer last January, we had switched to saying, "I can't believe how much of this we've sold."

Jura's wines are finally beginning to get their due, and we, for one, are very happy about this.

Macle has a lot do do with it. Jean Macle, who now applies his craft with his son, Laurent, is simply tops in the Jura when it comes to rendering "sous voile" (oxidative style) wines with striking breed and harmony. These are some of the most complex, singular and food-friendly wines out there, and Macle's version represents the pinnacle of elegance and refinement. 

Beyond Vin Jaune
1999 Ganevat "Vignes des Mon Pere"
A Case for Savagnin's "Indisputable Nobility"

Leave it to Jean-Francois Ganevat to take Jura's iconic Vin Jaune and flip it on its head with his 99 Vignes des Mon Pere. Where Vin Jaune spends a minimum of six and a half years in barrel without topping up, Vignes des Mon Pere spent over ten years topped up.

What else would you expect from a winemaker who doesn't even own a computer?

Clearly, there is a tempo to life in Ganevat's Jura, a more natural rhythm that does not speak to our digital, instant-messaging world.

The Jura Master Breaks with Tradition
2007 Macle Côtes du Jura du Jura Chardonnay Ouille
Non-Oxidative, Absolutely Jura

Macle's Vin Jaune is the benchmark of Château-Chalon, Jura's most illustrious appellation. So when word got out that Macle was about to break with tradition and produce a non-oxidative (ouille) wine, we took it as big news and immediately sought it out.

To be honest, it took a little scheming to land the small amount of bottles on offer today.

Production is tiny. If you look for the wine on Wine-Searcher, you'll find it at exactly two places in the world: Crush and Stephane Planche's impressive Jardin des St. Vincent in Arbois. 

Ganevat is simply a force of nature; he is uncompromising. Here's a person who's against computers and doesn't own one. He handles all business over the phone or fax machine. 

It goes without saying that the strength of his personality spills over into his vineyard and cellar work. Ganevat works only 8.5ha and yet makes between thirty-five to forty different wines in a vintage. The yields from his biodynamically tended vines are insanely low - often in the teens or even single digits.