A Sans Soufre with age

I've always been a fan of Stephane Tissot. Red, white or even sparkling (his Cremant is excellent) all are worthy of buying them. His style is very Burgundian but I think he always manage to keep a sense of place in his wines even with this Burgundian style.
Conducting biodynamic practices in his vineyards, Stephane vinifies 2 cuvees without any sulfur. The 1st one is his Arbois Trousseau Singulier. The 2nd one is the Arbois Poulsard Sans Soufre. The Poulsard usually benefits from 3-4 years to fully develop. So when I got the chance to get the 2005 Poulsard Sans Soufre, I was relly excited to try it.



This Poulsard comes from different vineyards: Les Bruyères, La Vasée and La Mailloche (Clay soils). All have a South east and North West exposition. The oldest vines were planted in 1942 and the most recent were planted in 1972.
As for the vineyards, they are all in biodynamic agriculture, certified by Ecocert and verified by Demeter. The vineyards are worked without weedkillers, chemical fertilisers, or other synthetic products.To treat the vines sulfur, copper and plant concoctions are used. They make and use their own compost. The soil is worked manually.
Hand harvested in small baskets,the grapes are destemmed and macerated for 17 days in stainless steel tanks with little pumping over, then aged in foudres and demi muids for 12 months. Bottled without filtration and no added SO2.

This 2005 seemed to be at its peak. The nose was great, very Burgundy like, earthy with some funk and some violets and cherry. There's also some herbs and olives. Pretty similar on the palate, med body with rustic tannins. Long finish. Nicely balanced. All in all, a quite complex Poulsard, fresh and pure and very easy to finish the full bottle! After all, this is the destiny of great bottles of wine.

Juralicious !

Everytime we go back home to Paris for a little while, we try to bring back a few cheeses that can't be found here. So after a mad shopping at Aleosse, one of the best fromager in France, we had a few friends home to share aged Comté, aged mimolette and aged gruyere. Of course, no jam, fruits, peanuts or other crap: just fresh bread and cheese, the way it should be.


Comté has its own AOP, Appelation d'Orgine Controllée, and the production area is spread over 3 departments: Jura, Doubs and l'Ain. 2 breeds of cows are permitted for the milk: Montbéliarde (95% of the cattle) or Simmental française (5%) and only fresh grass is allowed as food. The fruitière is the place where all the farmers bring and gather the milk. Close to 160 fruitières are spread out over the 3 departments. The comté is then made, all year long, based on a traditional process.





The mimolette is basically Edam cheese (Dutch) but is using a coloring powder to give it its famous orange color. The other name for mimolette is Boule de Lille as it is assumed that Lille was an important production area. Now Normandy is also producing a lot of mimolette. The holes of the cheese are made thanks to small mites who are introduced in the ageing cellars. Those mites are also responsible for the complexity of the mimolette and are brushed off the cheese when done. Unlike the comté, mimolette is best around 2 years old as it loses its flavors if aged longer.


Lastly, my favorite or close, the Vacherin of Haut-Doubs: le Mont d'or. Just like the comté, Mont D'or has its own AOP. It has been named after the highest mountain of the Doubs and was already on Louis XV table. During fall, the cows are returning to the cowshed after spending the summer outside in the mountain. As the milk production was lower, this was not enough to make comté so the farmers got the idea of producing a small cheese who was named at the time (and still now): fromage "de boîte" after the wooden box holding the Mont d'Or. The cheese is seasonal and is available only a few months (around Christmas) and made with raw milk from the same cows used for comté. You will need close to 7 liters of milk to make 1Kg of cheese.
The affinage usually lasts 21 days, minimum, on spruce planks and then placed in one spruce ring, slightly smaller than the cheese itself, giving its wrinkled rind.


In order to get ready for those cheeses, we started with a beautiful blanc de blancs Jacques Lassaigne, Les Vignes de Montgueux. Usually a pinot noir terroir, the chardonnay here benefits from the chalky soil. Very low sulfur, expressive nose, white chocolate and pear. Plenty of chalk as well. This Champagne is rich but with elegance thanks to the acidity and minerality. Pure with a long finish, discreet leesiness. Very good.


On to the cheeses. I tried to pair the different cheeses with a few wines. I though the aged mimolette would work with an old claret and the aged comte and gruyere would do well with some white Jura which would also cut though the creaminess of the Mont d'Or.


First to go was the 1986 Laurel Glen cabernet from Sonoma with the mimolette. Pairing was ok, not the best ever but not the worst either. I said that on the'91 but have to say it again: I wish more Cali cabs were done this way. Really gorgeous nose with earthy and smoky notes along cassis and violets. Riper and a little bigger than the '91 and not showing the bell pepper notes, this is a nice expression a cabernet from Sonoma. Palate confirms the nose with some cedar notes with again a lot of cassis and interesting sour cherry on the finish. Balanced. Tannins are a little rustic but based on this bottle, this wine has more years in him.




The 2 Jura wines, the 2003 La Mailloche from Stephane Tissot and a 2002 Puffeney Arbois Savagnin were simply outstanding.
The 2003 La Mailloche did not show any over ripeness or flabbiness. The clayish soils and eastern aspect helped to manage better the 2003 heat and the wine was beautifully balanced. Nutty with some green apple and a touch of honey and smoke. Floral. An apparent minerality links everything together. The palate is an example of balance, coating your palate with no lack of acidity and no sign of heaviness. Tasting this blind would take you on a top Meursault. Intoxicating, complex and stunning.
This Puffeney Savagnin was fantastic. Iodine and a lot of spicy curry notes on the nose. Light walnut as well. I was expecting a more oxidised style but this is mildly oxidised. Wine is flowing on your palate, superb acidity with more lemony notes on a medium body. Awesome comté rind notes as well.Long finish. Complex and fresh.

Those whites Jura were clearly a very good pairing with the pungent flavors of the cheese. Thanks to their complexity and lenght, they were abble to stand out to the cheese and play with it all the way.

Laundry list

A short post to talk about a few wines, tasted double blind, just before our white Burgundy tasting.




2004 Domaine de Montbourgeau L'Etoile (Jura): Very well made and balanced Etoile. Mostly Chardonnay with a little dash of Savagnin.
Unmistakably Jura, elegant oxidation, some light curry and spicy notes with yellow apple. Nice even though this is a little simple.

2009 Michel Delhommeau Muscadet, Cuvée St. Vincent
Spicy mineral pear with citrus. Hint of orange and some exotic fruit. A touch of yeast. With air, the minerality fades and the exotic fruits become more apparent. Floral as well.
It's enjoyable but definitely ripe, especially for Muscadet.
None of the blind tasters recognised muscadet and some even went to Languedoc or CdP.....



2005 Domaine Anne Gros Bourgogne Hautes Côtes de Nuits Cuvée Marine: Upon opening, nose was all lemon butter milk. More energy on the palate with again lots of lemon. Round, showing a little bit of heat (although only 12.5%) and nutmeg.
The finish is a little flat.

1999 Fred Magnien, Chassagne Montrachet Les Morgeots (Rouge): well this is definitely ripe. The oak is still lingering, not totally integrated yet. It is definitely Burgundy but quite modern and I'm not a big fan of this ripeness and texture.

2008 Vincent Prunier Bourgogne rouge: Light cherry core. There's a caramel, nutty tone on the nose. Nice floral notes and red currant. Round with med- acidity. It's a little sweet on the palate with ripe strawberry. My guess was Oregon pinot. It's ok but a little overdone for my taste. People liked it much better than I did. Surely well made.


2000 Edmond Duclaux Côte-Rôtie: Very tight on the 1st night showing absolutely no Northern Rhone character. Then on the 2nd day, the nose was great: plenty of olives and floral notes with bell pepper and ham. The palate is slightly stewed though and the wine lacks finesse. With a little more freshness, this would have been much more enjoyable.
2005 Damien Laureau Anjou Clos Frémur: Almost opaque and viscous in the glass. A lot of violets and cassis with a touch of bell pepper. There's also a beam of raspberry fruit in this dark mix. Firm tannins. This is a massive wine. Almost like a raspberry liquor on the palate wrapping licorice an charcoal. Ripe. I liked it much more the 1st time I tried it. This time, it was too powerful. A big steak would help here for sure. But I think I like his Savennieres (which are awesome) much more.

Jean Mâcle Côtes du Jura 2006

After having the 2005 not so long ago, we decided to open the 2006 this time, again with aged gouda.
This 2006 showed a perfect balance, pure silk on the palate. Seemed a little less oxidative and maybe less acidity than the 2005 but still with a nice nuttiness with spices and a super long finish.
Man, this is GOOD !!

Can it get any better?

I've never been a big believer in pairings. While there are certainly some food to avoid with certain wines (or vice-versa) in general the wine works out pretty well with any food (yeah right, of course don't try a stupid 17% Zin with a delicate fish...but you get the picture).
Maybe on one or two occasions did I found the wine-food pairing really compelling. Like for example, that crazy 1959 Rivesaltes from Domaine Vila with a chocolate tart. In this case, all the flavors were in symbiosis. I remember thinking, wow, this is pure heaven. They are meant for each others ! But, really, how many times has it happened? Yes, exactly, not that often...
But this week, a Macle miracle happened...

Two months ago, while in New-York, we bought some 4 years old Gouda. So when I saw the 2005 Cotes du Jura Jean Macle at Crush, I immediately thought about that Gouda...and boy what a pairing ! The nuttiness and pungent flavors of the aged gouda completed the curry and oxidative notes of this spectacular Cotes du Jura. What I loved in this wine is that the oxidative notes are not over the top. The wine is fresh, nice fruit and very complex. To give you an idea of the acidity in that wine, the pH is 3.06 !!

This wine is made from 85% chardonnay and 15% savagnin grown on a calcareous clay soil. Rather young vines (20 years), no insecticides, pesticides...Totally natural...Both the alcoholic fermentation and the MLF are done in cuves. Then the wines are aged separately in pièces (i.e. 228l barriques) usually for a minimum of 2 years (even though the 2005 was raised for 18 months sous voile). The pièces are not filled to the top and develop the famous voile (thin yeast layer on top of the wine).

The chardonnay and savagnin assemblage (blend) is made after the Macles taste every barrels. It is very interesting to note that several bottlings (mise en bouteille) occur during the year. The code on the bottle indicates which bottling it corresponds to (on my bottle, code was L.07.05).

I'm looking forward to taste the 2007 version since Laurent (Mr Macle son) vinified the wine in a non oxidative style. But what will we drink then with our gouda? :-))