I was recently listening to a talk given by wine importer Neal Rosenthal during which he remarked that what motivates and excites him about a wine is when it has subtlety, nuance, and uniqueness. I found myself thinking of this when we opened a bottle of Domaine Berthet-Bondet’s Tradition, a wine produced in France’s Jura region where some of the most remarkable and unique wines in the world are being made. In my mind, the Jura region is the home to producers of wines that speak volumes about the place they come from, the unique production methods that have been handed down by generations, and that challenge both your taste buds and your expectations. Not to mention that they are delicious wines as well.

This bottle from Berthet-Bondet is a perfect example of all of those facets. The Tradition is a blend of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Savagnin that is aged for two years in oak casks without topping up. This period where the wine ages sous voile imparts an exciting range of flavors that no other white wine (other than those produced similarly in the Jura) captures. This approach is unique to Jura producers where it is used to great effect to produce a range of white wines.

Berthet-Bondet does not have the long history of other Jura producers, but they have gained a solid reputation in a relatively short amount of time. The winery was reopened in 1985 by Chantal and Jean Berthet-Bondet after having lain dormant for nearly 50 years. The hectares that comprise the winery’s holdings cover 10 hectares, 5 in the Cotes du Jura appellation and 5 in the very prestigious Chateau-Chalon appellation (where only Savagnin can legally be grown, and only Vin Jaune can legally be produced). From these 10 hectares, Berthet-Bondet produce several wines including a Chateau-Chalon Vin Jaune; a 100%-Savagnin wine that is aged sous voile for three years before bottling; Rubis, a red wine made from Trousseau, Poulsard (the Jura’s two unique red-grape varieties), and Pinot Noir; and a Vin De Paille made from a blend of Chardonnay, Savagnin, and Poulsard.

This particular bottling, Tradition, is the only wine of theirs that I have come across, and we’ve now finished our second bottle, which makes me a bit sad if only because both bottles were quite good, and I’d love to try others from them. Of course, it goes without saying that I’d go nuts to try their Chateau-Chalon*.

What struck me about this wine was how much it had changed in the bottle. The aromas and flavors were all much more pronounced and sharp compared to my memory of previously tasting it. One recurrent theme encountered when reading about Jura white wines regards their aging potential. Vin Jaune is said to age gracefully for 50 years and more, and most producers recommend waiting until they have reached at least 10 years of age before drinking them. And other sous voile whites are said to age well for 20-30 years. In this case we’re only talking about an additional 2 years in bottle, but it is clear that even this amount of time made a difference in the wine in the glass.

The wine pours the color of unpolished brass with a deep, golden luster and glinting amber highlights. The nose has aromas of walnuts, burnt sugar, and nutmeg with hints of citrus. After some time in the glass a creamy, sweet note of custard enters the mix. The wine has a soft, velvety body with a strikingly acidic current running through it. The flavors are similar to the nose, with walnuts, hazelnuts, and burnt sugar accompanied by flavors of creme anglaise and caramel. Notes of walnuts and burnt sugar predominate on the finish, underscored by a citrus acidity.

I was surprised to find this wine had much more sous voile character than I had expected. The nutty, burnt sugar notes that were present throughout the glass were delicious, but admittedly not what I had expected. That being said, this wine confirmed my enjoyment of Jura white wines, which I find to be some of the most exciting and challenging wines (and whites in particular) that I ever have the chance to drink.

This was also a challenging glass temperature-wise. We originally drank it cool, but as time showed, it really needed to warm up for the spices and creaminess to come out. Before that, the acidity was bracing and overwhelmed many of the other flavors. The ideal temperature was somewhere between white wine and red wine temps.

This was a very good wine, and like I said it’s a shame it was our last bottle. Hopefully we’ll stumble across some of their wines again at some point. In the meantime, my eagle eyes will remain alert for the sight of any other Jura white wines.

*Perhaps the most exhilarating “wine dream” that I harbor is to someday try a Chateau-Chalon, the reputed pinnacle of Vin Jaune. Wines from this appellation only began being imported into the U.S. during the last year or two. From that start Chateau-Chalon has fascinated me with its miniscule acreage (~90 hectares), and law permitting the growing of only Savagnin, and the production of only Vin Jaune. With such small acreage, production of Chateau-Chalon is very small, and the wines very hard to find.

The ultra-rarefied version of this dream is to try a Chateau-Chalon from Jean Macle, the Chateau-Chalon winemaker with the highest reputation. But alongside Macle are fine producers such as Berthet-Bondet, Domaine Philippe Butin, and Domaine Durand-Perron. When it comes right down to it, I’d be ecstatic to have the chance to try the Chateau-Chalon from any one of these four producers!!

The Domaine de Montbourgeau vin de paille is, in a word, fantastic. This is one of the few wines that I’ve had that has really blown me away. As much as I liked the vin jaune from Puffeney, I found this wine to be beautiful. The nose carries notes of walnut, candied apples, poached pears, and aged balsamic vinegar. The palate is rich and velvety with up-front flavors of nuts, spices, brown sugar, and baked apples, and then back again to walnuts and almonds. The finish is very long, begins with warm caramel and tails away to nutty flavors accompanied by a bright acidity.

I could not get enough of this wine, and the 375ml bottle went far too quickly among the four of us who shared it. It was the only bottle we had, but this is a wine that I will always keep my eyes open for and will definitely grab if the opportunity to do so arises again. What a fabulous wine, and a testament to the fact that my occasional obsessions with different wines, etc., sometimes leads to the discovery of a real gem.

In this case, the obsession was with the wines of the Jura region of France. A couple of years ago when I first stumbled across the Art Of Eating the issue that I found was devoted to “Wines of the Jura”. I was instantly taken in. I had never heard of the Jura region of France, of the wine it was most famous for – Vin Jaune -, nor of the savagnin grape making up that wine. All of it was new to me, and what is more the wines were both entirely unique and hard to find. The more that I read about the wines, in this article and elsewhere, the more I was interested in finding the opportunity to taste some of them.

The most noticeable difference to wines made in the Jura region was the frequent mention of the sous voile method of wine-making. This approach involves the winemaker not topping up the barrels that the wine ages in, and in some cases not fully filling them up to begin with. The result is that the resting wine develops a thin layer of yeast on its surface that limits the amount of oxidation that takes place, allowing certain beneficial flavors to develop while preventing the wine from turning to vinegar during the wine’s years of aging. In the case of vin jaune the wine is required to age for 6 years and 3 months, during which time the wine develops a range of flavors including hazelnuts, walnuts, curry, along with a noticeable viscosity and depth. Other wines made in this fashion will be aged sous voile for differing periods of time, depending on the winemaker’s preference.

The other noticeable difference was the handful of different grape varietals unique to the region. These include the white-wine grape savagnin (vin jaune is comprised of 100% savagnin), and two red varietals poulsard and trousseau. All three of these are nearly entirely limited to their production in the Jura. The other two more common varietals grown in the Jura are chardonnay and pinot noir.

So as time passed I found a few bottles here and there. A “Fleur de Chardonnay” from Domaine Labet, a Chardonnay made in the sous voile fashion giving the wine a nutty flavor to undercut the sweetness of the chardonnay and blended with a touch of savagnin to lend it a distinct acidity. This was followed by a savagnin from Domaine Berthet-Bondet, a poulsard and a vin jaune from Jacques Puffeney, a pair of savagnins from Domaine de Montbourgeau, and one from Domaine Andre et Mireille Tissot. Of these, those that stood out most were the savagnins from Montbourgeau, the poulsard from Puffeney, and the vin jaune from Puffeney.

The vin jaune from Puffeney was amazing, the farthest thing from any wine I had ever tasted. Whereas the savagnins that I had tasted all carried elements born of the sous voile style, the vin jaune had them in spades. Whereas the other savagnins achieved a balance between the wine’s inherent sweetness, acidity, and the nuttiness from the sous voile, the vin jaune fully embraced the results of the sous voile method. The wine was rife with nuts, caramel, curry, rancio, and had a velvety mouthfeel that led to a finish that just lingered on your palate for ages.

All that being said, while the vin jaune was wonderful and such a unique experience, it really did not hold a candle to this vin de paille. Again, this wine was simply amazing. Not a wine for every occasion, its sweetness and boldness required some contemplation around when best to drink it, but a fabulous wine when you find the right time to open it up. I’d recommend this over and over again.