Growers / France / Jura / Michel Gahier

Michel Gahier

The Gahier family has been resident in the Jura since 1525, and Michel lives right off the main square of Montigny-lès-Arsures, known charmingly as “The Capital of Trousseau.”

We fell for the wines of Michel Gahier while dining with the Thevenet family at the Table de Chaintré, a lovely little bistro in the Maconnais. Yes, not the Jura! But, the young couple running the restaurant had just finished a stage at Jean-Paul Jeunet, the esteemed restaurant in Arbois, and brought their love of Jura wines with them. So, I ordered a bottle of 2005 Trousseau “Grands Vergers” and knew that I had to contact Gahier the next morning.

The Gahier family has been resident in the Jura since 1525. The family domaine is 6.5 hectares with the vineyards concentrated in the village of Montigny-les-Arsures, the place recognized as the home of Trousseau. Michel Gahier has learned from the best, as neighbor and friend of Jacques Puffeney. His observations and ongoing dialogue with Puffeney have instilled skills and sensibility that produce undeniably outstanding wines that clearly express the very particular terroir of this corner of the Jura.

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Gahier harvests and vinifies his wines parcel by parcel. Each wine ultimately is derived exclusively from a single vineyard site. His whites are produced both ouillé (topped-up) and sous voile (left to form a protective veil of yeast), though all have a minerality that distinguishes them as jurassien. The Vin Jaune is a testament to the old traditions of the Jura, and many of Gahier’s Vin Jaune barrels are a century old, acquired from Jacques Puffeney’s cellar after his retirement. The same “yeast mother” living in these barrels that nurtured Puffeney’s wine for so many years is now safely ensconced at chez Gahier.

Gahier’s home base of Montigny-lès-Arsures is known charmingly as “The Capital of Trousseau,” and may well produce the most thrilling, layered, and dynamic renderings of the grape variety in the entire Arbois appellation. Gahier’s viticulture is organic; the reds are destemmed; the yields are quite low (averaging 30 hectoliters per hectare). There is a period of cold maceration followed by a cuvaison of approximately one month with some pigeage done in the initial parts of the process. The wines, both white and red, are bottled without filtration.

Farming

Practicing organic

Treatments

Copper-sulfate and herbal treatments

Ploughing

Annual ploughing to maintain vineyard health, with some ploughing done by horse

Soils

Blue/grey and white limestone-clay marls

Vines

Trained in Guyot and planted at 6,000 vines/ha, vines average 40 years old

Yields

Controlled through pruning and debudding, yields average 35-45 hl/ha

Harvest

Entirely manual, mid-September to early October

Sourcing

Entirely estate fruit

Fermentation

Following total destemming and a short cold soak, red wines ferment spontaneously in neutral oak foudres. Cuvaison lasts c. 4 weeks. White wines ferment spontaneously in neutral oak foudres or stainless-steel tanks

Extraction

Red wines see pumpovers and punchdowns during cuvaison

Chaptalization

None

Pressing

Pneumatic pressing

Malolactic Fermentation

Spontaneous, directly following alcoholic fermentation

Élevage

Red wines age in large neutral oak foudres; white wines begin their élevages in large foudres before racking into smaller neutral barrels with limited topping up

lees

Wines remain on their fine lees until assemblage prior to bottling

Fining and Filtration

Wines are unfined and unfiltered

sulfur

No added sulfur

Farming

Practicing organic

Treatments

Copper-sulfate and herbal treatments

Ploughing

Annual ploughing to maintain vineyard health, with some ploughing done by horse

Soils

Blue/grey and white limestone-clay marls

Vines

Trained in Guyot and planted at 6,000 vines/ha, vines average 40 years old

Yields

Controlled through pruning and debudding, yields average 35-45 hl/ha

Harvest

Entirely manual, mid-September to early October

Sourcing

Entirely estate fruit

Fermentation

Following total destemming and a short cold soak, red wines ferment spontaneously in neutral oak foudres. Cuvaison lasts c. 4 weeks. White wines ferment spontaneously in neutral oak foudres or stainless-steel tanks.

Extraction

Red wines see pumpovers and punchdowns during cuvaison

Chaptalization

None

Pressing

Pneumatic pressing

Malolactic Fermentation

Spontaneous, directly following alcoholic fermentation

Élevage

Red wines age in large neutral oak foudres; white wines begin their élevages in large foudres before racking into smaller neutral barrels with limited topping up

Lees

Wines remain on their fine lees until assemblage prior to bottling

Fining & Filtration

Wines are unfined and unfiltered

Sulfur

No added sulfur

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