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Twenty years or so ago, when we first crossed the threshold of Jacques Puffeney’s cellar door, there was nary a true Jura wine present in the US market. The oxidative whites and perplexing reds produced from the unheard of Trousseau and Poulsard varieties were mere curiosities at the time, rejected often for their strikingly non-commercial qualities. We persevered, gradually winning converts to the Puffeney wines and adding, over the years, other producers from different corners of the Jura who were, and remain, just as dedicated as Puffeney to producing the typical, traditional wines of the Jura. As our list of Jura-based producers and appellations has grown, so has the market for these enchanting wines, a fascinating and ultimately rewarding result that makes a strong case for the growing intelligence and sophistication of the US market. The ‘jazz’ of the Jura can’t be taught; it must be absorbed through generations of exposure to the habits of a long and challenging tradition.
We continue our search for that sort of truth in the Jura and have had the good fortune of stumbling upon growers who epitomize all that we treasure here. In 2018, we add to our portfolio, proudly the deepest of anyone working the region, a domaine of impeccable class: Les Matheny, the creation of Elise and Emeric Foléat.
Emeric Foléat reached out to us early last fall, as he and his wife Elise were taking the first steps in seeking broader representation for their fledgling winery, Les Matheny. Emeric was quite familiar with our work, for he had spent eight years working for Jacques Puffeney—a resumé detail that all but forced us to pay the young couple a visit during our October circuit, at the end of a particularly strenuous day. After so many years in the business and so many visits, one can judge fairly quickly whether a potential new grower holds promise—and Les Matheny glowed with it. From Elise and Emeric’s warm, unforced demeanor, to their winery filled with weathered wooden casks and absent of shiny technology, to the very smell of it all—great Jura cellars harbor a salty, yeasty, tangy air rife with the scents of wine growing and changing—we were primed for a meaningful encounter. And boy, did we ever receive one…
Both of them born and bred in the Jura, Elise and Emeric began Les Matheny—playfully named after their tiny home village of Mathenay—in 2007, and their holdings today encompass three and a half hectares of vines spread among Arbois, Montigny-les-Arsures, and Poligny. In the rustic old farmhouse they converted into a winery, thoughtful experimentation rooted in local tradition is their operative philosophy. Giving concession neither to easy marketability nor to the notion of a “product line,” the Foléats take each harvest as it comes, vinifying and aging certain parcels separately if the notion strikes them, keeping a cask or two under voile for an extra-long time if the underlying material proves worthy, and topping up their barrels occasionally, partially, and based purely on taste and instinct. While both enologist and marketer alike may consider Les Matheny a baffling operation, those who value character in wine will find a deep well of authenticity and beauty here. These are wines free of shackles—whites of visceral intensity, layered and nuanced, yet simultaneously tough and bare-knuckled; brazenly structured reds that scoff at the dainty, almost apologetic extraction common for such thin-skinned varieties; wines of immense aromatic range that are unafraid to stare volatile acidity in the face and emerge victorious. (In a particularly moving anecdote, Emeric recounted monitoring a fermentation at Puffeney’s side; as the temperature of the tank climbed ever higher and young Emeric began to panic, the always-taciturn Jacques consoled him: “Don’t worry; it’s almost night. Things will cool down. Everything will turn out fine.”) We simply could not say “no” to wines—or people—of such engaging personality, uncompromising realness, and aesthetic satisfaction, and we eagerly await sharing our spoils with those among you wise enough to act on the minuscule quantities to which we have access.
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Arbois Chardonnay: Quite a few parcels comprise Les Matheny’s Chardonnay, and Emeric vinifies each one separately, deciding on the final blend only after each individual wine develops its personality with time in barrel—in this case, well-worn 600-liter tonneaux. Produced from vines averaging 45 years of age, the wine soars from the glass, a storm of ripe green apples, freshly blasted quarry, and musky honey. The palate is both firm and expansive, with a generous pinch of telltale Jurassic salt lengthening the complex, penetrating flavors of greengage and candied lemon. Emeric’s “partial sous-voile” approach shows in the wine’s gently oxidative edge—one that bows to the veil without making a virtue of it—and for such a bold and assertive wine to remain so straightforwardly delicious is a difficult balancing act. This was the wine with which Emeric and Elise opened our tasting, and it made for a formidable first impression. |
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Arbois Chardonnay “6 ans sous voile”: Emeric and Elise conducted an experiment on a particularly hardy parcel of old-vines Chardonnay from Montigny-les-Arsures (Puffeney’s home village, known affectionately as “The Capital of Trousseau”) in the 2011 vintage, letting it evolve in a 600-liter barrel for a full six years without topping it up at all. The result—which had only been in bottle a month when we tasted it—is startling in its intensity, a wine that stares you directly in the eye and dares you to blink. A full-on oxidative twang permeates the whole affair, yet so much else is taking place that it still feels like a backdrop: grilled pineapple, apple tart, and pork broth, all doused in salt—and, interestingly, a subtle autolytic note reminiscent of extended-lees-aged Champagne. Immense acidity and lift infuse everything with crackling electricity. This is the kind of wine that could only come from the Jura—a place where mindful negligence yields poetry. |
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Cotes du Jura Savagnin “5 ans d’âge”: The Foléats own a parcel of Savagnin in the village of Poligny, within striking distance of the fabled Chateau-Chalon—considered by some to be the source of the Jura’s greatest Vin Jaune. The 2011, which spent five years in barrels without topping up, embodies the combination of intricate, murmuring depth and powerful oxidative grip for which the zone is famous. As with the Chardonnay “6 ans” above, it is difficult to overstate just how profound an effect such a lengthy aging regimen has on the final wine. Not only does it develop immense complexity through controlled oxidation and the influence of the yeast veil, but the glacial evaporation that occurs serves to concentrate and harmonize all of its elements. An aggressively spicy nose of curry powder, fresh-ground cinnamon, white pepper, and mountain herbs introduces a palate both laser-focused and remarkably expansive, its nutty funk and high-toned fireworks dancing a fiery tango. While great Jura Chardonnay sits easily alongside the best renditions of that eternally popular grape variety on the planet, it is the thick-skinned, late-ripening Savagnin that plays the song of the region with the greatest feeling and fluency. And with renditions such as this one, its unhinged wildness and striking tension illuminate the heart of what makes the Jura so unique and incredible. |
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Arbois Poulsard: Emeric’s lengthy tenure under Puffeney shows especially strongly in his treatment of the indigenous red grape varieties of the region. Whereas many growers here emphasize the thin-skinned, gentle nature of Poulsard and Trousseau, producing delicate, pale wines of wispy tannins and almost rosé-like fruit character, Emeric—like Jacques before him—produces firm, bold red wines proud of their structure and deeply evocative of their limestone-dominated terroir. As an example, the lifted, expressive 2015 Poulsard displays enchanting sandalwood aromas, bursting with black cherry and freshly turned earth, again toeing the line of appropriate volatile acidity in the most appealing possible fashion. The wine’s unabashedly dense structure—the result of a three-week cuvaison—promises great rewards for those willing to wait a few years, though it will undoubtedly dazzle right now, especially at the table. |
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Arbois Trousseau: Les Matheny’s Trousseau is a brooding, serious beast, bristling with energy and thickly textured. Its brash, iron-inflected nose erupts from the glass like a missile, with pitch-black, spice-drenched fruit battling for attention with the wine’s core of mineral-tinged leather and black pepper. Not for the faint of heart, this is a profoundly structured, ruggedly tannic wine that seems to demand cellar time, but—as with the atavistic, rough-hewn Bandol of Chateau Pradeaux—these are honest, proud tannins that are somehow charming despite their intensity. |
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Cotes du Jura Vin Jaune: The Foléats produced all of 200 bottles of Vin Jaune in the 2009 vintage, and we are fortunate to have access to a sliver of that tiny pie. Like the Savagnin, this comes from vines in Poligny, quite close to Chateau-Chalon itself, and it offers an even more profound take on that esteemed terroir. “Non-interventionism” has almost become a cliché when discussing wines of a non-commercial bent, but it truly does require immense courage and the full internalization of trust-in-nature to produce great Vin Jaune—and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more explosively dynamic example than this one. |
Les Matheny IntroArbois PoulsardArbois Troussseau |
Arbois Pinot-TrousseauArbois Chardonnay |
Arbois Chardonnay 6 Ans Sous VoileCôtes du Jura Vin Jaune |
Les Matheny
Few in the Jura are as talented as Emeric Foléat of the tiny Les Matheny domaine in Mathenay, Arbois. Emeric worked for eight years under the legendary Jacques Puffeney, who taught him the ultimate value in embracing risk and trusting the quality of his fruit to do its thing in the cellar without coercion. Emeric farms his three hectares in Arbois without the use of synthetic chemicals, and he raises his wines in a small cinderblock shed devoid of modern gadgetry. Minute additions of sulfur, and even then only sometimes, are the only adjustments he makes to these bold, assertive, deeply personal creations—wines that embody the exhilarating freedom Jura growers enjoy compared to many of their peers in more buttoned-up regions.
2018 Arbois Pinot-Trousseau
Emeric owns so little Pinot Noir that he ends up having to blend it with other varieties—Poulsard in some years, and Trousseau in others, as he sees fit—following the model of his old employer Puffeney who produced the stunning “Vieilles Vignes” cuvée through the 2005 vintage using all three cépages. Aged for two years in a single decades-old small foudre, this 2018 Pinot-Trousseau is built around 45-year-old Trousseau from the village of Aiglepierre, and the roughly one-quarter Pinot Noir serves to moderate the Trousseau’s scrappy wildness with a touch of silk.
2017 Arbois Chardonnay
Rather than topping up religiously or allowing wine to evaporate and voile to develop by rote, Emeric treats each Chardonnay barrel individually, aiming for a final blend that sizzles with acidity and bursts with fruit yet speaks an unmistakably Jurassien patois. Consequently, the dynamic range on a Les Matheny Chardonnay is staggering, with notes of marzipan vying with bare-knuckled minerality and a soaring acidity that speaks both to the character of the local marne soils and to Emeric’s refusal to control fermentation temperature.
2012 Arbois Vin Jaune
Emeric’s Vin Jaune, bottled a full seven years after harvest, is a focused effort of remarkable complexity. Exuberant but controlled on the nose, it laser-beams preserved lemons, freshly tanned leather, and marzipan at the taster, ratcheting up the intensity with its agile, built-for-speed palate. It is a wine both weighty and brisk, with decades of upside potential, and its combination of power and balance clearly evokes his legendary former mentor’s wines.
An Ode to Vin Jaune
… A hunched figure, barely visible in the twilight, barred the great subterranean cellar’s modest entrance. Ragged and weary from their journey, the five sommeliers looked at one another with surprise; the old book had mentioned nothing of a gatekeeper. They had followed the map with great care, the promise of long-buried vinous spoils, theirs for the taking, having sustained them through the endless Krug-less days—but it seemed a final challenge awaited. The sentinel scowled at them from beneath his large hood.
New Arrivals from the Jura: September 2020
The Jura’s meteoric rise among American wine drinkers over the past decade has been well documented, but the wines from the tiny appellation of L’Étoile remain somewhat less known. Perhaps that’s due to its comparatively diminutive size, or perhaps to its lack of appellation-status red wines—much initial fervor over the Jura in the US was driven by the region’s light…