With the lifting of Ontario lockdowns announced for next week, this will hopefully be our last Saturday Night Lockdown wine club ever! And we’re celebrating with a very special theme that we never got the opportunity to get to last year, the wines of Jura, France. Same deal as usual: the wines are featured at the Byward Wine Market in Ottawa and Pan Chancho in Kingston all week, come grab the wines and send me an email that you’d like to join the Zoom!

Jura has been one of the most under-rated wine regions for decades, if not centuries. This is some of the most traditional wines still being made on the planet, almost identically to how they were made several hundred years ago. The Bourdy family has been making wine in the same space since 1579. Working in the same cellar of the same house, in the same way, for 15 generations! And they still have wines for sale as far back as 1781 to prove it! Jura makes probably the most age-worthy wines in the world. This $40 Cotes du Jura Blanc will outlive your grandchildren, I don’t care if you’re 25, it will still outlive your eventual grandchildren.

Maybe because of the incredibly rustic profile of these wines, they never found their way into the favour of modern critics and subsequently the mass market. But they have certainly caught on in the last 10 years and this incredibly authentic, quiet, provincial enclave of France (about 60 min drive east from Beaune) is still producing their unique style of wine the same way it was 500 years ago. And they’re not just some interesting funky old relics, these are some of the finest wines in the world. The top wines of the region: Vin Jaune and Chateau Chalon have been for centuries revered by royalty and collectors.

Laura Bourdy with her father, Jean-Francois Bourdy.

Many wineries aspire to do things as they were done centuries ago, but few can actually back that up. Domaine Bourdy has worked out of the same basement cellar of the family home for 450 years, with detailed family records, winemaking notes, recipes, and receipts to prove it. This is as old school and legit as it gets. And not surprisingly, Jean Bourdy is one of the 10 oldest family wineries in France, with the oldest cellar of wines still for sale in the country. After 16 generations of Bourdy men making wine out of the same family cellar in the town of Arlay, they have now passed the torch to the first female winemaker and heir, Laura Bourdy. Laura is continuing the traditional winemaking and biodynamic farming, but she’s also added a few new natural cuvees that are entirely unsulphured and unfiltered. While all of Domaine Jean Bourdy’s wines are considered natural, these new cuvees are taking that step further to the more raw and hazy experimental style.

The main characteristic of Jura's winemaking is the intentionally oxidized vinification. Chardonnay and Savagnin are the white varieties grown here, but unless you're accustomed to Jura's style, you might sooner think it's a glass of Sherry in front of you. There are some modern producers now producing a more contemporary style of Chardonnay that is very mineral driven and clean, but the majority adhere to old school tradition. The reds are made the same way, but are blends of Pinot Noir, Trousseau, and Poulsard, perfectly combining the fruity, earthy, and structured components of each varietal. Then the wines age in large format 1000L foudre barrels for 3- 4 years without topping up. Then the Vin Jaune and Chateau Chalon wines age for 5 and 7 years under the flor and develop even richer, earthier, and nuttier profiles. When wine ages in oak it is always micro-oxidizing and a small percentage is always evaporating, increasing the ratio of oxygen to juice in the barrel. Most modern winemakers around the world try to avoid this by making sure the barrels are all filled right to the top every few weeks. This reduces the wines exposure to oxygen preserves the fresher fruit character that oxygen tends to deplete.

In Jura, they WANT this oxidation. During this time they lose upwards of 30% of the juice to oxidation, but what they gain is an incredibly stable, age-worthy wine with a very unique character. This aging process is a little more akin to Sherry production in where a bacterial layer of yeast called "flor' develops on top of the wine, as a kind of thin microbial veil over the top of the wine that gives it's unique character and also protects the wine from total oxidation and spoilage into vinegar.

While this Cotes du Jura is 100% Chardonnay, it’s not your typical Chardonnay. Do not expect California and do not expect Burgundy either. Even though Beaune is only an hour drive to the west, Jura’s blue marl soils coupled with the intentionally oxidative winemaking in Jura creates something entirely unique to themselves. In a blind tasting you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a nutty Fino Sherry or a nicely aged Burgundy that had been left open a few days. It’s definitely a bit funky, but in the absolute best way. It can often seem a bit overpowering on the first sip or two but the rich, baked apple, bruised orange, nutty, earthy, mineral and slight sherry notes all blend together and make outstanding pairings for Comté cheese (also made in the Jura!), mushrooms, roast chicken, coq-a-vin, oily fish like Mackerel, and even oysters. A super versatile wine. Very much worth exploring different food pairings.

Jean-Francois pouring us some Chateau Chalon in the family cellar.

When I visited, Jean-Francois Bourdy wanted to us to understand how their wines are made, how they drink when released, and to show us first hand how ridiculously long they age. So we went into the original cellar of the Domaine, below their family home in the village of Arlay and tasted the current vintage of everything they produce, followed by an old back-vintage of each to provide some context.

We began with their 2008 Cotes du Jura Blanc, which was current vintage at the time, and of course is 100% Chardonnay. It is their “entry level” white wine, but as the tasting would show, there is nothing entry level about this wine. The 2008 showed the typical Jura notes of funky sherry-like nuttiness, flor, pears, ripe apples with nice honied character and really zippy acidity. Such an interesting wine that drinks really smooth and fresh, but the nose is so interesting you don't want to stop smelling it! He followed this up with a 1955 of the same Cotes du Jura wine, 100% Chardonnay. We all tasted it blind and were guessing it was from the late 80’s or early 90’s. To that point in my life, it was one of the oldest whites I've tasted, and I could never have guessed it was 59 years old! The acid and the fruit was still so vibrant, and had so much more life left. No wonder they are still selling the same tier, entry-level Cote du Jura from the 1800’s. Nothing entry level about it.

Some old bottles of Jura we were tasting.

Jean-Francois then did the same experiment with the Cotes du Jura Red which is comprised of equal thirds of Pinot Noir, Poulsard, and Trousau. Tasting the current 2008 beside a 1967 was eye-opening and impressive that such a light wine, which even fresh out of barrel in 2008 is not massively tannic or overly acidic, yet still tastes vibrant from 1967. As a climax to an already impressive tasting Jean-Francois showed us the current Chateau Chalon Vin Jaune beside a 1937 Chateau Chalon. Earlier in the tasting he had mentioned they had recently sold their oldest bottle of wine to a private customer in the UK, a 1781 Vin Jaune. We thought it surely would be past its peak, just an expensive keepsake...now having tasted the 1937 which was still so fresh even at 77 years old, it was entirely possible to believe a 1781 wine from Bourdy would still be alive and well.

Long story short, these are some of the most natural, traditional, and authentic wines still being made on earth. The only real change over the years at the winery was experimenting with chemical and fertilizer use (as everyone did) in the 1960’s to 1980s, then going back to organics. They then took it a step beyond, getting biodynamic certification in 2005, convinced this is the best, most natural way to make their wine while continuing tradition. We’re carrying the Cote du Jura Blanc and Cote du Jura Rouge at the shop and they will both be the focus of this week’s tasting. If you’re joining, the experience would be best with both bottles to try both side by side, but if you’re only going to have 1 bottle, go for the Blanc. Bourdy’s Cote du Jura Rouge is outstanding, but the Blanc is constantly praised as one of the very best in Jura.

2019 Cote du Jura Rouge
$44 per bottle at Byward Wine Market and Pan Chancho
$39.99 x6 from Lifford Wines, shipped to your house!
Equal 1/3’s Pinot Noir, Trousseau, Poulsard blend giving floral, cherry fruit mixed with earth and leather on the nose. Almost a perfect orchard and farm on the nose. The wild cherry fruit and floral components mixed with the adjacent barnyard and earth. Light bodied, complex, and elegant. Similar to really nice, earthy Burgundy.

2018 Cote du Jura Blanc
$44 per bottle at Byward Wine Market and Pan Chancho
$39.99 x6 from Lifford Wines, shipped to your house!
100% Chardonnay. Classic Jura notes of funky sherry-like nuttiness, flor, ripe pears, baked apples with a briny minerality and zippy acidity. Keep in mind: not your typical French Chardonnay; open several hours before serving; can stay open for well over a week; can out live you and your children in the cellar.

If you’re in Kingston, you can grab these at Pan Chancho, and if you’re in Ottawa come by the Byward Wine Market for your bottles, or click here to shop online with home delivery within Ottawa. On Thursday we’ll be getting some Comte in at the Byward Wine Market, this would be one of the most ideal pairings for these wines because the famous funky cheese made locally. Jura’s funky cheese with its funky wines!

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The Byward Wine Market is fully open for in person shopping, as well as online orders offering curbside pickup or local delivery within Ottawa. Reach out if you have any questions, and check out the archive of past FEATURES if you’re interested in other recommendations. Lastly, please feel free to forward this to anyone in Ontario who may be interested in home wine delivery and follow us on Instagram at @bywardwinemarket!