Michel Gahier Melon 'La Fauquette' Arbois Blanc 2017

Country: France

Region: Jura

Type: White Wine

Grape: Melon (Chardonnay?)

The Gahier family has been in the Jura region 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's skills and sensibility that produce undeniably outstanding wines that clearly express the very particular terroir of this part of the Jura.

Gahier harvests and vinifies his wines parcel by parcel. Each wine comes exclusively from a single vineyard site. The farming is organic and and the yields are quite low. The reds are destemmed and there is a period of cold maceration. The wines, both white and red, are aged in old foudres and barrel, and Michel vinifies, ages, and bottles his wines without filtration or any additions whatsoever—no yeast, no sulfur, no nothing. 

Aged in foudre for one year and then in small barrels, sous voile, for an additional three years, this is a powerful and age-worthy wine, with all the savory nuttiness one might expect from sous voile Jura wines. Melon a Queue Rouge is a Jura variety that may or may not be a clone of Chardonnay, with a stem that turns red as the grape ripens.