Domaine Labet "La Reine" VdT Rouge Gamay, Jura, France 2022

FROM CHARLES NEAL SELECTIONS:

THE WINE: From a tiny, young-vine Gamay plot on clay-chalk soils, aged 9 months in 228L barrels.

THE PRODUCER: The family owns 13 hectares of vines in the small town of Rotalier, in the southern part of Jura not far from Lons le Saunier. It's an area more known for Chardonnay than Savagnin. The domaine is only 15 minutes south of Château Chalone (the small appellation known for its top-quality Vin Jaune). One-third of the Labet vines are over 60 years of age. The majority of the vines come from old massal selections. Depending upon the parcel and vintage, the yields vary between 20 and 40 hl/ha (1.5 to 3 tons per acre). The fruit is hand-harvested and there is a manual sorting before pressing. ​

Now that Julien has fully taken over the winemaking for both his own label wines and the traditional domaine label wines, he has been able to truly run with the beliefs to which he feels so committed. While the domaine’s vineyards were not originally certified organic, even the more traditional Alain had always worked them respectfully and with the minimum possible chemical intervention. Julien, being of the younger generation and wanting to take the organic concept even further, gradually converted the 3 hectares he had been given to organic farming, receiving Ecocert certification for that parcel in 2010. Now that he and his two siblings have taken over the entire family domaine, these 3 hectares are incorporated into it, and they are passionately pursuing the conversion (and eventual certification) of all the holdings to organic farming.

Meanwhile, Labet has always attempted and continues to attempt to work as naturally as possible. No chemical fertilizers or pesticides are used, and only organic compost is plowed into the soils. With the older vines, only a horse is used for this work. Most of the vines are from pre-clonal stock (sélections massales) and the yeasts are always indigenous.