Vignerons Les Matheny "Chardonnay" Arbois Blanc, Jura, France 2020

FROM KERMIT LYNCH:

THE WINE: Many parcels comprise Les Matheny’s Chardonnay, and Emeric Foléat 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, stone minerals 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. The “partial sous-voile” approach shows in the wine’s gently oxidative edge, one that bows to the veil without making a show of it—a tricky balancing act for such a bold and assertive wine to remain so straightforwardly delicious.

THE PRODUCER: Few in the Jura are as talented as Emeric Foléat of the tiny Les Matheny domaine in Arbois. Having 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 3 hectares in Arbois without the use of synthetic chemicals and raises his wines in a small cinderblock shed devoid of modern gadgetry. Emeric takes each harvest as it comes, vinifying and aging certain parcels separately if the notion strikes him, keeping a cask or two under voile for an extra-long time if the underlying material proves worthy, and topping up his barrels occasionally, partially, and based purely on taste and instinct. Minute additions of sulfur, and even then only sometimes, are the only adjustments he makes to his bold, assertive, deeply personal creations.