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Les Matheny Chardonnay Arbois 2018
Location: France, Jura, Arbois
Winemaker: Elise & Emeric Foléat
Grapes: Chardonnay
Soil: marl
Chardonnay: 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.
From the Importer Rosenthal: 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.
To discuss the white wines of the Jura as either “topped up” or “oxidative” is to impose a strict binary on what is in fact a broad continuum. The greatest white wines of the Jura are never monolithically oxidative, even in their most extreme form (the inimitable Vin Jaune), and the skilled vigneron balances oxidative notes with elements derived from the voile—and always with the ultimate aim of enhancing rather than overwhelming fruit-acid-mineral interplay. These are wines free of shackles—simultaneously tough and bare-knuckled whites, brazenly structured reds that scoff at the dainty, almost apologetic extraction common for such thin-skinned varieties. 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.
Location: France, Jura, Arbois
Winemaker: Elise & Emeric Foléat
Grapes: Chardonnay
Soil: marl
Chardonnay: 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.
From the Importer Rosenthal: 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.
To discuss the white wines of the Jura as either “topped up” or “oxidative” is to impose a strict binary on what is in fact a broad continuum. The greatest white wines of the Jura are never monolithically oxidative, even in their most extreme form (the inimitable Vin Jaune), and the skilled vigneron balances oxidative notes with elements derived from the voile—and always with the ultimate aim of enhancing rather than overwhelming fruit-acid-mineral interplay. These are wines free of shackles—simultaneously tough and bare-knuckled whites, brazenly structured reds that scoff at the dainty, almost apologetic extraction common for such thin-skinned varieties. 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.