CÔTES DU JURA - TRADITION 2020

Grand Héritage

click on one of the vintages below for further information
2021   2022  

Several generations have been necessary to patiently built one of the largest and greatest estates in the area, focused on key appellations such as Château-Chalon, l’Étoile and Arbois. The Domaine MAIRE & Fils covers nowadays 234 hectares of vines producing all the area grapes varieties.

The “TRADITION” term refers to a typical blend of the local grapes varieties. Our cuvee TRADITION red is a blend of Pinot Noir (70%), Trousseau (20%) and Poulsard (10%).

The Pinot Noir grape is often blended with other varieties in the Jura vineyard, for its flavour and cellaring potential. Planted since the 15th century on gravelly soil, it is often the first vine variety to ripen in the Jura.

The Trousseau is an old local, late-fruiting and demanding vine variety from the Franche-Comté area. Trousseau requires light, gravelly, warm soil. It brings the peppery and spicy flavours to the wine.

The Poulsard is another old native grape variety, also known as “Ploussard”. This variety appreciates strong soils, with marl and clay. Its grapes, with white juices and a thin skin produce gourmet and lively juices, with hints of small red fruits and a stunning clear ruby red color.

This cuvee TRADITION offers a perfect balance between the elegance and the finesse of the Pinot Noir, and the spicy, crispy notes with a little wilderness of the local grapes.

In the glass the wine offers an intense dark cherry-red colour. The nose gives off small red
berries aromas, with pleasant spicy hints. In the mouth, the wine is lively, with hints of spice and ripe fruit. It has an elegant structure and a long, elegant finish.

Serve at a temperature of average 14 to 15°C (57-59°F) and discover with grilled or roasted meats, a salad with poultry liver, quails with raisins, or in accompaniment of a beautiful plate of French cheeses.
5 to 8 years.

The Jura wine region is small in size but large in its remarkable diversity. It covers 80 kilometres between Burgundy and Switzerland, in the eastern France.

Created in 1937, the AOC (designation of origin) of Cotes du Jura is omnipresent in the north and south of the vineyard, on varied and contrasting terroirs. It is the second leading AOC in Jura in terms of production, and it engages all five of the Jura's grape varieties. The whole range of wines of the Jura is represented, although the whites dominate - still or sparkling - with wines that are round, fruity, and generous.

In order to develop a harmonious cuvée, our Côtes du Jura comes from a selection of our best plots. The soils are very varied: Bajocian limestones, calcareous scree and marls on the plots attached to the hillside, to various clays. Lias and Trias on lands further forward, of variable depth but always sitting on marls which may be exposed.

The work in the vines, is based on the respect of the nature and the soil. For young vines, located on steep slopes, to avoid erosion, we cultivate a row out of two, practice soil reassembly to aerate the lands subjected to settlement due to moisture, and grass with plants.
Such as clover, which, by competing on the vine, can modulate its mineral and water supply and control its vigor and yield.

The restructuring of the vines contributes to the harmony of our cuvée: the young vines bring the exuberance, the freshness and the acidity. While the older specimens bring the structure and character.

After the manual harvest, the grapes are receipted at the winery and put into thermoregulated stainless steel tank for a total maceration of 12 days. Followed regularly throughout the fermentation, incorporating some pumping and pigeage.

At the moment of pressing, the press and drop juices of each cuvee are assembled and withdrawn for malolactic fermentation on fine lees.

The wines are then aged in stainless tank for 8 months and blended together (70 % Pinot Noir, 20 % Trousseau and 10% Poulsard) before light filtration and bottling.

The current public health crisis has certainly marked this year’s harvest, which nonetheless has been able to go ahead!

We were slightly less affected in the Jura vineyards, by drought than other regions thanks to rain during the month of August. One of the main challenges with this very early harvest was to achieve both optimal ripeness and balance.

Harvest was spread over a month on this estate, which has 234 ha (578.22 ac) in production this year. The harvest was good thanks to the replanting and reorganizing carried out in the vineyard over the last five years.

Initial tastings, Jacques Hauller:

‘The Jura, now more than ever, can lay claim to being the sixth sub-region of Burgundy! It boasts citrusy Chardonnays with a distinct mineral quality despite the very ripe state of the grapes and fruity Pinot Noirs with ripe tannins.

Careful plot selection reveals the potential of our Vignes aux Anes Trousseau; Vignes de Sorbief Savagnin and Chardonnay; a new gem like the delicate, elegant Pinot Noir in Arbois-Pupillin in the locality called ‘La Ronde’, which has been planted alongside the largely-forgotten native variety, Petit Béclan, which produces lively, light red wines which are great for blending purposes; and last but not least, carefully-selected Chardonnay from the vines at Grange Grillard.’