Clippers – Harvest time in the Jura
I strongly believe that if you are a wine professional or think you want to be, you should know what it is like to drag a bucket of grapes up and down steep hills at the crack of dawn. To respect the product and the people who make it we as Sommelier, buyers, waiters and wine lovers should understand the love that must go into making wine at a small estate. I asked my team before we opened our last restaurant if they wanted to take the long weekend that we had as an opportunity to go pick grapes. I am lucky to work with an group of people who are engaged and enthusiastic about hard work and adventure. I gathered our motley crew of a Bartender, a Chef, an Assistant Sommelier, Restaurant Managers and a Barista. Everyone was instructed to bring work boots, sleeping bags and sunscreen for the 5am pickup on the corner across from our almost finished soon to be open restaurant Cafe du Sommelier in Dusseldorf, Germany. We had a 7 hour drive ahead of us to reach the Jura Mountains. Coffee and breakfast rolls were packed and the adventure was off to a good start.
The Jura wine region & terroir
The Jura is on the border with Switzerland and above Burgundy. This is an area of rolling foot hills, ridges and plateau that back up against the Swiss border. The land of Comte cheese! Way more cows then people reside in the hamlets around the region.
Sea shell fossils at the L’Etoile vineyard
The region gets its name for the Jurassic period when the land panels on earth move around about 195 million years ago and shifted old sea beds to be above water. This period moved what is now France out to the bottom of the ocean into the formation that we know now. With this movement some of the greatest vineyards sites in the world were formed. Burgundy and Champange being the most know.
Grapes & Wine Making
The Jura like Burgundy and Champange grows Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, it was brought to the region in the Middle Ages. In addition to those French classic grapes you will find Poulsard a light red grape with big berries and soft juiciness, Trousseau darker with thicker skins & Savagnin a cousin of Traminer a parent to most fine wine grapes. These unique grapes are only grown here and the style range of wine you can get from the Jura is mind blowing. Produced in the region you will find this wide range of wines:
LuLu wine are all labeled by hand
- Still red wine
- Still white in oxidative traditional style
- Still white no-oxidative (similar to chablis)
- Crémant du Jura white or rose
- Vin Jaune – a flor wine aged 6 years it even comes in is own fancy bottle signature clavelin that holds 62 cL.
- Macvin- a distillate with fresh grape juice added and aged
- Vin de Paille – a sweet wine made by drying grapes on grass in wooden boxes.
It is always a good idea to serve the oxidative whites of the region including the Vin Jaune cellar temperature and the reds on the cooler side.
The Picking & The Eating
I was lucky that my friends at Les Chais du Vieux Bourg were happy to have our help with harvest. Many years ago when I was working in NYC I took a wine trip to visit some of the wineries that I bought. On that trip I stayed in the lovely bed & breakfast they run. I had loved the wines and had them on my list in NYC. As it turned out harvest was early in 2012 when I was visiting and they needed help to get in the grapes. The friend I was traveling with and I joined them for a few days of picking. It was an unforgettable experience to do my first harvest with them. We have been friends since and I often send Sommeliers to visit them and help. My team was in for a treat. Ludwig and Nathalie have set aside part of the old estate that they have in the town of Poligny to house friends and family who come to help them with harvest. They have set up the court yard where the grapes are received with a giant picnic table and an open air kitchen. Harvest with them is about eating and drinking. They have set up harvest so that friends from around France and the world come to help pick in exchange for Nathalie’s incredible cooking and Ludwig’s great wine.
It is a party of epic culinary proportions. That being said you still need to be up at 6 am and ready to sweat and get dirty. Pricking grapes in not a glamours job but it is the best possible way for us to learn to respect the products we work with and the people who make a living producing wine. My crew was great! They learned fast and worked hard. The entire team left with much more respect for the process of wine making, the people who are crazy enough to do it and a new found love of Comte. Thank you Ludwig & Nathalie for your unending hospitality and warmth.
My favorite spots
My Favorite spots in the Jura including where to stay and who to visit. This is a great region without the busses of tourist you find in much of France. An area for hiking, eating well and enjoying great unique wines. The Jura also offers many exciting local festivals to keep an eye out for.
SLEEP:
jardinsurglantine.natidees.com
DRINK:
LuLu Wine – www.bindernagel.fr
Tissot – www.stephane-tissot.com
Chateau Arlay – www.chateau-arlay.com
SHOPPING:
Amazing chocolate shop in the town of Arbois- www.chocolat-hirsinger.com