Jura Flashcards
What is the climate of the Jura?
Semi-continental
What is the largest Jura AOC by volume and geographic size?
Arbois AOC
What Jura AOC produces only Vin Jaune?
Château-Chalon AOC
Which Jura region produces more red wine than white?
The Arbois AOC
A Vin Jaune labeled “vin de garde” is intended for:
Cellaring
What Jura native created the “Bordeaux Mixture” for treating mildew and pioneered the grafting of French vines onto American rootstock?
Alexis Millardet
What does the term “Sous Voile” signify on a bottle of Jura wine?
The wine has been made with controlled exposure to oxygen, under a surface layer (or “veil”) of yeast
Melon d’Arbois, Melon a Queue Rouge and Gamay Blanc are all synonyms for:
Chardonnay
What was Charles Rouget’s contribution to winemaking?
Rouget noted that the same grape variety can be given different names in different places
What three Jura AOCs produce Vin de Paille?
Arbois AOC, L’Etoile AOC and Côtes du Jura AOC
What was Louis Pasteur’s contribution to winemaking?
Pasteur discovered that a microbe he named “yeast” is responsible for fermentation
What is a “clavelin”?
A 620 ml bottle used in the Jura for Vin Jaune
What are the five permitted grapes in the Jura?
Chardonnay, Savagnin Blanc, Poulsard, Pinot Noir, Trousseau
What is the sole grape used in the production of the Jura’s Vin Jaune?
Savagnin Blanc
What is the name of the grape indigenous to the Jura and known for making “almost-red” wines?
Poulsard
What is Macvin du Jura?
Fortified grape must
What is “ullage”?
The controlled exposure of of wine to oxygen in a barrel that is not filled completely
Does the Jura produce more white or red wine?
White
What does the “Ouillé” signify on a bottle of Jura wine?
The wine has been made reductively, with minimum oxygen exposure
What is the most widely planted grape in the Jura?
Chardonnay
What two Jura AOCs represent styles of wine rather than geographic locations?
Macvin du Jura AOC and Crémant du Jura AOC
What Jura AOC grows only Savagnin Blanc?
Château-Chalon AOC
The main grape used in the production of Crémant du Jura is:
Chardonnay
What is the Jura’s Vin de Paille?
A wine made with air-dried grapes
Jura- Overview
- Mountainous region between Bourgogne and Switzerland
- Geologically; uplift of the Soane Graben
- Politically; Part of the Franche- Comte region of which Bourgogne is linked
- Only 10% of Production is exported, even though they have reached cult status. Produces unique wine products from now mainstream grape varieties
- Long Viti history; Pliny the Elder (died 79AD) chronicles the area in “Natural History”
- 14th Century; Regcognition for the Wines Due to the Dukes of Burgundy controlled the area
- 1732 and 1774: Decrees specifying a limited list of approved grape varieties, 1774 decree, recommended a total of 14. Decrees not enforced.
- 19 Century V/ yards covered 50,000 acres/ 20,000 ha, planted with 42 different varieties
- 1879: Phylloxera, whittled down thé approved varieities to 5
- Red Wines designed for aging (19th Century), now whites are designed for long term aging
- Current v/ yards 48 miles/ 80 km from Nth to Sth, cover 5000 acres/ 2,000 ha. The fraction of what is used to be, avg quality is high
- V/ yards in Jura département, in turn, located in Franche- Comte region of France
- 400 Wine growers, 200 market their wine.
Jura Personalities- Louis Pasteur (1822- 1895)
- French Chemist/ Microbiologist born in Dole
- Pasterization milk, and the anthrax and rabies vaccines. Also worked on ground breaking alcoholic fermentation
- Pasteur found yeast was involved
- Despite being Paris based, he would return to the Jura every summer
Charles Rouget (1828- 1899)- Jura Personalities
- Wrote an ampélographical compendium in 1897
- life- long student of the vine, noted that identical grape varieties often assumed alternate names, esp. where different sites/ soils
Alexis Arpin (1867- 1946)- Jura Personalities
- Winegrower in Arbois, championed for an appellation for Arbois
- Work led to Arbois to get the first AOC in 1936
Alexis Millardet (1838- 1902)- Jura Personalities
- Jura born botanist and mycologist who studied vine diseases
- Creator of Bordeaux mixture
- Together with Jules Emile Planchon, created the grafting of French vines onto American rootstock to protect from Phylloxera
Jura- Geology, Soils and Climate
- Lay under sea during the late Triassic through the middle Jurassic (230- 160 mya). Layers of marl (limestone- clays) formed as sea creatures died, accumulated and compacted. Eventually land emerged from the sea and the Saône graben occurred
- Graben uplifts (the escarpments of the Côte d’Or and the Jura Mtn) were seperated by the Bresse plain. Blind valleys also formed in the Jura at this time creating a distinctive typography
Blind Valley/ Steephead Valley- Jura
- A deep narrow valley common to limestone landscapes
- An abrupt ending. Formed when a Valley with perméable soil or rock such as limestone rests atop an impermeable sublayer (dolomite, sandstone, shale, flysch). Water moves through the permeable top layer and erodes it down to the impermeable later forming the Valley
Jura- Geology and Soil (Slide 2)
- As the Alpes rose to the est of the Jura (34- 23 mya), they pushed the Jura Mtns wstward creating a series of folds that are now plateaux
- Some Jura v/yards lie on the Sth-wstern facing foothills below the 1st plateau. V/yards also located on slopes of small limestone hills that detached themselves during all the geological upheaval. V/yards positioned b/ween 660- 1320 ft/ 200- 400m in elevation
- Jura is often described as the mirror image of the Côte d’Or. Soils are the exact opposite.
- In General, The base rock in the Côte d’Or is comprised of about 80% limestone and 20% Clay. Jura is the reverse.
- Heavy clay hard to work during the wet and dry, they dry out fast when the weather is warm and sunny
- Top soils varied: Marl (clay- limestone) outcrops appear in different colours
- Red Marl good for red grapes; grey/ blue Marl (sometimes with shale) is ideal for Savagnin or Poulsard; Gravel is good for Trousseau/ P-Noir; outcrops of pure limestone with sea- fossils are surfed for Chardonnay
- Semi Continental, cold winters, can have very summers, summer nights tend to stay cool
- Burgundy similar in temps, and hours of sunshine. Avg temps have increased in the past 15 yrs (esp. during growing season)
- Hazards; similar to Nrthn winegrowing (ie risk of spring frosts, in low lying v/yards or hail storms which occur at any time)