West London Wine School Jimmy's Jura Part 1: Traditional Jura
Friday 16 January 2015
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Join us for a fascinating tasting (part of a two-part series) on the fantastic and emerging little-known region of Jura in eastern France. This really is rural France, with the stunning backdrop of the Alps and beautiful scenery boasting a collection of serene lakes. This is the Franche-Comté, land of the Montbéliarde cow, the only cattle permitted for the production of delicious Comté cheese. On top of all of this we have a plenitude of unique and diverse wine produced, completely different to anything else in the whole world. Jimmy Smith, founder of West & North London Wine Schools visited the region in August 2014 and out of all his travels this region stands out as the most unique – the most weird and wonderful.
Jura Part 1: Traditional
Jura as a whole region only boasts a little over 2000 hectares (the next nearest this is Alsace with 15,000 hectares) so is a drop in the French ocean of wine. This first evening on 'traditional' wines of the region is the easiest and classic to launch as it is synonymous with region's identity. The wines have a distinctive edge to them as most will go through some maturation 'sous-voile' meaning underneath a layer of yeast, similar to that of Sherry, though not fortified. This adds a wealth of depth and flavour including unique kernel notes such as walnut and almond. We'll start the tasting with a traditional aperitif 'Macvin' which is a mixture of marc and wine and then head onto wines from Puffenay, Macle, Mossu, Badoz and Courbet including Vin Jaune (Yellow Wine – aged sous voile), Vin de Paille (sweet wine from dried grapes) and Chateau-Chalon (same as Vine Jaune but aged longer and from the Grand Cru appellation).
Wines on Tasting:
Aperitif: Courbet Macvin
Courbet Chardonnay (£10)Macle Cotes de Jura 2010 (£15)Puffenay Savignin 2010 (£20)Puffenay Trousseau 2009 (£25)Badoz Vin Jaune 2007 (£30)Courbet Chateau-Chalon 2006 (£35)Macle Chateau-Chalon 2006 (£40)Mossu Vin de Paille 2007 (sweet wine £30)