The Jura is known for its distinct, rare and characterful wines. Among them are ‘sous voile’ wines (made with a veil of flor) and ‘ouillé’ bottlings, which are topped up and without flor growth. If you like cheese, buy all the Comté you can get and pair it with these wines, especially the vin jaune.
Domaine de Montbourgeau is one of the flagship producers within the Jura’s L’Etoile AOC. Their L’Etoile En Banode 2020 is a 60/40 blend of Chardonnay and Savagnin and a mix of the region’s two famous styles. It spends just over a year in foudre with regular top-ups (ouillé), followed by another 32 months in large-format oak barrels under flor (sous voile). The result is a brilliantly complex, spicy, nutty, toasty, apple-y wine with a salty, chalky finish.
The 100% Chardonnay L’Étoile Cuvée Spéciale 2019 spends almost five years in oxidative conditions (sous voile). Peaty, powerful and concentrated with light floral notes, this is excellent and, like the Banode, will be sitting pretty a decade from now.
Finally, Montbourgeau’s L’Etoile Vin Jaune 2017 is one of my favourite wines this year. 100% Savagnin, sous voile (not topped) for seven years before bottling, this offers the best of the Jura. It’s nutty, salty and multi-layered with real power yet lots of finesse, showing a stony, smoky minerality and that signature Jura acidity, which will keep the wine going well beyond 2050. Some Comté cheese with bread or chicken and morels will sing with this.
Domaine de Montbourgeau was established in 1920 by Pierre Jeannin and is still family-run today, looked after by his granddaughter Nicole Deriaux and her two sons. Wine Cellar is honoured to import these extremely limited wines, and we now have about 5-10% of their total production here in South Africa!
Tasting Notes:
Montbourgeau L’Étoile En Banode 2020
‘The very expressive 2020 L’Etoile En Banode is a 60/40 blend of Chardonnay and Savagnin from a vineyard planted with the two varietals by Jean Gros in the 1970s. It matured as ouillé in a foudre for one year and then spent 32 months in 500- and 600-liter barrels with flor. The nose is super expressive with textbook aromas of green walnuts, celery and curry. The palate has pungent flavors and a very chalky and salty finish. Only 800 bottles were produced in April 2024.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 94/100
Montbourgeau L’Étoile Cuvée Spéciale 2019
‘The 2019 L’Etoile Cuvée Spéciale comes from an idea some 40 years ago to make a wine as natural as possible in a cellar with no temperature control and left in 225-liter barrels without touching it for 56 months. It always has a very pungent nose with notes of iodine and peat, powerful and concentrated, from a warm and ripe year. I read the notes from the 2015, and they are almost identical; I think the two years had things in common, and the character of the wines are pretty similar. Time in barrel concentrated it to 15% alcohol, but it comes through as balanced, powerful but also fresh and elegant. 4,600 bottles were filled in April 2024.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 96/100
Montbourgeau L’Étoile Vin Jaune 2017 (620ml) ‘The very young and tender 2017 L’Etoile Vin Jaune comes from a year marked by frost; but there was less frost in l’Etoile than in other places, and the Savagnin suffered less than the Chardonnay. It comes from Les Baudes Haut, planted in 1988 on gray marl and limestone with fossil soils. After the frost, it was fairly warm, and the harvest was quite early. The style of the 2017s is finer and more elegant than the 2018s, a character that also transcends the finest Vin Jaunes, like this one from Montbourgeau. The nose is complex, with a mixture of walnuts, spices, iodine and peat, hints of mushrooms and a balsamic and medicinal touch. It has a lively palate, with vibrant minerality, effervescent acidity and a long, dry and almost salty finish. It’s pungent and powerful with 15% alcohol through evaporation during the long aging in barrel but also with concentrated acidity that provides balance and freshness. Only 500 bottles were produced.’ – Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate, 97/100
