NV Michel Gahier Montibulles
WINEMAKER: Michel Gahier
REGION: Jura, FR
VARIETAL: Chardonnay
VITICULTURE: Organic
Michel Gahier is well known for his fresh, non-oxidative whites, his oxidative whites and his pure, clean Trousseau reds, especially those from his ninety year old Grands Vergers vineyard. However, over the past decade or more we have also been great fans of his sparkling wines, especially his Crémant du Jura made from Chardonnay (which is more likely to be the exciting Melon à Queue Rouge variety which is a variant of Chardonnay). This year we have been able to secure some bottles of a wine which does not fit the appellation and hence has been labelled as a Vin de France. This is because there are appellation rules relating to many aspects of the making of the Crémant du Jura sparkling wines and Michel broke one of the rules.
He bottled the wine (for making the secondary fermentation) earlier than the appellation’s decree date, therefore he couldn’t use Crémant du Jura on the label. Nevertheless the resultant wine has turned out to have very fine bubbles, a very deep flavour, an appealing saltiness along with a hint of sweetness without in any way being a sweet wine. This is a truly superb sparkling wine made by a serious winemaker.
Michel Gahier lives in the centre of the village of Montigny-les-Arsures which lies near the central town of Arbois. The reason this is significant is that Montigny is regarded as the finest terroir for the Trousseau grape in the Jura. When we first tasted his wines we were very excited by their purity and their minerality. Michel is a quiet but talented vigneron who tends his vines meticulously and watches carefully over his wines as they are maturing. He likes to make his wine using the traditional techniques of the Jura. Michel tends 6 hectares of vines of which 3 hectares are given over to Trousseau and the remainder is split between Chardonnay and Savagnin.