
2018 Michel Gahier Arbois Lou Blanc





WINEMAKER: Michel Gahier
REGION: Jura, FR
VARIETAL: Melon à Queue Rouge
VITICULTURE: Organic
The grapes for the new Lou Blanc cuvée, which benefit from limestone and clay soils in the vineyard are manually harvested and sorted prior to pressing. The wine is made in the ‘ouillé’ style where the barrels are topped up during maturation so that the wine does not oxidise in the barrel. This winemaking approach ensures that the resultant wine is fresh and lively with the typical Jura taste of topped-up Melon le Queue Rouge. This is the variant of Chardonnay that he uses in the La Fauquette and which straddles the line between Savagnin and Chardonnay in texture and flavour. Melon as a grape variety loves oxidation (as does Savagnin) and is capable of producing wines of incredible complexity and depth. For those of you who have tried La Fauquette in the past you will know how complex it is. This one has not had the same length of time to evolve and is made for earlier drinking, but it is still a very interesting wine!
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.