Et is a liquid treasure that matures in the cellars of Château-Chalon for six years and three months: Vin Jaune, the legendary white wine from the Jura, which literally means yellow wine. It is only grown in the small French department and made exclusively from the Savagnin grape variety. Even the kings of Versailles loved the “nectar of the gods”. Because of its long maturation period and the low production volumes, Vin Jaune today costs as much as a top-quality champagne.
The Jura massif stretches along the border between France and Switzerland for a length of 300 kilometers. Château-Chalon nestles against one of its western foothills – the medieval-looking village is considered the cradle of Vin Jaune. Hélène Berthet-Bondet is one of the few women among the local winemakers. She welcomes her guests in the vaulted cellar of her organic winery. The Vin Jaune, which she serves as a sample, shimmers like yellow amber.
Source: WORLD infographic
It is the 2015 harvest that was left to its own devices during the entire aging period in the oak barrel; At the beginning of February the wine is to be poured into bottles. In the mandatory 75 months, part of the wine has evaporated through fine pores in the wood, it has, so to speak, dissolved into thin air. The winemakers call it “Part des ans”, the part of the angels. “The remainder forms a layer of yeast that comes from the cellar atmosphere and the barrel; this more or less solid surface protects the wine from oxidation, ”explains Berthet-Bondet.
How the myth of Vin Jaune came about
The strong taste of the wine, influenced by the flor yeast, with an alcohol content of at least twelve percent, initially irritates the palate. But already with the second sip you notice fresh aromas of walnuts, green apples, curry and ginger. If you want to compare the yellow wine with another plant, then it comes closest to a Spanish sherry.
“According to legend, we owe the Vin Jaune to the nuns,” says Berthet-Bondet. Medieval ruins huddled between ancient stone houses are still reminiscent of the former monastery of the Benedictine nuns. Once they were said to have been given a barrel of wine. Since the pious women were more interested in divine contemplation than in earthly pleasures, they stored the barrel unopened in the attic.
Half a century later, villagers discovered the forgotten wine and were amazed to find that although considerable quantities had evaporated, the remainder of the barrel tasted highly aromatic. The myth of Vin Jaune, which gets better with aging, was born.
The wine festival is one of the most famous in France
In winter it is Siberian cold in the Jura by French standards. Cold records are regularly measured on the mountain tops, the fir forests are thickly covered with hoar frost. It is the most important time of the year for the winemakers, because Christmas and New Year’s Eve are barely over when the next big event is about to begin: In the cellars, the barrels are pierced after the maturation period has ended.
The “gold of the Jura” is bottled in a short-necked, bulbous bottle, which is known as a clavelin and has a capacity of 620 milliliters. This curious volume – 750 millimeters is common for wine bottles – corresponds exactly to the amount that is left over from one liter of wine after the long maturation period.
The Vin Jaune is bottled in bottles that hold 620 milliliters. This corresponds exactly to the amount that is left over from one liter of wine after the long aging period
Those: www.vinatis.de
The highlight of the bottling tradition is La Percée du Vin Jaune, one of the most famous wine festivals in France, which takes place every year in a different Jura town. Usually on the first weekend in February, in 2022, however, due to the pandemic, it will be on the 2nd / 3rd April postponed.
This time it is the turn of the village of Cramans, where not only the local winegrowers invite you to try the new vintage, but winegrowers from all over the Jura offer samples of their freshly bottled wine. The program includes parades of costumed wine fraternities, the church blessing of the wines and the tasting of specialties that go wonderfully with Vin Jaune, such as Bresse chicken with morels, garlic snails or the spicy Comté cheese.
103,700 euros for a bottle of wine
The wine auctions that take place in winter are also exciting. The Vins Jaunes are the Methusalems of wines, they can be stored for fifty, a hundred and more years. This explains the astonishing prices that particularly old wines achieve: four years ago a bottle from 1774 was auctioned for 103,700 euros.
Before Corona, solvent wine dealers and collectors from the Far East were often spotted at auctions. These customers are not just speculating on further increases in prices. The taste of the niche wine also plays a major role, because Vin Jaune goes well with Asian dishes. The first and only Vin Jaune bar outside of France is located in Tokyo, in the Akasaka office district, and is called “Goût de Jaune”.
Paul Benoit, winemaker in Pupillin, is happy to invite you to his winery, which is actually a ground-level, draughty warehouse
Source: Rob Kieffer
Even in a tiny Jura village like Pupillin, where the church and town hall are the only noteworthy buildings, the winemakers run cozy shops in which, in addition to their wines, they offer regional products such as jams, Morteau sausages and smoked brown trout. Paul Benoit, the doyen of Pupillin’s winemakers at the age of 74, is happy to invite you to his winery, which is actually a ground-level, draughty warehouse.
There his barrique barrels rest under a thick layer of dust – “used Burgundy barrels”, says Benoit. The vin jaune production is a bit like playing roulette, the winemaker jokes. Because the ripening process, in which the natural loss cannot be replaced, often gets out of hand; entire contents of the barrel turned to vinegar. “You just have to let nature rule. Even if you risk the expensive wine ending up in the drain. “
Louis Pasteur was interested in fermentation processes
The town of Arbois is another stronghold of yellow wine. The winegrowing association resides in a small castle, the Château Pécauld, and maintains a small wine museum. In the Château Béthanie, on the other hand, the Fruitière vinicole d’Arbois is at home, founded in 1906, one of the oldest cooperative wineries in France. It invites you to wine tastings and, from spring to late autumn, to e-bike tours through the gently rolling vineyards of the area.
The main attraction of Arbois, however, is the patrician house that Louis Pasteur used as a holiday home. The scientist was born in Dole in 1822 and lived in Paris. But several times a year he traveled to his native Jura.
In Arbois you can visit the former holiday home of Louis Pasteur. The scientist also had a small laboratory there
Source: pa / dpa / Philippe Trias
The House rededicated as a museum in Arbois impressively shows Pasteur’s bourgeois lifestyle; there is a pool table in the salon and still lifes hang on the walls. The dumbwaiter is also preserved in its original form. It is not surprising that Pasteur, the pioneer of microbiology, even had a small laboratory in-house.
The scientist managed a plot of grapevine near Arbois and was particularly interested in the fermentation processes of Vin Jaune triggered by microorganisms. These oenological investigations contributed to the discovery of the so-called pasteurization, the preservation of food.
The sentence passed down from Pasteur: “Wine is the healthiest and most hygienic drink of all.” It is a household word in the Jura.
Tips and information
Getting there: The nearest airports are Lyon and Geneva, 180 and 110 kilometers from Arbois, respectively. By train: From Cologne with the Thalys via Paris or from Frankfurt / Main with the TGV directly to Lyon, from there to the Gare d’Arbois, it is on the Lyon-Besançon railway line. By car via Trier and Metz on the A 31 to Arbois.
Accomodation: In Arbois one resides in a mansion from the 17th century “La Closerie Les Capucines”; Double room with breakfast from 155 euros, (closerielescapucines.fr). Recommended in the wine village of Château-Chalon is “La Tour Charlemagne”, double room with breakfast from 105 euros, (tour-charlemagne.fr). The “Hostellerie Saint-Germain” in Saint-Germain-les-Arlay is on the Route du Vin du Jura, double room with breakfast from 89 euros, (hostelleriesaintgermain.com).
All about the wine festival: “La Percée du Vin Jaune” will take place this year on April 2nd and 3rd in Cramans, tickets must be purchased in advance percee-du-vin-jaune.com get booked; the website also provides information on current corona rules, vaccination is mandatory.
Further information: bourgognefranchecomte.com; de.france.fr/de; jura-vins.com
Participation in the trip was supported by Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Tourisme and Atout France. You can find our standards of transparency and journalistic independence at axelspringer.com/de/werte/downloads.
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