2013 Cotes du Jura

The 2013 Côtes du Jura is a Chardonnay ouillé, the only wine they produce that is not aged under yeast, which has a fresh nose of apples; it is not very expressive at the moment and coming through as a little shy. It takes some time to develop faint aniseed and nutmeg aromas. The palate has good volume and the acidity is moderate. Somehow it felt a little flat. It improved a little and very slowly in the glass. I also tasted a pure Savagnin from 2013, which will be aged for six years in barrels that will be topped up; so ouillé, without veil, was much livelier with marked acidity.

2013 was a cool and unusual vintage in many places and provided fresher wines, as can be seen in the 2013 Cotes du Jura. All these Cotes du Jura bottlings from Macle are the same blend, 80% Chardonnay and 20% Savagnin, all from more or less the same vineyards, but from younger vines in the older vintages. Both wines age separately under a veil of yeasts for three years, and then Laurent Macle decides which barrels don't have the character to make it into the Chateau Chalon, and those are declassified for this cuvee. The blend is made only one month before bottling. This is young and tender, with good freshness and clean, focused flavors, with good acidity and length. There are two bottlings of this (January for the more forward barrels and the other in June), with 10,500 bottles in total. This was bottled in 2017. Dec 2017, www.robertparker.com