2020 Cotes du Jura les Grandes Teppes Vieilles Vignes

The 2020 Les Grands Teppes Vieilles Vignes is nothing short of spectacular. Year in, year out, it's the best Chardonnay here. In the tasting, it came right after the 2020 Chardonnay En Billat, which winemaker Jocelyn had declared his favorite Chardonnay of the vintage, but after pulling the cork and smelling this wine, he had to change his mind. It's the blend of different components aged in different materials and sizes, and it's better than the individual parts; it has more complexity and integrated oak, and it's very elegant, less obvious and in-your-face, subtler, more complex, with more layers. The vines were planted in 1919 on red marl and gravel soil. Like all the ouillé whites here, it fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged in neutral oak barrels for four years with the lees. It was bottled on the 30th of October 2024, unfined, unfiltered and with no added sulfur. It comes in at 13% alcohol. This is still their best Chardonnay.

From old vines planted in 1919, the 2020 Côtes du Jura Les Grands Teppes Vieilles Vignes opens with tender flintstone, dried apple, lemon zest and white flowers. Medium- to full-bodied, round and concentrated, the 2020 is so delicious. What’s most striking is the serene harmony it manages to achieve between flavor concentration, alcohol and racy acidity, carrying all the way through to the complex finish.