Description
Domaine Courbet, Côtes du Jura “Trousseau de la Vallée”
The Courbet family’s home village is Nevy-sur-Seille, right beneath the famed hill of Château-Chalon in the center of the Jura. Founded in 1869, Domaine Courbet is now run by the father and son team of Jean-Marie and Damien Courbet, with Damien taking control in 2011. A long résumé belies his youthful exuberance—stints at California’s Au Bon Climat, Alsace’s Zind-Humbrecht, and Nicolas Potel’s projects in both Burgundy and South Africa are among the highlights. Having such wide-ranging international experience must only have deepened his appreciation for his home region, which is underpinned by a vein of Jurassic limestone as profound as anything found in Burgundy. Located in a section of the Jura known as the upper Seille, the domaine’s holdings span a mere 7.5 hectares on the lower and mid-slopes of the Jura mountains. Farming has been organic and biodynamic since 2005 and everything is harvested manually.
The younger, low-yielding vines for their “Trousseau de la Vallée” hail from two clay-limestone parcels that measure 0.8 hectares combined. Grapes are entirely de-stemmed, save for one layer of whole clusters lining the bottom of the vat, which, as their importer states “serves as a slow release of sugar [and gives] the finished wine the added airy spiciness that comes when ripe stems are kept in the vat.” Given that this Trousseau is entirely raised in stainless steel, I recommend no less than 30 minutes in a decanter before pouring at 60 degrees into Burgundy stems. After the initial prickle blows off, this squeaky clean red soars with high-toned aromas of rose and violet smashed on wet stone. Underripe raspberry, red cherry, and spiced plum fill the medium-bodied palate with a layer of white pepper, grape stem, and redcurrant. It’s a tense and nervy red but a compact core of red berries and crushed minerals allow it to soar into a savory finish. Enjoy now and over the next three years.
