2019 Michel Gahier Arbois Trousseau Les Grands Vergers

WINEMAKER: Michel Gahier
REGION: Jura, FR
VARIETAL: Trousseau
VITICULTURE: Organic

The vines for this wine are even older than those used for the La Vigne du Louis having been planted over 80 years ago. The wine is named after the lieu dit (parcel of land) where the vines grow. Here the gentle slopes are fully exposed to the sun allowing the grapes to ripen perfectly. The marl in which the vines thrive add minerality to the wine. This is a very, very good example of a Trousseau wine having the delicacy that we associate with this fragile grape but also an extraordinary depth of flavour and a complexity that is intriguing. There are tannins present giving it structure but they are not aggressive. The wine is lively on the nose, has deep, deep flavours (hints of cherry and raspberry at the front of the palate and forest floors in autumn in the middle) and it tastes alive. It has a lingering mineral aftertaste. This is a living wine! No sulphite is added.

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.