2023 Jintaro Yura Pinot Blanc L'Abeille et le Papillon

WINEMAKER: Jintaro Yura
REGION: Alsace, FR
VARIETY: Pinot Blanc
VITICULTURE: Organic

Vineyard: Gueberschwihr, Eguisheim, Westhalten. Soil: Clay & Limestone soils. Fermentation: Stainless and used Demi-Muid. Aging: 33% Stainless, 33% new Demi-muid, 33% one year old demi-muid from DAMY for 8 month. Tasting: deep and tightly coiled wine. Soft stone fruit on the nose with a wonderful depth of savoury complexity. The palate has a beautiful focus, but wonderful shape and texture around this acidity. Super wine.

Jintaro started his wine career in restaurants. After his stint in restaurants, he enrolled in Oenology school; spending time training in various parts of the world such as Waipara New Zealand, Burgundy, and Yamanashi in Japan. Finally, he was drawn to Alsace in 2012 where he worked with Domaine Josmeyer and Domaine Hurst. After spending time at these estates, he knew that is where he wanted to be. His career, like many of the other small young growers, started off with buying grapes from his friends and borrowing cellar space.

Jintaro’s approach is original compared to the traditional Alsatian winemaking. For the whites he doesn’t press the grapes for a very long time: his press will last 4 hours when most of the others winemakers in Alsace will press for 8 hours white locale grapes (such as Riesling). He is always fermenting the juices through indigenous yeasts and he is using diverse containers (large oak barrels, stainless steel tank, clay…) to add complexity to the wines. Also, Jintaro does not hesitate to steer the lees during the elevage like it is done in Burgundy (but rarely in Alsace). All of those points contribute to the unique expression and originality of Jintaro’s wines, delivering a great balance and a special twist of umami, savory notes. Like the lovely names of each cuvée, these wines are inspiring, original and definitely full of joy and well-being.