
2017 Domaine Bornard Trousseau Trompe La Mort










WINEMAKER: Tony Bornard
REGION: Jura, FR
VARIETY: Trousseau
VITICULTURE: Certified Biodynamic
This unique cuvée name hints at the story of this trousseau. “Trompe la Mort” is someone who defies death or who has escaped it by miracle and that is what happened with this wine. 2017 was a year with severe frost so there were not enough grapes to make all the normal cuvées. This wine is made from the juice that normally would have made Le Ginglet and Garde Corps and also a little from the Le Dit Le Feule, which Philippe owned separately with two friends (one is Edouard Hirsinger, the owner of the legendary La Maison Hirsinger in the centre of Arbois).
Philippe Bornard lives in the village of Pupillin near Arbois and the Swiss border. His vineyards were inherited from his father, who previously sold only to co-ops. It was Pierre Overnoy, another Arbois winemaker, who eventually convinced Philippe to begin to make his own wine, and now, with over 27 years of experience under his belt, he is working with nearly 6 hectares of 30-year old vines, and farms exclusively biodynamically - officially certified in 2012. The grapes are grown at high altitudes, on limestone and clay soils, allowing a slow ripening. Typically the wine begins a long, slow maceration in fiberglass, and then is moved to large older oak barrels for maturation, which lasts about one year.
Big changes have occurred in the Bornard domaine over the past couple of years. Philippe has retired and his talented son Tony has taken over the operation with little fuss and with few observable differences for outsiders. Tony is a meticulous operator both in the vineyard and in the winery. He has a very clear vision about what he wants to achieve and how he is going to achieve it. The winery and many of the vineyards are in the quaint commune of Pupillin which is quite close to Arbois near the Swiss border. Tony is building a new winery in this village so that his father’s house will no longer be given over to the winemaking operations.