Domaine Pêcheur
Wines
Darbonnay, Côtes du Jura
Domaine Pêcheur
Darbonnay, Côtes du Jura
Crémant du Jura Blanc
Made from 100% Chardonnay from the Mont Royal, Chanet and Grand-Vaux parcels, all on steep, east-and-west-facing slopes of blue limestone-clay marls, the Crémant du Jura is aged on the lees for three years before disgorgement. Clean and mineral, this wine is bone dry, with slight tart apple fruit. There is no dosage applied, shaping a pure sparkling wine that clearly expresses the profound terroir of this remarkable region.
Côtes du Jura Blanc, Chardonnay
From 35-year-old vines in Mont Royal, Grand Vaux, and Chanet planted in dolomitic limestone, Pêcheur’s Chardonnay spends two full years in used barrels with no topping up after a spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel. Gently oxidative without displaying the full thrust of the voile, this maintains a vibrant sense of acidity and a well-articulated minerality.
Côtes du Jura Blanc, Chardonnay
From 35-year-old vines in Mont Royal, Grand Vaux, and Chanet planted in dolomitic limestone, Pêcheur’s Chardonnay spends two full years in used barrels with no topping up after a spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel. Gently oxidative without displaying the full thrust of the voile, this maintains a vibrant sense of acidity and a well-articulated minerality.
Côtes du Jura Blanc, “Cuvée Spéciale”
A step up in oxidative complexity from the Chardonnay above, the Pêcheurs’ “Cuvée Speciale” combines roughly equal parts Savagnin and Chardonnay, neither of which are topped up during their three-year stint in well-used barrels. Despite its wealth of sea-salt minerality and marzipan-like voile character, this maintains a sense of poise and prettiness—very much in the overall style of the house.
Côtes du Jura Blanc, Savagnin
The domaine’s pure Savagnin, from the dolomitic blue limestone soils of the Mont Royal, Grand Vaux, and Chanet vineyards, offers a gentler take on the sous-voile version of this legendary variety than those of Arbois or L’Étoile. Aged three years in old barrels with no topping up, it presents flavors of Indian curry and yellow fruits on an airy, breezily mineral frame, finishing with impressive length but without undue weight. Limited in production, we only receive a handful of cases a year.
Côtes du Jura Rouge, Poulsard
The Pêcheurs’ limpid, delicious Poulsard verges on rosé in color, yet delivers plenty of jammy strawberry and cherry, underpinned by a tender minerality. From 25-year-old vines in the Champs Rouge vineyard in Passenans, it is destemmed entirely and spends a year aging in a combination of stainless steel and used 600-liter oak casks.
Côtes du Jura Rouge, Pinot Noir
Fermented in steel and aged entirely in used barrels, the Pêcheurs’ Pinot Noir combines varietal silkiness and delicacy with a hint of the Jura’s telltale mineral twang; and, as with all the domaine’s red wines, it impresses with balance and freshness rather than depth of color or richness of structure.
Côtes du Jura Rouge, Trousseau
Displaying a variety-typical depth of fruit and breadth of structure, Pêcheur’s Trousseau nonetheless offers easy drinkability and effortless balance, its cherry and plum fruit augmented by a hint of licorice. This is aged entirely in used demi-muids after a spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel, and bottled just before the following harvest.
Côtes du Jura Rouge, “Cuvée des Trois Cépages”
As its name implies, this wine combines the Jura’s three main red varieties Poulsard, Pinot Noir, and Trousseau in roughly equal proportions. Tactile, scrumptious red fruit gets a bit of punch from the Trousseau and a bit of suaveness from the Pinot Noir, offering an excellent sense of tension on the palate.
Vin Jaune, Côtes du Jura
The lovably warm and funny Christian and Patricia Pêcheur farm eight hectares of vines in the Côtes du Jura; only a few parcels of old vine Savagnin from the east and west-facing, steeply sloped Mont Royal and Grand Vaux parcels become their classic Jurassien expression of Vin Jaune, resting sous-voile for at least seven years, with salty lemon minerality and curry spice.
Château-Chalon
The Vin-Jaune-only appellation of Château-Chalon is the Jura’s grand cru in all but name, its ultra-steep slopes of grey marl producing wines of greater finesse and more pronounced minerality than its peers in Arbois. Aged in a rustic above-ground barrel cellar with wide temperature fluctuations, Pêcheur’s Château-Chalon—from 50-year-old Savagnin in the south-facing Gaillardon vineyard—is a wine of deft precision, with a smoky mezcal-like note emerging from beneath its intensely saline minerality and taut green fruits.
Vin de Paille, Côtes du Jura
Comprised of 70% Chardonnay with 15% each Savagnin and Poulsard, the Pêcheurs’ lovely version of this traditional Jura sweet wine is dried for several months on straw mats and aged two years in neutral oak after the meager amount of juice wrested from the raisins finishes fermenting. With its bristling acidity and its layered flavors of orchard fruits, honey, and brown sugar, this somehow remains fresh, drinkable, and digestible amidst all that residual sugar.
Macvin du Jura
Made in classic fashion, where 1/3 of the wine is distilled Marc and 2/3 is unfermented Chardonnay juice. It spends four years in barrel prior to bottling. A surprising and unusual treat for the uninitiated.
Cotes du Jura, Chardonnay "Vieux Millesimes" [1982]
The Pecheurs recently discovered, at Christian's grandparents' house, a 500-liter barrel of uncertain provenance. Some detective work uncovered that this rickety cask contained Chardonnay from the 1982 vintage, left alone, basically forgotten, for four decades! Christian and Patricia bottled up this 40-year-old potion in summer of 2022, and we were fortunate to receive a splash for the US market. It's the kind of small yet magical moment we live for as importers: a reminder that wine is a messenger of cultural and family history—the outcome of human endeavor (and error!) and not simply a product to feed a market.