Vignerons Les Matheny
Wines
Mathenay, Arbois
Vignerons Les Matheny
Mathenay, Arbois
Arbois Blanc, Chardonnay
Many parcels comprise Les Matheny’s Chardonnay, and Emeric Foléat vinifies each one separately, deciding on the final blend only after each individual wine develops its personality with time in barrel—in this case, well-worn 600-liter tonneaux. Produced from vines averaging 45 years of age, the wine soars from the glass, a storm of ripe green apples, stone minerals and musky honey. The palate is both firm and expansive, with a generous pinch of telltale Jurassic salt lengthening the complex, penetrating flavors of greengage and candied lemon. The “partial sous-voile” approach shows in the wine’s gently oxidative edge, one that bows to the veil without making a show of it—a tricky balancing act for such a bold and assertive wine to remain so straightforwardly delicious.
Arbois Blanc, Chardonnay, “6 Ans Sous Voile”
This wine was birthed from an experiment on a particularly hardy parcel of old-vines Chardonnay from Montigny-lès-Arsures (Puffeney’s home village, known affectionately as “The Capital of Trousseau”) in the 2011 vintage, letting it evolve in a 600-liter barrel for a full six years without topping it up at all. A full-on oxidative twang permeates the whole affair, yet so much else is taking place that it still feels like a backdrop: grilled pineapple, apple tart, and pork broth, all doused in salt—and, interestingly, a subtle autolytic note reminiscent of extended-lees-aged Champagne. Immense acidity and lift infuse everything with crackling electricity. This is the kind of wine that could only come from the Jura—a place where mindful negligence yields poetry.
Côtes du Jura Blanc, Savagnin, “5 Ans d’Âge”
Emeric Foléat owns a parcel of Savagnin in the village of Poligny, within striking distance of the fabled Château-Chalon—considered by some to be the source of the Jura’s greatest Vin Jaune. The 2011, which spent five years in barrels without topping up, embodies the combination of intricate, murmuring depth and powerful oxidative grip for which the zone is famous. As with the Chardonnay “6 ans” above, it is difficult to overstate just how profound an effect such a lengthy aging regimen has on the final wine. Not only does it develop immense complexity through controlled oxidation and the influence of the yeast veil, but the glacial evaporation that occurs serves to concentrate and harmonize all of its elements. While great Jura Chardonnay sits easily alongside the best renditions of that eternally popular grape variety, it is the thick-skinned, late-ripening Savagnin that plays the song of the region with the greatest feeling and fluency.
Vin Jaune, Côtes du Jura
Les Matheny produces only a couple hundred bottles of Vin Jaune so we are fortunate to have access to a sliver of that tiny pie. Like the Savagnin, this comes from vines in Poligny, quite close to Château-Chalon itself, and it offers an even more profound take on that esteemed terroir. “Non-interventionism” has almost become a cliché when discussing wines of a non-commercial bent, but it truly does require immense courage and the full internalization of trust-in-nature to produce great Vin Jaune—and you’d be hard-pressed to find a more explosively dynamic example than this one.
Arbois Rouge, Poulsard
Whereas many growers here emphasize the thin-skinned, gentle nature of Poulsard and Trousseau, producing delicate, pale wines of wispy tannins and almost rosé-like fruit character, Emeric—like his mentor Jacques Puffeney before him—produces firm, bold red wines proud of their structure and deeply evocative of their limestone-dominated terroir. His lifted, expressive Poulsard displays enchanting sandalwood aromas, bursting with black cherry and freshly turned earth, again toeing the line of appropriate volatile acidity in the most appealing possible fashion. The wine’s unabashedly dense structure—the result of a 3-week cuvaison—promises great rewards for those willing to wait a few years, though it will undoubtedly dazzle right now, especially at the table.
Arbois Rouge, Pinot-Trousseau
Emeric owns so little Pinot Noir that he ends up having to blend it with other varieties—Poulsard in some years, and Trousseau in others, as he sees fit—following the model of his old employer Puffeney who produced the stunning “Vieilles Vignes” cuvée through the 2005 vintage using all three cépages. Aged for two years in a single decades-old small foudre, his Pinot-Trousseau is built around 45-year-old Trousseau from the village of Aiglepierre, and the roughly one-quarter Pinot Noir serves to moderate the Trousseau’s scrappy wildness with a touch of silk.
Arbois Rouge, Trousseau
Les Matheny’s Trousseau is a brooding, serious beast, bristling with energy and thickly textured. Its brash, iron-inflected nose erupts from the glass like a missile, with pitch-black, spice-drenched fruit battling for attention with the wine’s core of mineral-tinged leather and black pepper. Not for the faint of heart, this is a profoundly structured, ruggedly tannic wine that seems to demand cellar time, but—as with the atavistic, rough-hewn Bandol of Chateau Pradeaux—these are honest, proud tannins that are somehow charming despite their intensity.
Macvin du Jura
More info coming soon.