Arbois Blanc, Chardonnay “Ammonites”

Named after the extinct cephalopodic mollusk whose fossilized shells are found throughout the Jura’s distinctive soils, Touraize’s “Ammonites” comes from 0.8 hectares worth of Chardonnay in the gravelly marl of the vineyards Curoulet and La Platière, planted between the early 1960s and the early 1980s. These more marl-heavy soils make for a richer, broader wine than one born of limestone, and this offering—fermented and aged two years in used 600-liter barrels which are kept full—displays a dynamic combination of exotic fruit (pineapple, mango) and vigorous acidity, atop a palate simultaneously unctuous and bone-dry.