Jacques Puffeney Arbois Trousseau Les Berangeres,, France

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Jacques Puffeney, one of the old timers from Jura, officially retired after the 2014 harvest (but it seems like he still produced some wine in 2015, which I will inform you about when I find out). But as happens with many French vignerons, he has kept a small plot of vines that he continues working even after his retirement, and he has carried on producing very small amounts of wine. When I visited him in 2015, he told me that he decided to keep a small plot of Trousseau, the red grape for which his village, Montigny les Arsures, is world famous. I was at a very good brasserie in Arbois (Aux-Docks, highly recommended) and was thrilled to see the 2016 Arbois Trousseau les Berangeres on their wine list and couldn't resist ordering it. This was his best plot of Trousseau, from which he made a single-vineyard bottling (and now Domaine du Pelican is also bottling it separately), and this 2016, a fresh and elegant year, was everything I was hoping for and more. Puffeney and Aviet, both from Montigny, have produced some of the most exciting Trousseau in the appellation, and this bottle shows it. The wine is elegant and has depth, while it is easy to drink and is great with food. It has some fine tannins and great acidity—and the balance to develop in bottle for a good decade or two. I don't really know about the availability of this wine, but retired vine growers can produce and sell small amounts of wines without losing their pension (as you have seen with Henri Jayer and Marcel Juge), so the wine is out there somewhere, at least in some of Jura's local restaurants.

The 2013 Arbois Trousseau Cuvée les Bérangères is named after the place where the grapes are grown. Very floral with intense aromas of white flowers and more cherries, it has very good freshness, is very pleasant and easy to drink. The wine is medium-bodied with very fine tannins, and the acidity and tannins go together feeling very integrated and making it very drinkable. It’s hard to spit this one out. I also tasted 2003, a famously warm vintage that feels surprisingly fresh. The nose is quite developed and more tertiary, with aromas of spices and cured meat, and a seamless, silky palate with very good acidity. Puffeney prefers a warm vintage, as he’s in a mountain, and feels his vineyards behave better in warmer vintages. 4,500 bottles.

Still in cask when I tasted in November – and this on account of the vintage’s high acidity, said Puffeney, irrespective of any delay brought on by his broken arm – a 2010 Arbois Trousseau Les Berangeres smells of semi-ripe black raspberry and fennel tinged with new leather, black tea, game and lacquer. Slightly rustic in tannin but indomitably juicy and lively, this spare but spirited red finishes with an invigoratingly tart berry edge. Pending a taste after bottling (which chez Puffeney is normally unfiltered) I suspect that this will be best savored within its first 12-18 months as its gaminess will likely grow. (And incidentally, I was not influenced in this judgment by the woodcock cadaver that I only subsequently saw maturing just above my head, hung from one of many tiny nooses Puffeney had fitted-out in his cellar for that purpose!) Jacques Puffeney of Montigny-les-Arsures is among the Jura’s most prestigious, engaging, and (thanks to the rotund amplitude of both his torso and white-bearded visage) easily recognized vignerons, and crafts wines no less distinctive – if much less massive – than their author. With the exceptions of Pinot Noir, vin jaune, and his few sweet wines – all of which are matured in older barriques – Puffeney relies on ancient foudres, of which I have not seen such a collection as his outside of Alsace or Chateauneuf-du-Pape; and he is favorably inclined to long elevage even for non-oxidative lots, which can themselves thus come off as if influenced by flor or other living denizens of the cask. Puffeney’s reds, too – often cited as among the region’s best – are bottled significantly later than the regional norm. He farms roughly 6 acres of Chardonnay, much of it melon a queue rouge; 5 acres of Savagnin; and 7.5 acres of reds, and says that his father – who actively selected and planted at a young age – is to thank for the 50-year average age of vine Puffeney fils now enjoys. Imported by Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990

Grown on what he terms “fat gravels” with warm, dry southern and southeastern (rather than more Jura-typical western) exposure, Puffeney’s 2009 Arbois Trousseau Les Berangeres further reflects the generosity of its vintage, with ripe black raspberry fruit dominating both nose and palate, notes of Assam tea and black pepper adding pungent interest. Notwithstanding its relative ripeness, this is – like so many other Jura reds – white wine-like in its sense of levity and refreshment. Chalk, salt, and black raspberry seeds convey invigoration to a long finish. This ought to show well for at least 4-5 more years. (Tasted alongside, the 2003 was incredibly youthful and bright for its age and vintage, and the 14.5% alcohol Trousseau achieved that year at the end of August – a record level for Puffeney – wasn’t at all evident. No wonder the sites around Montigny-les-Arsures where these grow are often spoken of as the best terroir for Trousseau.) Jacques Puffeney of Montigny-les-Arsures is among the Jura’s most prestigious, engaging, and (thanks to the rotund amplitude of both his torso and white-bearded visage) easily recognized vignerons, and crafts wines no less distinctive – if much less massive – than their author. With the exceptions of Pinot Noir, vin jaune, and his few sweet wines – all of which are matured in older barriques – Puffeney relies on ancient foudres, of which I have not seen such a collection as his outside of Alsace or Chateauneuf-du-Pape; and he is favorably inclined to long elevage even for non-oxidative lots, which can themselves thus come off as if influenced by flor or other living denizens of the cask. Puffeney’s reds, too – often cited as among the region’s best – are bottled significantly later than the regional norm. He farms roughly 6 acres of Chardonnay, much of it melon a queue rouge; 5 acres of Savagnin; and 7.5 acres of reds, and says that his father – who actively selected and planted at a young age – is to thank for the 50-year average age of vine Puffeney fils now enjoys. Imported by Rosenthal Wine Merchant, Pine Plains, NY; tel. (800) 910-1990