Poulsard - A Survey of the Current NYC Market

There are dark and brooding red wines, light and joyous red wines, and everything in between, and all can be delicious and satisfying - they all have their place. Poulsard, though, exists almost outside of the spectrum of red wine. As far as I know, Poulsard is vinified only in the Jura region of France. The grapes are relatively large and therefore have a low skin to juice ratio - the opposite of what is prized in say, Burgundy Pinot Noir. And the skins are not heavily pigmented. The resulting wine tends to be light in color, almost like a rosé.

But don't be fooled by the light color as these are, when well grown and well made,  powerful and structured wines with great depth of aroma and flavor. Unusual aromas and flavors, too. The fruit veers towards pomegranate, red currant, cranberry, and blood orange. That sounds precious because it's so specific - but I promise you that it is true. I often find dried roses on the nose, in addition to  those same bright fruits, and sometimes a salty, chalky bass note. Perhaps I haven't had enough experience with the wines, or maybe I'm just missing something, but I find that the wines are more about fruit and particularity of structure than they are about minerals and earth. The structure can be surprising, by the way, because it is firm, while the wine appears to be so light and delicate.

I love drinking Poulsard because it is such an aromatically expressive and spare red wine. It isn't a wilting lily - it's not delicate, exactly. A good Poulsard can stand up to mushrooms, steak, and other earthy hearty fare. But there is no extract, really, nothing other than the essence of the thing. This analogy is overused, but here I think it fits - Poulsard can be Burgundian in its melding of finesse, grace, and power. I misunderstood good Beaujolais for a few years because the wines are so brightly acidic and fresh. I thought of it as a light wine. Beaujolais can be joyous and light in body, but Morgon, Moulin-a-Vent, Fleurie (well, maybe Fleurie), these are not light wines. They are deeply and darkly fruited, and rich next to a Poulsard. I would drink Morgon with blood sausage, but not Poulsard.

The best Poulsards I've had are thrilling, but the problem is, the best Poulsards are quite hard to find and drink. I feel comfortable saying that Pierre Overnoy/Emmanuel Houillon make the finest Poulsard, and although Louis/Dressner imports the wine to the US, we're talking about a handful of cases for the US. I was able as recently as the 2007 vintage to walk into Chambers Street and buy this wine on the shelf for under $30. Those days are gone forever. Now the wine is just not seen on shelves, in NYC anyway. Another favorite for me is the Poulsard made by Domaine Ganevat, whose wines have also become rare and dear here in NYC.

Not long ago I found myself craving Poulsard and I realized that I haven't had a bottle since the end of 2012 at this amazing dinner in Stockholm. I knew that I would buy and drink Poulsard, but which one? What should I be drinking, if I'm not drinking Overnoy or Ganevat? I decided to gather a few friends who also appreciate the glory of this very light and strange grape, to buy every Poulsard we could find, and drink them together over dinner.

Three years ago I did a small Poulsard tasting and there were 5 wines I found to include. Last week I found 11 wines and chose to include 9 of them, and this excludes Overnoy and Ganevat. This probably reflects the rising popularity of Jura wines in general, and also the diligent work of several importers, and people like Sophie Barrett of Chambers Street Wines, who believe in the wines and want to offer them to curious customers. I'm sorry to say that on our recent Poulsard evening all of the tasters were a little bit underwhelmed by the wines as a group, but we agreed that a few of them were quite good.

I've always found that Poulsard is reductive and funky when first opened, and does much better when decanted. And so we decanted our bottles and drank them slowly with a feast of Middle Eastern food. Following are my impressions, but I want to mention that some of the wines that did not impress me on this night were better on other nights, in different vintages. All of the wines cost between $20 and $30, and are currently available on (some) NYC shelves.

My favorite wines:

2011 Tissot Poulsard Vieille Vignes, imported by Camille Rivière. I thought this was the most complete of all the wines. It showed true Poulsard character with expressive and bright red cranberry and blood orange fruit, slightly rose inflected, and it showed the depth, balance, and structure that old vines can bring. It held up beautifully on the second day. I haven't loved Tissot's wines in the past, but this was a really good wine and I would happily buy it again. I was more excited about this wine than some, but everyone liked it.

2006 Domaine de la Tournelle Ploussard de Montellier (Poulsard is sometimes called Ploussard), imported by Jenny & François. This is the current release of this wine in NYC - maybe they are released late everywhere? Overall I think the 2004 was a greater wine, but this is truly lovely, with good balance and resonance, and honest Poulsard character. Others were more excited about this wine than I was, but I also liked it very much and would happily buy it again.

2011 Michel Gahier Ploussard, imported by Neal Rosenthal Wine Merchant. Delicious wine, deeply flavored and balanced, well structured. Again there was no controversy here - everyone liked the wine. No one was super excited about it though, and for me, that is because it didn't show the typical Poulsard flavor package that I crave. But it was very good wine.

Wines that I liked, but might not buy again:

2011 Ratapoil Ploussard Par La, imported by Selection Massale. This wine was fresh and pretty and I enjoyed drinking it, but I found it to be lacking in complexity and it didn't hold my interest in the end, even when we revisited it later in the evening. Certainly a pleasing and lovely wine, but it didn't satisfy my craving. A very good value within the group, and one taster really liked the wine - so probably this is worth trying if you haven't already.

2010 Domaine de la Pinte Poulsard de L'Ami Karl, (bottle gone before I noted the importer - sorry). I've had this wine before and I liked it, but on this night I was the only one sticking up for it, and that's probably because I liked it in the past. The aromas were vastly different from the other wines, showing things like red grapefruit, and one person suggested that it might be yeasted. It did show aromas that are not typical of Poulsard, but it was bright and snappy wine. I'm reaching here - it wasn't so great on this night, and it was worse on the second day.

2011 Domaine de Montbourgeau Côtes du Jura Poulsard, imported by Neal Rosenthal Wine Merchant. I was surprised at how this wine showed because 1) Montbourgeau makes great wine; and 2) the Poulsard, while not the shining star of the Montbourgeau lineup, is still quite good. This wine was so forward and candied in its fruit and it didn't feel balanced, or all that interesting. But it was drinkable and pleasant for whatever that's worth.

Wines that showed poorly:

2010 Puffeney Arbois Poulsard, imported by Neal Rosenthal Wine Merchant. I don't know...Puffeney is "The Pope of the Jura," and I respect him immensely as a producer, and love his Trousseau, but I don't think I'm a fan of his Poulsard. This one was candied fruit and awkward, not rewarding.

2009 Le Chais de Vieux Bourg/Bindernagel Côtes du Jura Poulsard, imported by Langdon Shiverick. This was simple in its candied strawberry fruit, not well balanced, and not typical of the Poulsard flavor profile. It was worse on day two.

2008 Bornard Arbois Poulsard la Chamade, imported by Savio Soares. I was once quite excited about Bornard's wines, but after a series of weird and unhappy bottles, I stopped buying them. This one was undrinkable, I thought. It was vaguely fizzy, candied, without structure, and as one taster succinctly said, dirty.

Sadly, our bottle of 2011 Domaine des Marnes Blanches, imported by Selection Massale, was corked.

Technique and Terroir in the Jura

One of the confusing and intriguing things about Jura wines is the distinction between technique and terroir. By technique I mean sous-voile, or under-the-veil wine making, a style in which wine is intentionally oxidized. The barrels are not entirely filled to begin with, and then are not topped up as the wine evaporates and seeps into the wood. A beneficial layer of yeast (the veil) is encouraged, somewhat akin to the flor in Sherry. In the hands of a good producer, sous-voile wines are completely delicious. I wonder, though, whether they are more an expression of technique or of terroir. Not that it matters in order to appreciate the wines - they taste and feel good, and they makes great company for fresh seafood, cheeses, and other foods. But I am curious, especially because most producers make only tiny quantities of sous-voile wines, the bulk of their production is "regular" non-oxidized wine. And the good producers are quite interested in and adept at making wines that showcase terroir over grape character.

I recently went to Vins du Jura, a tasting featuring 20 producers from the Jura region of France. It was a great opportunity to taste a lot of Jura wine and to think about and compare terroir and technique. This tasting was mostly about helping producers connect with potential importers, it was not a survey of one importer's or distributor's portfolio. Well known (if there really are any well known Jura producers in the US) producers like Houillon, Puffeney, and Montbourgeau already have rather illustrious representation, and were not present at this tasting. Yet Tissot was there, as were a few others that are already imported, so I don't really know how this was organized. No matter...Prices were not given, so I cannot discuss the wines that interested me in terms of value. I can, however, discuss them in terms of interest, and there were some great wines.

My favorite sous-voile wines of the tasting, in no particular order, were the 2005 Domaine Andre and Mirielle Tissot Arbois Savagnin, 2005 Domaine Labet Savagnin Vin de Voile from Côtes du Jura, and the 2004 Domaine de la Pinte Arbois Savagnin. Pinte's 2002 Vin Jaune was also promising, but the enamel-stripping acidity and tightly wound youth of the wine made it hard to evaluate for a Vin Jaune neophyte like myself. These are all wonderful wines that I would eagerly purchase, especially if they are priced in the $20-30 range. And they are quite different from one another. Tissot's wine is ultra clean and light, and redolent of nuts and salt. Labet's is also very clean and bright with nuts and salt, but with greater richness and depth, or so I thought. My notes say "mahogany depth," whatever that means. And Pinte's Savagnin is salty and nutty and exceptionally pure, with curry spice notes, feeling quite lean on the nose, but full and rich in the mouth. Are these differences about technique in the barrel room? About work in the vineyards? About soil and place? I will continue to enjoy these wines and other like them whether or not I learn the answer to those questions, but don't you want to know? I want to know. One day I will have the good fortune to drink a group of sous-voile wines with someone who can lead me through and describe them in terms of technique and terroir.

Tasting through the lineup of wines by Domaine Labet in Côtes du Jura was a great lesson in Jura terroir. Julien Labet explained that the Jura is incredibly diverse in terms of soils, because the formation of the Jura Mountains moved (and are still moving) layers of ground in random ways. Chardonnay in his hands is really just a vehicle for expressing soil. His 2007 Fleur de Chardonnay comes from 45 year old vines on chalky, rocky soil. It is fermented using indigenous yeasts and aged for almost 18 months in barrel. The wine is intensely mineral and a bit smokey, with what could plausibly be described as a total absence of fruit. But the wine has a broad mouth feel and is delicious. 2006 Chardonnay Les Varrons is also from chalky ground but the layer of topsoil is very thick, and the wine is round and intense with summer fruits and nuts, much less mineral than the Fleur de Chardonnay. 2006 Chardonnay La Reine is from deep red clay soils and is the most citric of the lineup, with clean grapefruit flavors. 2006 Chardonnay La Beaumette has a fruit profile that is similar to Les Varrons, but the wine is much racier and leaner - and I didn't note the soil type, I'm sorry to say. La Beaumette was perhaps my favorite of the bunch, although they were all delicious and interesting wines. If they are in the $20-30 range, I will most certainly be a good customer, potential importers. Honestly, potential importers, you're crazy if you don't bring in this guy's wines.

I sense more Jura wine in my (immediate) future.