Côtes du Jura & Château Chalon

As a wine importer one is always on the lookout for new talent, the next big thing that we can introduce to our customers. Having recently tasted the superb wines of François Rousset of Domaine Rousset-Martin in Paris at Frenchie and Clamato I immediately thought to contact them to see if we could work together. My Jura list is already pretty amazing, I am lucky to work with Overnoy/Houillon, Jean-François Ganevat and Domaine Labet, anything additional would have to be great right ? Well these are, they are wonderful Jura wines in every way.

François Rousset, raised in Burgundy, trained as an oenologist in Dijon finishing his degree in 2002. In 2006 he officially took of the estate that his great-grandfather René Martin had began. The family has a total of 14 acres around Nevy-sur-Seille, a village tucked away in the Vallée des Reculées, half of it in Chateau Chalon.

Their land is farmed organically, certified by Ecocert. François' father, a former micro-biologist for the Hospices de Beaune, had sold the majority of the grapes to the local cooperative and produced only a little wine for the family. This has changed somewhat and today Francois works around 4.5 acres and sells the rest of the grapes to the Co-op. His goal is to eventually make wine from about 10 acres so that he can explore different styles of wines and work the different soils in the area. This is just the beginning..
 
Curiosity, taste and interest drives him in his work. He makes wine in four different cellars with different temperatures (not controlled) and humidity, one better suited for the oxidative wines, one better suited to those he tops up (ouillé) another for the wine he ferments in steel tanks and lastly another for bottle storage.

François's goal is to better know and understand the superb terroirs in which he is invested. He has an exciting new project near the town of Baume-les Messieurs where he has plantings of young vines, it will be exciting to follow the potential as they age. Perhaps most exciting though is his focus on making ouillé or topped-up wines within the Château Chalon appellation, labeled as Côtes du Jura!

These are captivating and contemplative wines from a producer to follow very closely..