Fumey-Chatelain, Chardonnay 2020

One of the most representative wines in his collection is Domaine Fumey Chatelain Chardonnay, a white wine made from 50-year-old Chardonnay vines grown in clay-limestone soils. These vines are cultivated using respectful agriculture but in recent years Marin has worked to convert the whole estate to organic. In the winery the grapes undergo spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts and then the wine is aged for a year and a half on lees in foudres. The wine is then bottled without clarifying or filtering.

Every cloud has a silver lining, or so it was for Raphael Fumey and Adeline Chatelai when their 56 hectares of vineyards in Montigny-les-Arsures, in Jura, were so badly damaged by a terrible frost in 1991 that, instead of selling the grapes as they had done, they had no choice but to vinify what little they had left. Although this adventure was forced on them, it did not go badly at all and from that point on they dedicated their lives to building their own winery and making their own wines. Now the estate has 17 hectares and their son Marin Fumey, after learning from the best in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, took over the running of Domaine Fumey Chatelain. A new vision for the project that is a breath of fresh air focussed on producing the most beautiful expressions of the Jura.