Winemaker Notes
Made exclusively from the Savagnin grape, the Vin Jaune of Montbourgeau is always produced from a late harvest. After fermentation the wine is racked into foudres and then, after six months, racked again into smaller barrels. It is never topped off, the "voile" appears and the wine is left for at least seven years to age in barrel before being declared "Vin Jaune" and being bottled.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The super-young and tender 2016 L'Etoile Vin Jaune exacerbated the elegant and subtle character of Montbourgeau with the grapes from a cold and rainy vintage with higher acidity, and the wine has very good conditions for a long élevage under the veil of yeasts. They aged it in a cool cave, where the evaporation and concentration are lower, and the wines keep a fresher and more elegant style. 1,710 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2023.
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Vinous
The 2016 Vin Jaune L'Étoile starts off with a complex aromatic profile that bundles dried lemon peel, saffron, wet stone, hay and a slice of grapefruit. Bread dough and nutty characteristics add more layers, confirming the presence of extended oxidative aging. On the palate, piercing acidity flawlessly balances out the elevated flavor concentration and alcohol.
There are hundreds of white grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles.
On the foothills of the Jura Mountains, just east of the Cote de Beaune on the Switzerland border, the Jura wine-producing zone is recognized for its unique reds, as well as its particular and diverse styles of whites.
Though borrowed from their neighbor Burgundy, Chardonnay and Pinot noir have been growing in Jura since the Middle Ages. But here the altitude, topography, climate and clay-rich, marl soils support a different style of Pinot noir, not to mention its other deeply-colored, full-bodied indigenous reds, Poulsard and Trousseau.
Considering area under vine, growers here favor Chardonnay for its consistency and reliability; it comprises almost half of Jura's vineyard acreage. However, Jura Chardonnay is anything but boring; its many offbeat styles are part of what make region’s wines so distinctive. It is used for Cremant (sparkling), Macvin (a fortified wine), as well as fine examples at the quality level of Burgundy.
Jura also has a unique oxidative style for Chardonnay but is better recognized for its similarly-styled “vin jaune,” meaning ‘yellow wine,’ which is made from the indigenous variety, Savagnin. Vin jaune is made using techniques similar to those used to make Sherry.
For all of its wines, Jura favors a traditional, natural and often organic style in viticulture and winemaking.