Le Bottes Rouge, "Castor" 2016

It’s been a while in the making for Jean-Baptiste Menigoz of Domaine Les Bottes Rouges (Jura, France). It was around 7-8 years ago that the Domaine was born, but this doesn’t account for the two decades or so of juggling that Menigoz had under his belt. To be clear: not literal juggling. Variously described as a ‘devoted hobbyist,’ his interests have always been able to bear a barrique’s-worth of surface tension on his day-to-day – a person capable of embracing the kind of daring and restlessness that is the foundation so many of the winemakers we profile (maybe this is what sets them apart!). Eventually after juggling his day-job as a school teacher with his burgeoning interest in natural wine – peppered by prolonged apprenticeships under his friend Raphael Monnier and the acclaimed fellow Jura legend Stéphane Tissot – he decided the vine was more than fine enough. Since 2015, he’s worked the smattering of pristine Poulsard, Chardonnay, Trousseau, Pinot Noir, and Savagnin vines (and raised the wines in his cellar located in Abergement-le-Petit just south of Arbois) with Florien Kleine Snuverink, a former restaurant owner from Amsterdam turned natural winemaker after a stint with Yvon Metras in Beaujolais. These are some of the freshest ouillé expressions of the Jura we’ve ever had, marrying that frosted-floral flair of Arbois with a concentration of fruit and river stone that could rival some of the region’s best.

100% Chardonnay. Organic farming practices with some biodynamic principles peppered in. Indigenous yeast fermentation, no fining, no filtration and no sulphur.