Nicolas Jacob, L'Étoile Chardonnay L‚àö‚Ć-Bas 2017

100% Chardonnay from 35-year-old vines grown on marl. Native yeast fermentation in 228-liter barrels, where the wine stays for 12 months with the sediment. No battonage, no filtration. No additives, including SO2. The nose is bright citrus that slowly opens up into underripe pineapple and banana. The palate is bright and fresh, with a lovely roundness and long finish that keeps up a tingle of exotic fruit. 

Originally from the Jura, Nicolas Jacob started out working on local organic vegetable farms. He picked up the wine bug, and apprenticed under Jean Macle and Jean-François Ganevat before taking off on his own winemaking adventure with 1 hectare in L’Étoile. With two years of élévage and, until recently, only the singular hectare of vines, he has produced only a few barrels each of his 4 cuvées: Là-Haut, Là-Bas, Les Perrières Savagnin, and Les Perrières Pinot Noir. His first millésime, 2015, debuted in 2017. - Coeur Wine Co.