WTN: 2000 Château-Chalon, Dom. Berthet-Bondet, Jura

2000 Château-Chalon, Dom. Berthet-Bondet, Jura, France 14% ABV, 100% Savagnin. Bottled in the famous 62 cl clavelin bottle.
We have a visit from an English couple who now lives in France (Brittany), so I felt the need to find some special bottle in my cellar and came up with this one to the cheeses. My favourite producer of Vin Jaune, the bottle bought directly from the producer during one of my visits to this beautiful village on top of a hill in the Jura mountains.

The colour is a surprisingly deep, beautifully golden yellow.
The nose is an intriguing mix of the the typical oxidated notes, that reminds you of fino sherry, and deep, powerful, almost candied notes of honey and almonds. If one did not know which wine was in the glass, one would definitely expect it to be a sweet wine.
On the palate it is bone dry, but with a thick oily mouthfeel. Intense, peppery, again fino like taste with a very long, chewable, peppery. slightly bitter aftertaste. A most intriguing and unusual wine, which definitely is somewhat an acquired taste. A great experience for me, since it brought back memories of my visits to the charming village of Château-Chalon and the tastings in the cellar of Monseigneur Berthet-Bondet.

Cheers,
Anders

I tried to edit my post to add an image of the bottle, but was only met by an error message. So, I try to post it in a reply instead, with the benefit of bumping the post

2000 Ch Chalon.jpg

/A

Nice TN, Anders. Also the one on the Graillot 98. They both catch the essence of the wines.

One of my problems with Vin Jaune is finding a suitable pairing. Poulet au vin jaune et aux morilles is wonderful but expensive as so much vin jaune has to be poured into it. What cheeses did you serve? Predictably Comté works well. I think similar cheeses from Switzerland and Savoy, e.g. Beaufort, might do so as well. But ranging further out?

What cheeses did you serve?

Hi Tim,
No special cheeses, in fact, just some we happened to have at home. There was a Brie, a Chevre and a Cambozola. Not a match made in heaven, exactly, but it worked reasonably well, I'd say. Regarding further pairings, I agree this type of wine is not easy, since it has such a strong character of its own. In fact I'd say it is one of those wines that really is at its best on is own. It was lovely to continue sipping what remained of it, just to study it and to experience its deep complexity.
/A

Hi Anders
I don't know if this is of any interest to you (1983 Henri Maire Catherine de Rye)
http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=157200

If it is I'll bring it over for you - we had another bottle and whilst I found it interesting (and glad I tried it), I didn't especially enjoy it. Michelle is definitely not a fan of the wine and will happily escort it out of the cellar I'd rather someone had it who would enjoy it more than we would.

regards

Ian

Sounds like a really interesting wine, Anders, and the bottle is also really neat!

Nice TN, Anders. Also the one on the Graillot 98. They both catch the essence of the wines.

One of my problems with Vin Jaune is finding a suitable pairing. Poulet au vin jaune et aux morilles is wonderful but expensive as so much vin jaune has to be poured into it. What cheeses did you serve? Predictably Comté works well. I think similar cheeses from Switzerland and Savoy, e.g. Beaufort, might do so as well. But ranging further out?

Walnuts are a good match as well. I've had particularly good fortune with a couple of Macle bottlings from the early 80's.