The 100% Chardonnay L’Étoile Cuvée Spéciale 2019 spends almost five years in oxidative conditions (sous voile). Peaty, powerful and concentrated with light floral notes, this is excellent and, like the Banode, will be sitting pretty a decade from now.
Finally, Montbourgeau’s L’Etoile Vin Jaune 2017 is one of my favourite wines this year. 100% Savagnin, sous voile (not topped) for seven years before bottling, this offers the best of the Jura. It’s nutty, salty and multi-layered with real power yet lots of finesse, showing a stony, smoky minerality and that signature Jura acidity, which will keep the wine going well beyond 2050. Some Comté cheese with bread or chicken and morels will sing with this.
Domaine de Montbourgeau was established in 1920 by Pierre Jeannin and is still family-run today, looked after by his granddaughter Nicole Deriaux and her two sons. Wine Cellar is honoured to import these extremely limited wines, and we now have about 5-10% of their total production here in South Africa!
