2006 Overnoy Houillon Arbois Pupillin Blanc
Another post on a wine from the Jura….I think I have a problem.
Pierre Overnoy is one of the grand-daddys of Jurassic wine…..a legend who’s wines are held in great esteem and indeed we had to genuflect at the bar of 10 William Street in Sydney as Matt poured this into the decanter….it just seemed like the right thing to do.
Pierre’s father ran a mixed farm in the village of Pupillin near Arbois….2.65ha of which was vineyards and Pierre took over the vines in 1968, leaving the rest of the farm to be tended by his brother. Quickly converting the land to organics he became one of the pioneers of the natural wine movement and counted the Obi-Wan-Kenobi of natural wine…..Jules Chauvet as one of his mentors.
Emmanuel Houillon came to Overnoy to work as an apprentice in 1990. Emmanuel started planting some more vines in 1995 and today the Overnoy estate consists of 2.43 HA of Poulsard, 2.20 HA of Chardonnay and 2HA of Savagnin.
Pierre Overnoy retired in 2001 at the age of 63 and Emmanuel took over the reigns at the estate, initially helped by his wife Anne, until his sister, Adeline joined him as a partner in 2005.
The original Overnoy manifesto remains in safe hands…..to produce wines of terroir, with minimal intervention and great respect for the land…..the yields are tiny, the sulphur use virtually non-existent and the gentle hand in both the vineyard & the cellar seems to amplify the earth and resonate through the liquid in the glass.
The 2006 Arbois Pupillin Blanc is 100% Savignan, produced with long ferments….up to 12 months in old oak. No filtration or fining….a dab of sulphur at bottling for us on the other side of the globe and a fair amount of retained CO2 in the bottle,which acts as an antioxidant and tends to lift the aromatic profile beautifully.
Medium gold in colour with a beautiful nose of pithy citrus and stone fruits, grilled nuts, soft baking spices, manzanilla sherry notes, stones and hints of dried flowers, herbs and almond paste with just a waft of flinty smoke.
A beautiful presence in the mouth with a savoury, lip-smacking, sapid profile and energy to burn. Vibrant citrus fruits….lemon & grapefruit with a touch of nectarine and peach, meld nicely with the enchanting oxidative elements on the palate…..grilled nuts, marzipan, sherry-like notes, a touch of spice, a scattering of herbs, a waft of flint smoke and the ache of deep minerality.
It’s very focussed with a super acid line and the finish swell’s in the mouth before lingering nicely with a shimmer of minerals, grilled nuts and petrichor.
Crack open a bottle of this, cut off a big chunk of Comté and go to a happy place……
Price: $100-ish – Closure: Cork – Alcohol: 12.5% Source: Wine Bar – Importer: Andrew Guard Fine Wines
Brother & sisters.....get on the terroir train!
Pierre Overnoy is indeed a master! There’s even going to be a book published this month in France “Le parole de Pierre”: a collection of interviews with the man.
I didn’t know that they bottled the wines w/ sulfur for export markets. I guess it’s not really feasible to cross an ocean w/out a little protection. I’m lucky to store my wine just an hour away
He is indeed!
Thanks for the info on the upcoming book…I’d love to have a read of that at some stage and will see if I can souce a copy.
Re: SO2 additions…..I’m pretty sure they would be minimal….maybe 20ppm tops
Cheers
Dave