Julien Mareschal’s wines from Domaine de La Borde, Jura.
Over the past few decades, the Jura vineyards have experienced a meteoric rise to become one of the most prominent wine-producing regions. Thanks to the know-how of daring winemakers like Julien Mareschal, this unique terroir expresses itself through wines that are full of energy and elegance.
After graduating, Julien Mareschal created Domaine de La Borde and settled in the emblematic village of Pupillin, where he cultivated 3 hectares of vines. Today, the estate covers almost 6 hectares, cultivated according to biodynamic principles. The particular geology of the area, characterized by extremely diverse and composite soils, lends great complexity to the wines.
This diversity of soils makes it necessary to adopt a “parcel-by-parcel” approach. With a view to revealing “the sense of place”, Julien favors a low-intervention winemaking style, measured in the addition of sulfur (SO2), respectful of fruit and terroir, with long maturation in mixed containers: 228 to 600-liter barrels and stoneware jars.
Julien prefers large containers with thicker staves for more delicate micro-oxygenation, in keeping with the winemaker’s approach to reduction rather than oxidation. His bold vision of maturation has led him, over the years, to choose a combination of two containers for his Chardonnay and Savagnin wines (Côte de Caillot, Les Écrins): the stoneware jar and the medium-heated Ermitage demi-muid (600L) from Bertranges.
This subtle blend, in parity, achieves a balance between the tension of the stoneware and the velvet of the oak. The result, thanks to measured oxygenation, is a palate bursting with fruit, with a precise, racy finish, mirroring the complex Jura terroir that imparts fullness and salinity.
