Michel Gahier Arbois Chardonnay Les Follasses 2023

'The Les Follasses vineyard, which is about 2 kilometres from the village, is planted in two different directions.

Michel refers to them as Les Follasses A and Les Follasses B. Sometimes he makes one wine and sometimes he keeps them separate.

Les Follasses A, which is white marl, runs from north-west to south-east. Les Follasses B runs at right angles to the other vines, from north-east to south-west and has much more red marl mixed with white marl. This wine is from Les Follasses A. The wine from B is not bottled yet.

The vines in Les Follasses are just over 46 years old. The wine is all about mineral salinity. It is topped up during its aging and is the freshest of Michel’s white wines, the one most suited to early drinking. 

The wine is made in the ‘ouillé’ style where the barrels are topped up during maturation so that the wine does not oxidise in the barrel. No sulphites are added to this wine at any stage.

This is a fresh, lively Chardonnay that is typical of this style of wine from the Jura with just a hint of those oxidative qualities that Jura aficionados just can’t get enough of.

This wine has been 12.5% alcohol ever since we started importing it. This year it has crept up to 12.7% due to the higher temperatures being experienced due to the added carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane in the atmosphere.'

- Living Wines