Jura is one of the smallest wine regions of France, among the curious wines produced here a place in the Olympus is reserved to Vin Jaune. It is a wine obtained by Savagnin grape, aged for six years and three months in 228 liters casks, without decanting or refilling in order to balance the evaporation which naturally takes place in wood.
Although the cask develops an air space, the wine does not turn sour because a sort of veil, a film, forms on the surface of the liquid, whose thickness protects the wine below from oxidation: it activates the process that everyone calls controlled oxidation. The result is a wine with a shiny golden yellow color, sometimes with a brilliant amber color. The aromas are sharp, of curry, bitter orange peel, toasted hazelnut, bitter almond. The taste is dry, very dry, the finish is very long with a closure which turns to distillate.
To seal this long stay in cask and to exalt the oenological sacredness of this slow process of acquisition of organoleptic qualities, they did not even miss the institution of an ad hoc event: la percée du Vin Jaune.
And this happens every year in a church of the Jura area. The first cask of the harvest of six years before is sacrificed on the altar of a church and the wine is poured and drank by the patrons specially gathered, as an eno-pellegrinage, in the location of the ceremony.Every year the location of the ceremony changes: in 2014 the festival will mark the eighteenth edition and it will be held in Voiteur on February 2nd and 3rd.
Four are the main actors of the event: the parish priest who officiates the rite, the Commanderie des Nobles Vins du Jura et du Comté, the Vin Jaune and the Comté cheese, which combines well with wine.
It is up to the Commanderie to tapping the wine, which is done outside the door of the church with the altar behind, from the moment the yellow Jura wine is tapped the tasting and the matching begin.
In the last years there has been an explosion in the number of visitors, up to 25,000, therefore the offer of wines for tasting has been enlarged and it will be possible to taste white wines, red wines and Vin de Paille as well.
The way to attend the event is simple. Once arrived at the entrance of Voiteur you will have to buy your glass and some vouchers. These vouchers will allow you to do a certain number of tastings, wandering here and there in the small village (less than 800 souls) if you can resist to a climate certainly not like the French Riviera. It is a very nice experience, very friendly and very dangerous, in fact the local police will not let you drive until the breathalyzer signals the end of the alarm.
(Fondationesomelier)
