2008 Pierre Overnoy ”Arbois Pupillin”

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Blend: 100% Chardonnay

Vin Nature – zero sulphur

Pierre Overnoy is by many considered to be the Godfather of natural wine.

Glass: Zalto Burgundy

First of all – I hope you have all had a great summer. Yesterday was officially the last bathing day here in Denmark, so I thought why not get cracking and write about some of the many wines I have tasted during the summer of 2011.

While the debate about natural wines is on fire on various wine boards / blogs, I thought it would be a good idea to have one of these “very dangerous wines”, as the heated debate seems to be more about ideology, personal offending, than what’s actually inside the bottles.

As you might have noticed, I drink a lot of natural wines and I of course have an opinion about them. However the subject is filled with a lot of grey areas, but I hope to post my thoughts in September.

Now the wine; which was one of the most exhilarating wines I had over the summer.

Clarifying and complex nose of honey, butter, and wild yeast notes are some of the first thoughts that came to my mind. I also found what I would describe as “milk skin”. This has two meanings; 1) It’s covers the wine with a subtle sensation, but it’s also; 2) A texture issue, as the wine takes on an elastic feeling. The latter transports itself all the way to the finish line, as its stretches the wine beautifully on the palate without using much “muscle” to do so. There are both complexity and gracefulness about this smooth and elastic touch, as the wine holds so much clarity and energy and thankfully never takes the shape of an oily wine, which sometimes can loose tallness in the glass. On the palate, the wine provides some of the same aspects from the nose, but also catches notes of fresh melon.

Despite my reference sheet in Jura are still very limited, I have say, that this is the best white Jura I have tasted so far.