Michel Gahier is well known for his fresh, non-oxidative whites, his oxidative whites and his pure, clean Trousseau reds, especially those from his ninety year old Grands Vergers vineyard.

However, over the past decade or more we have also been great fans of his sparkling wines, especially his Crémant du Jura made from Chardonnay (which is more likely to be the exciting Melon à Queue Rouge variety which is a variant of Chardonnay).

This year we have been able to secure some bottles of a wine which does not fit the appellation and hence has been labelled as a Vin de France. This is because there are appellation rules relating to many aspects of the making of the Crémant du Jura sparkling wines and Michel broke one of the rules.

He bottled the wine (for making the secondary fermentation) earlier than the appellation’s decree date, therefore he couldn’t use Crémant du Jura on the label.

Nevertheless the resultant wine has turned out to have very fine bubbles, a very deep flavour, an appealing saltiness along with a hint of sweetness without in any way being a sweet wine. This is a truly superb sparkling wine made by a serious winemaker.