Les Bottes Rouges ‘Tôt ou Tard’ Côtes du Jura AOC Rouge 2022

Jean-Baptiste Menigoz was bitten by the winemaking bug while working as a school teacher with special needs children in Arbois. Captivated by natural winemaking, the teacher became a student, spending all of his time away from the classroom working in the vines, which eventually led to an apprenticeship with famed master producer, Stéphane Tissot. That experience, coupled with encouragement from his friend and fellow vigneron, Raphael Monnier, led to Jean-Baptiste taking the leap into full time winemaking. Beginning with 2.5ha of vines in Arbois and Abergement, he has since grown his estate to seven different parcels of vines for a total of 7ha, spread across a range of soils from limestone to heavy clay and marl. He soon found a talented winemaking partner when he was joined in 2014 by Florien Kleine Snuverink, a fellow natural wine devotée and former owner of the famed Café Schiller in Amsterdam. Organic and biodynamic practices are observed in the vineyards and wines are fermented with native yeasts and see no fining or filtration. They are low-to-no sulfur as well, depending on the vintage. This cuvée is made from 100% ploussard (aka poulsard), the thin skinned, aromatic red grape found almost exclusively in eastern France, where it has been farmed since the 1500s. Grapes are destemmed manually into tanks where spontaneous fermentation takes place. After a three week maceration they are pressed into 600L barriques, bottled without any sulfur additions, and rested for six months in bottle prior to release. Delicate, bright layers of pure red strawberry burst onto the palate, accompanied by savory comté notes. All in all a uniquely elegant quaff. Certified organic, biodynamically grown, low-intervention/natural wine, vegan.