"Tasted as a barrel sample, the 2018 Côtes du Jura Chardonnay La Chaux is named after one of the plots in Château Chalon that has limestone soils with some stones and marl. It shows very tasty flavors that got me thinking, and it has unusual tension, tight and dry. It has all this despite the fact that 2018 was a very warm and dry year. That's when François explained that he likes the wines to have some Jura character, so the barrels are not topped up at first and are allowed to grow a veil of yeasts for some six months and then are topped up. So, that's where the savory and sunflower seed notes must come from! Even if the wine is young, it will be bottled in a couple of months." - Wine Advocate
 
François Rousset is producing some of the most captivating wines in the Jura right now, of that there is no doubt. Recent bottles consumed have further confirmed this and the glacial pace with which his white wines age; these are wines that seemingly transcend time.
 
François first caught the wine-bug growing up in Burgundy where his father was a micro-biologist for the Hospices de Beaune. Childhood trips were spent in the Jura getting to know and falling in love with a parcel of family vines which he would later vinify with his father. After earning an oenology degree and continuing his journey in the southern Rhône and Languedoc regions, he returned to his Jurassian roots and in 2007 officially launched his winery. While his scientific background provides François with a literal understanding of the transformation from grape to wine, he’s most influenced by keen intuition, and winemaking lore passed down from his great grandfather, also a winemaker.
 
This central part of the Jura is very much the undiscovered Jura, characterized by imposing limestone and marl cliffs perched atop pedestals of sloping vineyards. It is a raw, imposing beauty very different to the gentle slopes further south.  He fashions wines within the Château Chalon appellation, labelled as Côtes du Jura since he makes them in a non-oxidative (ouillé or topped-up) style. Vinified by parcel (farming is organic-certified) with little to no sulphur and bottled unfined and unfiltered, the Rousset wines are complex and very concentrated, falling somewhere along the spectrum of floral, delicate and exotic and rich. They are somewhat reminiscent of the Ganevat and Labet wines, but with laser-like acidity and tension alied to serious concentration and depth.
 
Stunning wines indeed. The white wines shimmer and vibrate with life; they are concentrated, superbly balanced and very fine indeed. His focus is on making ouillé or topped-up wines within the Château Chalon appellation, bottled as Côtes du Jura. Freshness, clarity, precision and persistence their hallmarks. The red wines are delicious; pale, light, fleeting and charming. They are delicious and go down very nicely!