Situated in Sainte-Agnès in the Jura, the Domaine des Marnes Blanches is owned by Pauline and Géraud Frémont, a couple of young oenologists. In 2006 they took over 10 hectares of Savignin, Chardonnay, Trousseau, Pinot Noir and Poulsard and have recently acquired some very old vines. Their domain has organic certification and their methods include laying the rows in between the vines to grass and tilling the soil. In the chai, vinifications are carried out with as little intervention as possible as per the owners’ belief that ‘the wine should make itself’. The pressing of the grapes is gentle and vinifications are done plot by plot with sulphur only added ‘homeopathically’. This is an excellent domain whose wines express their terroir in all its complexity and diversity.

En Levrette is a Chardonnay wine from a limestone terroir containing gryphaea (fossilised molluscs related to the oyster). It is matured for 18 months in oak barrels. It is an ullaged Côtes du Jura; that is, a traditional, non-oxidised example. Its bouquet exudes floral aromas and smoky notes; on the palate, it reveals great volume, density, a slight richness and a pleasant acidity. Lastly, it has remarkable persistence, with a finish lending it an attractively saline character.