Côtes du Jura Les Gauthières Domaine Pignier 2020

Domaine Pignier, located in Montaigu, cultivates vines in a setting shaped by seven centuries of history. Founded by Carthusian monks in the 13th century, the Pignier family acquired the estate in 1794 and since then, it has been handed down from generation to generation. Today, Jean-Étienne Pignier works alongside his sister, brother and nephew, Thibaut, who is poised to take over the estate as the eighth generation at the helm. The estate covers 35 hectares in total, with 12 hectares under vine, spread across the two valleys that flank the village: the Val de Sorne and the Val de Vallière.
Committed to biodynamic viticulture since 1998 and Demeter-certified since 2003, the family makes all its wines from its own grapes. The Gauthières plots, which sit on Triassic marl, particularly favour Trousseau and Poulsard, while En Boivin, on Liassic marl, is home to Chardonnay and Savagnin. In the Gothic cellars inherited from the Carthusians monks, the estate crafts a distinctive range of ‘ouillés‘ (topped-up in English) wines, wines matured under a film of yeast, crémants and Jura reds. The Chardonnay ‘sous voile’ (matured under a veil of yeast), crafted here for several generations, is one of the estate’s most distinctive wines.