I recently got very excited after noticing a veil of yeast form on the surface of one of my batches of 2025 Chasselas, which is still very much in the making after around six months in demijohns. This phenomenon, although short-lived, inspired me to buy a vin jaune – the famous ultra-oxidative wine that is never topped up.

I only know Jura wines from hearsay. Names like Ganevat, Bornard and Tissot. Interestingly, a whole new generation of growers in countries like Germany seem to be inspired as much by the more conventional topped-up Jura Savagnins and Chardonnays as they are by vins jaunes made solely from Savagnin. The wines, both white and red (Poulsard, Trousseau, Pinot Noir), used to be a well-kept secret even in France, but then word got out and prices rose.

Vin Jaune, Domaine Badot, Côtes du Jura
The squat 62-cl clavelin bottle contains the amount of wine that is supposed to be left from a litre after six years and three months of ageing and evaporation.

Available for £43 from local bottle shop Baythorne Wines, this bottle was about broadening my horizons. Having a £50 gift voucher to spend certainly helped.

This vin jaune had a pronounced nose from the off, with oxidative aromas of hazelnut and walnut, alongside dried apricot, extremely ripe red apple and a beautifully creamy sheen. So complex. It took seven days to finish the bottle – just a small pour every day to savour. Aromas of plum schnapps emerged on day 4, though these morphed more into kirsch by day 7.

The high acidity on the palate cut through the oxidative creaminess, giving balance and structure. By the end of the week, I could taste red apple dripping with honey or honeycomb alongside further sprinklings of hazelnut and walnut plus a hint of lemon curd. A distinctly salty, grippy mouthfeel added to the intensity. The finish was exceedingly long.

It’s hard to explain, but rarely does a wine touch me on an emotional level as this did. Thanks to their prolonged but limited exposure to oxygen during maturation, vins jaunes will pretty much outlast all of us. At ten years of age, this one was a mere pup that only improved as the week wore on. Comté cheese from Jura would be its congenial partner, but a variety of dishes from cod to roast chicken worked well instead.

14.5% abv