2021 Domaine Jean-Luc Mouillard - Cotes du Jura Chardonnay (750ml)

Jean-Luc Mouillard was born in Nevy-sur-Seille at the foot of the Château-Chalon promontory, growing up on his family's dairy farm, which also included a few vineyard parcels sold to the local cooperative. After earning his enology diploma and spending a year in Beaune, he founded his own domaine in 1991, later relocating to a sixteenth-century former stagecoach stop in the village of Mantry, where he still ages his wines in the property's vaulted stone cellar. Jean-Luc now farms eleven hectares alongside his wife Annie and son Mathieu, primarily across the Côtes du Jura appellation.

This Chardonnay is sourced from parcels grown at roughly a thousand feet of elevation on the limestone and marl soils characteristic of the Jura's alpine foothills. Following a long-standing lutte raisonnée farming approach that avoided synthetic inputs for decades, the domaine has since moved toward full organic practices. Fermentation begins spontaneously in steel, with malolactic conversion occurring during more than a year of aging in older barrels, an approach that lets the site's minerality and elevation come through clearly.

The wine shows elegant, mineral-driven character with aromas of white flowers and citrus blossom, leading to a palate that is round, fresh, and well balanced. It pairs nicely with poultry, creamy sauces, or Comté and other firm mountain cheeses.