Wedged between the lieux-dits of La Rouge and Les Charots, the red, chalky/clay soils of Les Chambines produced Benjamin’s lightest-coloured and most delicate Ploussard. At 0.6 hectares, Les Chambines is also Benjamin’s largest lieu-dit for this variety.  The steep slope, planted in the mid-1980s, reaches 40 degrees in some places, meaning this vineyard must be ploughed by horse. Facing more to the west, the wine is bottled at around 10.5 to 11% of potential alcohol in most years, but 2022 was an atypical year where the wine reached the giddy heights of 12%! The fruit was manually destemmed, and the wine underwent spontaneous fermentation and maturation in a steel vat. Les Chambines takes us to the more gossamer side of Ploussard—all lacy red currants and pomegranate fruit shot through with dainty spice and a glade of refreshing acidity. A touch of complex earth and something ‘animal’ as well in the 2022. 

Lying under the hilltop village of Pupillin in the north of the appellation, Viandris is home to this grower’s oldest Ploussard vines, which are now pushing 70 years old. Benjamin also farms Chardonnay near the top, where there is more Bajocian limestone. The Ploussard vines are rooted in deep grey marl from the middle Liassic period on a 20-30% gradient that Benjamin quips is steep by Burgundian standards yet quite mellow for the Jura! The natural springs running underneath the site result in humid soils, which, combined with the old vines and very low yields in 2022, bring a density to this wine’s flesh and tannins. Bottled from a single 600-litre barrel, for Benjamin, this wine always has the greatest mouthfeel along with a distinctive ferrous charm to the fruit.  At 13.5%, this is a potent wine in 2022 yet carries exceptional finesse, with a streak of blood orange and rosehip acidity to balance its smoky, wild berry charisma. 

Côte de Feule is Pupillin’s most renowned vineyard, the village’s de facto grand cru. It lies in the heart of the appellation on a south-facing slope at 390 metres. The site was once a stone quarry, and Benjamin farms just 0.4 hectares of old-vine Ploussard rooted in steep, iris-coloured Triassic soils littered with limestone gravel. From vines planted in 1961, this is the cellar’s most inviting and approachable example of this fascinating grape variety. All of Benjamin’s Ploussards are crafted using mostly hand-destemmed grapes—Benoit uses only 5% of the ripest stems—with this cuvée fermented spontaneously in a large tronconique wooden cask, then aged for 12 months in tank. Reflecting the warm season, the 2022 is a headier, deeper rendition with a gorgeous pure, sweet fruit personality to go with its seductive spice and powdery tannins. Benjamin recommends opening it one hour before serving and pouring it into a large glass. 

There’s just a single Trousseau bottling of this year, and it takes its name from the oyster-like, fossilised molluscs found in the vineyard’s calcaire à gryphées limestone soils. This is a very small cuvée in 2022, cropped from just 0.25 hectres of vines planted in the adjacent lieux-dits of Côte de Feule and Fonteneille, at 390-400 metres. (The more generous yields of 2023 meant that Benjamin was able to bottle the two parcels separately). Trousseau’s riper stems and more compact bunches than Ploussard allow Benjamin to ferment this entirely as whole bunches. This was raised in used oak barrels and bottled without filtration. 

Benjamin Benoit farms just half a hectare of Pinot Noir, but given that he trained with the likes of Charles Lachaux in Burgundy, I wouldn’t rule out that he will plant more. Regardless, this wine proves how successful Jura Pinot Noir can be when planted in the right soils and farmed accordingly. It’s from vines in the curving Courbes Raies vineyard on calcaire à gryphées—limestone-rich soil heavy in fossils. Benoit also farms Chardonnay on this site’s north- and south-facing slopes. The Pinot lies on the west-exposed slopes. The vines were planted by Benjamin’s father (mid-1980s) and grandfather (around 1959).

Like the Trousseau, the Pinot ferments as whole bunches in large Grenier tronconique, while the aging takes place in 228-litre Burgundy barrels and larger, 600-litre demi-muid. Benjamin explains that this wine often confounds local tasters perhaps less familiar with a classy, polished Burgundian style of Pinot Noir. From the vibrant, floral aromas through the nuanced palate of red berries and minerals to the precise, uplifting finish, we love this. Again, it is a more powerful wine than typical for the domaine, but none the worse for it. 

The Chardonnay is just as outstanding as the Pinot Noir from the same vineyard. The vines are a touch younger—planted in 1990—and deliver a striking wine of intensity, texture and tension. Where the impact of the richer clays influences Benjamin’s wines from La Marcette and Viandris, the Courbes Raies vines sit on a band of Triassic limestone littered with fossils of ancient gryphée molluscs. There is also more sand in the clay here.

To emphasise the different terroirs of each parcel, the winemaking for all the Chardonnays remains very similar.  All the grapes are pressed as whole bunches into used 600-litre barrels for fermentation and 12 months of lees-aging. Benjamin then decants off the gross lees, and the wine rests on clean lees in stainless steel for a further six months, allowing him to bottle the wines without filtration. Expect a layered, ripe, fleshy expression leading to a mouthwatering, saline close. It’s satiny yet fine-boned Jura Chardonnay that underlines Benjamin’s goal of clarity and precision. 

Nestled between La Marcette and Champ-Berrand, Les Charots in one of Pupillin’s smaller lieu-dits. It sits on a very steep slope under La Marcette on orange-tinted soils rich in iron. There’s a lot of yellow Bajocian limestone, too, which Benjamin finds gives this wine a more chiselled personality and citrusy, mineral edge. From 30-year-old vines, this was first made in 2021. To emphasise the different terroirs of each parcel, the winemaking for all the Chardonnays remains very similar.  All the grapes are pressed as whole bunches into used 600-litre barrels for fermentation and 12 months of lees-aging. Benjamin then decants off the gross lees, and the wine rests on clean lees in stainless steel for a further six months, allowing him to bottle the wines without filtration. It’s a stunning wine, well summed up by the note below.  

Benjamin farms half a hectare in La Marcette, which sits at 335 metres in the south of Pupillin as you move towards Poligny. The soil here is Triassic marl (chalky clay), and the 65–70-year-old vines (planted by Benjamin’s grandfather) sit on the plateau of a hill, right above Les Charots and opposite the village. Despite the proximity, the wines could hardly be less alike; the sunny Marcette parcels ripen considerably earlier and deliver aromatic golden berries compared to the typically more focused, chiselled Les Charots. To emphasise the different terroirs of each parcel, the winemaking for all the Chardonnays remains very similar.  All the grapes are pressed as whole bunches into used 600-litre barrels for fermentation and 12 months of lees-aging. Benjamin then decants off the gross lees, and the wine rests on clean lees in stainless steel for a further six months, allowing him to bottle the wines without filtration.

This is incredibly deep and powerful, with preserved citrus, orchard fruit, quince, camomile and salty notes. The rich, fleshy palate is framed by excellent length and a driven finish. In Benjamin’s words, it’s a gastronomic wine. Pair it with rich poultry and pork dishes or a thickly sliced tranche of well-aged Comté. 

Where the Ploussard vines in Viandris face north, the Chardonnay here occupies the west-facing slope at a high 368 metres in intensely limestone-rich soils. The roots of old 60-year-old vines (again, planted by Ben’s grandfather) dig deep and produce low yields, bringing depth to the site’s energy. To emphasise the different terroirs of each parcel, the winemaking for all the Chardonnays remains very similar.  All the grapes are pressed as whole bunches into used 600-litre barrels for fermentation and 12 months of lees-aging. Benjamin then decants off the gross lees, and the wine rests on clean lees in stainless steel for a further six months, allowing him to bottle the wines without filtration. A lovely wisp of smoky reduction marries beautifully with the wine’s power and drive. Super wine.

This tiny cuvée is drawn from 0.1 hectares densely planted at over 10,000 vines/ha by Benjamin’s great-grandmother in 1938. As if that was not enough, 1938 was also the birth year of his grandfather, so this wine holds special significance for Benjamin. Particular to Jura, the plant material is an old mutation of Chardonnay called Melon à Queue Rouge. Melon is the Arboisien name for Chardonnay, while queue rouge refers to the pinky-red tinge the stems take on. Stéphane Tissot believes that at some point in history, Chardonnay vines planted on soils near Arbois slowly mutated into what is now Melon à Queue Rouge. It seems likely that the variety fell out of fashion in the more commercial era of the 1960s due to its small berries and lower yields. Despite its rarity today, you can still find bottlings from Domaine de la Pinte, la Ratte and Julien Aviet, while the now-retired Pope of Arbois, Jacques Puffeney, also produced an iteration. Benjamin explains that while this cuvée resembles the ‘normal’ Viandris Chardonnay, the Melon à Queue Rouge’s “beautiful fruit” ripens with slightly higher sugars and higher acidity than the other Chardonnay vines. He only works the vines of this plot by horse and sprays by hand, so the vines see no tractor. The trellising is also high at 1.8 metres, so they are not trimmed, only ‘tressed’ or wrapped down (literally plaited).

To emphasise the different terroirs of each parcel, the winemaking for all the Chardonnays remains very similar.  All the grapes are pressed as whole bunches into used 600-litre barrels for fermentation and 12 months of lees-aging. Benjamin then decants off the gross lees, and the wine rests on clean lees in stainless steel for a further six months, allowing him to bottle the wines without filtration. The 2022 is a brilliant wine: deep, powdery, infinitely complex and long. Well worth hunting down!

Wedged between the lieux-dits of La Rouge and Les Charots on red marl soils, Les Chambines is one of three different Savagnins farmed by the domaine. The steep slope, planted in the mid-1980s, reaches 40 degrees in some places, meaning this vineyard must be ploughed by horse (there is also a fault bisecting the vineyard, which the small Caterpillar cannot cross). The Savagnin of Les Chambines is usually selected for the Vin Jaune, but in 2022, Benjamin was so happy with the fruit that he selected two barrels to age in the ouillé (topped-up) style. 

Benjamin presses his Savagnin long and slow directly into his oldest barrels, where the wine ferments without any additions until the malolactic fermentation has finished. He loves the style of his 2022 Savagnin wines, which he notes have beautiful aromas of confit citrus and mouthwatering ripe acidity. Of the two wines we have shipped, Les Chambines is the fruiter version, with fleshy Anjou pear fruit offset by green herbs and peppery spice.

Higher on the hill than Chambines, Les Plantées sits on the classic blue marls of Jura, which are similar to those found in Château-Chalon. Here, the domaine farms 0.28 hectares of 70-year-old vines exposed northwest on a 30% gradient. The 2022 fermented and aged on lees in a single old 228-litre barrel, and it was bottled unfiltered. Benjamin explains that this site gives a more intense and complex Savagnin than Chambines, as well as more salty character from the blue marl soils. This is super pretty and saline despite the depth and power. Terrific.

Bottled from a single cask, this grower makes a specific style of Vin Jaune, principally from Savagnin vines in Les Chambines. Three factors help understand the style being produced here. Firstly, Benjamin selects his wine for the Vin Jaune by the barrel, looking for the least expressive, most tightly wound wines, as he believes that this leaves more room for the complex chemistry of sous voile aging to play its role. Also, unlike many in the region who age their wine in the humid, underground cellars, the Benoit family has figured out that their best wines come from barrels stored in their winery’s custom-designed grenier or attic. Finally, Benjamin Benoit also bottles his wine after nine years instead of the mandatory six. He finds those extra three years bring more salinity and umami to the glass. Rather than an excessively powerful and unctuous Vin Jeune, this is supremely detailed and light-footed, more like a Château-Chalon style, offering aromas and flavours of pear, hazelnut skin, green walnuts, hints of undergrowth and loads of spice. There are some light tannins and a mouthwatering saline and intensely spicy finish.