The Chardonnay from the same vineyard is just outstanding. 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.