Côtes du Jura 'L'Etoile' Chardonnay - Nicolas Jacob 2020

The estate

Nicolas Jacob is a Jura winemaker who first worked as an organic market gardener before turning to winegrowing. He completed a BTS in viticulture and oenology with a focus on organic farming in Montmorot, then trained under two Jura masters: Jean Macle in Château-Chalon and Jean-François Ganevat. In 2015, he embarked on his own venture, buying plots in the terroirs of L'Étoile and Voiteur, in the South-Revermont. His estate, located in Cesancey, now covers 6 hectares (4.5 ha of white grapes, 1.5 ha of red grapes), planted mainly with Chardonnay and Savagnin, as well as Poulsard and Trousseau.

Like his mentor Ganevat, Nicolas Jacob is firmly committed to a natural approach. His vines are grown using organic farming, and his winemaking is as natural as possible: spontaneous fermentation, with no added sulfur or other inputs. He vinifies each plot separately, creating a multitude of micro-cuvées, each expressing a terroir, a place and a grape variety. He practices long élevage, aware of the importance of time in revealing the wines' complexity.

Considered one of the rising stars of the Jura, Nicolas Jacob is praised for the precision, depth, finesse and tension of his wines. His first vintage, 2015, was bottled in 2017, and the estate expanded in 2019 with the purchase of a winery and several additional plots.