1999 Arbois Pupillin Blanc

While its label might differ from that of a long-since released Chardonnay of this vintage and domaine solely due to the prominence now accorded to Emmanuel Houillon’s name, the 1999 Arbois-Pupillin Chardonnay that I tasted last November had only been bottled in 2008, having been faithfully topped-off in a single barrique until then! It can thus be counted as a recent release. This was, reports Houillon, one of his and Overnoy’s not infrequent wines that required more than a year to completely ferment, so ripe was the raw material; and the same was true of a 1997, a portion of which was only released after four years in cask. (Okay, but here we’re talking about twice that long!) Houillon says he can imagine possibly approaching some portion of very ripe 2011 in this way, too. Toasted walnut, diverse citrus oils, and noble mushrooms all point toward positively oxidative elements, even if this 1999 was not influenced by flor. Rich and oily yet persistently bright, it projects peach kernel, peat, and deeply toasted grain in its finish, enhancing an overall sense of piquancy, satisfying chew, and – despite its ripeness – incandescent acidity. How much longer – now in bottle – this will flourish I am not about to make a fool of myself by predicting. “Remember,” Overnoy cautions me, “this is not Cote d’Or Chardonnay and originates in a very different terroir.” No kidding! And how many contemporary Cote d’Or Chardonnays do any of us know that will stand up to a dozen years in bottle, much less to an elevage such as was accorded this Arbois? Since his late teens, Emmanuel Houillon has worked with his mentor and now partner Pierre Overnoy (whose name until recently also received top-billing on this Pupillin estate’s very old-fashioned label). The domaine, divided almost equally among Chardonnay, Savagnin, and Poulsard, has more than doubled in size – to a bit more than a dozen acres – in less than five years, thanks to property owned by Overnoy’s sister and to parcels acquired by Houillon himself. While Overnoy is happily still very much with us, he has long since become a legend in his own time, not only as the local viticultural guru and epitome of vinous Jura integrity, but more recently to a wider audience of self-proclaimed “natural wine” producers and devotees as a staunch (and long-time) advocate of sulfur-free elevage and bottling, whose wines are complexly expressive in their youth but also consistently stand the test of time. According to Overnoy, his father naturally (i.e. automatically, given his time and place) vinified the wine from his small holdings without any added sulfur, but Pierre came to his determination and his understanding of how to do this after visits in the early 1980s by sommelier-turned-consultant Jacques Neauport and a subsequent consultation with Neauport’s mentor, biochemist and Beaujolais specialist Jules Chauvet. That said, there is no particular secret or difference I could discern or learn to the methods these two vignerons follow. An entire book of conversations with Overnoy was recently published, and when time permits I hope to pore over it. Interestingly, Houillon and Overnoy report that their wines normally complete malo-lactic transformation before the end of the year in which they were harvested, even though completion of alcoholic fermentation often lasts not merely into the New Year but at times into a second year. Every few vintages, a barrel or two will be set-aside to become vin jaune, but I was not lucky enough on my first visit to taste an example. The wines are bottled manually, directly from barrel – hoisted with a lift – and without filtration. Spending time at the dining table of Overnoy’s homey domicile involves lots of convivial conversation and slow, thoughtful sipping, though in the end the number of wines tasted – at least on the occasion of this initial visit – was small. The Houillon-Overnoy wines represent amazingly, indeed – given their notoriety – improbably fine values; the problem is to score even a few bottles. Imported by Louis/Dressner Selections, New York, NY; tel. (212) 334 8191