2018 Ja Nai

I tasted a bright, varietal and meaty sample of the obviously young 2018 Ja-Naï Poulsard that knocked me out, as it has more in common with a good Chambolle-Musigny than many wines from the Jura. And that's not to say the wine doesn't have Jura character, which it does, but it has such purity and elegance, is so expressive and captivating, clean and precise that it clearly transcends the variety. It has the textbook notes of a (good) Poulsard—blood orange and rose hip—but also flowers and a watermelon-like lightness. If you want funky Poulsard, you should look elsewhere. This wine sets my new benchmark for the grape, and it seems like 2018 was a better vintage for reds than for whites in this southern part of Jura. He only has 0.4 hectares of Poulsard, and the vines, all on a slope in the village of Grusse, are fairly young but seem to be on very good terroir—limestone-rich soils that give the tasty wines that Kenjiro Kagami wants to produce. This was the first wine I tasted chez Kagami, and it set the tone for what was coming: wines of purity! All the wines are sold without appellation, as generic Vin de France.