The idea of aged Jura wines tends to conjure one specific image in the minds of drinkers. Vin Jaune (or “yellow wine”), arguably the region’s most notable cuvée, derives its entire legacy—its golden color, nutty taste, and rarity—from the length of time it spends aging in barrel, a minimum of six years and three months.

The Jura is located just over an hour east of Burgundy on the Swiss border. With just 2,000 hectares of vines–many of which are dedicated to the region’s native grapes like Ploussard, Trousseau, and Savagnin–it is France’s smallest region, although home to some of the country’s most legendary winemakers. Twenty minutes south of Arbois, the capital, is the small town of Poligny, a single lane road lined on either side with homes, shops, and a bar which serves as the local haunt for winemakers. 

Lulu Vigneron

About halfway down Poligny’s main road is “Lulu Vigneron,” the home and cellar of vigneron Ludwig “Lulu” Bindernagel. Originally from Bavaria, Lulu is a trained architect who lived and worked in Paris for many years before becoming a winemaker. Originally, he intended to make wine in Burgundy, although as a region less welcoming to outsiders, he and his wife Nathalie Eigenschenck opted instead to settle in Jura.

Lulu’s icy features–whitish-gray hair, piercing blue eyes–masks a profoundly warm and convivial center. I visited Lulu this past summer to taste his wines and to understand what makes them both emblematic of the region and entirely their own. Using long élevage, Lulu crafts primarily white wines that are rich and nutty while still preserving a trace of youthful vitality, producing cuvées that challenge the Jura’s traditional model and promise to withstand the test of time. 

There are qualities of Jura wines that make them inherently suited to aging. As a rule, oxidation allows wines to mature beautifully. By some estimates, Vin Jaune can last up to 70 years, with controlled exposure to air over time contributing not only to deep nuttiness and subtle sweetness, but also to longevity after bottling. Jura’s soil makeup is another factor—it’s a complex nexus composed of blue, gray, and red marl, giving the region’s wines the mineral spine they need to age gracefully.

The Importance of Soil

I arrived at Lulu’s in July, along with a wave of wine enthusiasts on summer holiday who have descended on the Jura to marvel at its vineyards at the height of the growing season. Behind the domaine’s unassuming façade lies a garden overrun with fresh herbs, lemon trees, and stalks of tomatoes overlooking rolling hills of vines below. It’s here that I join Lulu before we head down to the cellar together to choose the bottles we want to open.

In the garden, Lulu and I sit opposite one another at a large glass table and begin tasting from the bottles we’ve selected. Lulu asks if he might take my notebook and pen, and I gladly hand them over. Between drags of a freshly lit cigarette, he begins to diagram Jura’s hidden landscape—perhaps a reflex from his former life—like the layers of soil that lie beneath the surface of the vineyards. He not only delineates sheaths of blue and gray marl, of Lias and Trias—composed to varying degrees of decayed sea life dating back to the Jurassic period—but also indicates which soils give rise to each of his cuvées. 

From where the Lias soil meets the thick layer of Trais, Lulu harvests vines of Savignin and Chardonnay that give him the cuvée he calls QV Etoiles, a play on words that refers to the marl and limestone soils rich with the fossilized remains of ancient, tiny marine animals, including some that are shaped like stars. QV Etoiles is an ouillé, or topped up wine, that tastes of lemon zest and sea salt, with a zippy quality that is softened by aging the Chardonnay over two years on the lees.

From slightly more shallow soil, Lulu gets BB1 (baby one), his inaugural wine, a blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Savagnin topped up and aged in neutral oak for 17 months before bottling. This is a vibrant wine, full of youth and energy with notes of chalk, roasted apple, almond, and a bright, lemony finish. But it’s ChaCha, made of 100% Savagnin that was truly a standout. 

Named for the parcel in the village of Château-Chalon where it’s grown, ChaCha ages in barrel sous voile for at least four years without topping up before it’s carefully tasted and bottled. Together, we sampled a 2020 bottle, which had completed its aging, and the 2022s that he said will remain sous voile for at least another two years before being deemed ready.

ChaCha was unlike many Savagnins I’ve tasted—rich, savory, and yeasty, yet wonderfully youthful despite its oxidative style. It has a unique citrusy quality, like lemon drop candy, that is bright, racy, and delightfully alive. At 14% alcohol, this is a big and bold wine, but was just as easy to sip by the glass as any of Lulu’s other cuvées. 

Patience is a Virtue

Lulu explained that when he first began making wine, he often felt tempted to taste the barrels more frequently and at earlier stages. Over time, however, he’s grown more patient with the process, and more inclined to allow the wines to express themselves naturally over time. The long aging sous voile creates wines that are more resistant to oxidation in bottle. So even though there are no added sulfites, the wines Lulu produces are robust. They also retain a natural acidity from the grapes that is sure to mellow over time, evidence of the wine’s enduring youth even after four years of aging. 

There is a warmth to everything Lulu does, from the wines he makes to the way he welcomes guests and the home he keeps in Poligny, that feels like a timeless expression of care. But with the chalky soil, the acidity of youth, and the amount of care Lulu puts into each of his wines, after 12, 24, and 48 months of aging it’s clear that this is really just the beginning of what will inevitably be a long lifecycle for these stunning and balanced cuvées.