$39.99 on 6+ (code: 6saves2)

92+ pts Wine Advocate
The 2023 Patchwork Chardonnay was produced with grapes from clay (60%) and limestone (40%) soils and aged in barrel for one year. 2023 was also warm, but the wine is fresher than the 2022, partially because of the good yields that produced fine-boned musts. The idea is to show the Jura, which is a blend of terroirs, in a white that is tasty, balanced and with a sense of ripe fruit. Fermentation of Chardonnay is increasingly difficult in warm vintages like 2022 and 2023, while Savagnin has easier fermentations. 33,000 bottles produced. Drink Date: 2025 – 2030. Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez

I love the rollercoaster tasting with Stéphane Tissot, but I always struggle with the speed and quantity of wines tasted. Furthermore, he doesn't have Wi-Fi and dislikes any electrical appliances in his cellar, so he doesn't want me to use my laptop. So, every year I have to scribble frantically in a notepad, with the scrawled notes becoming more and more unreadable as the tasting advances. By the time we get to the Vin Jaune, which for him is the greatest expression of Jura wine, I'm exhausted and barely managing to catch up with the speed.

This time, I proposed to start the tasting with the Vin Jaune to give them more attention and respect, as we would be fresher and more alert and I'd be able to pay more attention and capture better notes. But Stéphane refused, "No, this is my house, and we do like I say!" It's all in a nice and friendly tone, but it's still a little annoying, especially since this year, he surprised me with EVEN MORE Vin Jaune than ever. I believe he uncorked some 14 bottles! Some had been aging a long time (12 YEARS!!) and would merit a single article just for them, which I hope one day to write to do justice to these world-class wines. But not this time...

The visit always starts with a running tour of some of his vineyards and the explanation between Lias and Trias clays and marls, then a sitting-down tasting of bottled wines in the cellar's tasting room, with intermittent runs through the cellars to taste unbottled wines from cask, and it finishes five hours later with chicken in Vin Jaune sauce with morels, Comté cheese and some beers and with me in despair, revisiting some of the unbelievable bottles of Vin Jaune he had opened...

His son Aymeric has started making naturally fermented beer in his brewery in the center of Besançon under the brand Levain, and he has had a long-standing collaboration with Cantillon in Brussels, where they produce a lambic beer called La Vie est Belge (life is Belgian), a pun on Stéphane's usual greeting, La vie est belle! (life is beautiful).

He understands Jura's geology and terroir better than anyone, and he explains it in his own unique way. When we tasted the Vin Jaune, he started raving about the nonsense of the 0.62-liter bottle, which is the amount that remains from one liter of wine after it ages in barrel. "Beers in Perú (Cusqueña) come in 0.62-liter bottles!" he shouted. "The Clavelin is clearly a Spanish bottle size!" Half a day with him is an experience you should have at least once in your life. You have to love Stéphane Tissot!

Published: Sep 11, 2025