Les Corvées sous Curon

Les Corvées sous Curon is Domaine de la Tournelle's Chardonnay from the eponymous Arbois lieu-dit at the foot of the Curon hill - one of the village's better-regarded sites. Soils are limestone gravel-rich clay over the marnes du Lias base that anchors most of Arbois's age-worthy whites. 100% Chardonnay, hand-harvested at around 40 hl/ha; whole-cluster pneumatic press, indigenous yeasts, no SO2 additions. Alcoholic fermentation begins in tank and finishes in 228-litre pièces and demi-muids, no new oak. Aged on fine lees, ouillé (not sous voile), no sulphur. The house minimum is twenty-four months in barrel; this 2003's back label specifies "trente mois en fût sur lies fines". Bottling follows the Maria Thun lunar calendar. 12.5% ABV. 2003 was the European canicule - blisteringly hot, harvest starting in mid-August in the Jura, weeks earlier than usual. The vintage was also the inflection point for the domaine's natural trajectory: Pascal Clairet launched the no-SO2 carbonic Uva Arbosiana cuvée in this same 2003 vintage. The back label calls this a "vin de grande garde."