Domaine Pecheur Cotes du Jura Chardonnay Vieux Millesimes

The notion of laissez-faire can take on new meaning in such a low-tech, lost-in-time region as the Jura. Several years ago the Pêcheurs discovered, at Christian's grandparents' house, a 500-liter barrel of uncertain provenance. Some detective work uncovered that this rickety cask contained Chardonnay from the 1982 vintage, left alone, basically forgotten, for four decades! Christian and Patricia bottled up this 40-year-old elixir, which retains a fresh and ripping sense of acidity; enormously concentrated, it nonetheless lacks the lavishly oxidative thwomp of a true Vin Jaune. This happy accident is a reminder that wine is a messenger of cultural and family history—the outcome of human endeavor (and error!) and not simply a product to feed a market.