# Les Voisines Arbois Chardonnay (NV)

- **Producer:** Domaine de la Touraize
- **Colour:** white
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Chardonnay
- **Region:** Jura, France
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 13.0%
- **Average price:** €30
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 10–13 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** apple, lemon, peach, butter, toast, almond

## About this wine

Domaine de la Touraize has been run by the Morin family in Arbois since 1704, representing eight generations of viticulture. Re-established as an independent domain by André-Jean and Héléana Morin after leaving the local cooperative in 2009, the estate is dedicated to organic and biodynamic farming. The cuvée name Les Voisines translates to 'The Female Neighbors', paying homage to the four adjoining hillside parcels—Petit Curoulet, En Flandre, Les Corvées, and La Platière—that comprise this wine. The estate emblem depicts fossilized ammonite shells, which are regularly plowed up in their marl vineyards.

## Interesting facts

- Les Voisines translates to 'The Female Neighbors', honoring four adjoining vineyard plots blended for this wine.
- The Morin family emblem features fossilized ammonite shells frequently unearthed in their Arbois fields.
- This cuvée is made in the topped-up (ouillé) style, preserving fresh fruit without oxidative flor aging.

## Food pairing

The high acidity and salinity of this non-oxidative Chardonnay cut cleanly through rich cream, melt-in-the-mouth butter, and aged mountain cheeses like Comté. The absence of heavy oak allows delicate shellfish and poached white meat flavors to shine.

## Wine making process

Grapes are hand-harvested in 300 kg crates and gently pressed using whole-cluster pneumatic pressing followed by 12 hours of static gravity settling. Fermentation takes place spontaneously using indigenous yeasts in neutral wooden vessels. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation occurs naturally. The wine ages for 18 months on fine lees in 20-hectoliter foudres and 500-liter barrels. It is produced in the topped-up (ouillé) non-oxidative style through regular weekly topping up. Bottling occurs unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfur additions.