$18.99, CASE PRICE $18

60% Gros Manseng and 40% Petit Manseng

From one of the most respected cooperative wineries in France comes this absolutely impossible to ignore mountain white from the Jura. Plaimont, as it is called, is a so-called ‘super-cooperative’ created in 1979 by combining two local coops with a single goal- uniting ten independent chateaux farming over 5300 hectares in order to preserve and promote the local grapes and winegrowing traditions of the Pyrenees. Plaimont also doubles as a research center and archive for the history of farming and winemaking in the region and they take their traditions very seriously. The wines they produce here, whether they are from the appellations of Jura, Madiran, Cotes de Gascogne or any of the other zones they encompass, are absolutely stellar, as high a quality as you will ever find from a cooperative winery in France. From the Jura, now one of the world’s hottest (as in coolest) wine growing regions, comes Yura, one of the best values we’ve tasted this year. The word ‘Yura’ comes from Yuranosû, the old Béarese term for the region and it takes advantage of two of the oldest grapes grown there: Gros and Petit Manseng. Together, after being aged on their fine lees in tank for a year, they become the very essence of the Pyrenees. The PRIMA gang found so much to love here. Frank called it ‘salty’ like a coastal wine (which this is anything but….) and there is a lightning bolt of acidity and a true siphoned-through-stone mineral aspect on the wine’s bone dry finish but it’s the palate that was so much fun. Is it tropical? Citrus-y? Stone fruit? Apple or pear? Yes to all of those. And so much personality! In a blind tasting, some might say it could be a very dry Vouvray. Or a Pigato from Liguria. Or a very dry Alsatian or Austrian Riesling? If so, then very good ones. Inadequate descriptions aside, it’s a medium weight white packed with flavor and the kind of bright, zingy finish one expects from some of France’s highest mountain vineyards. Food? Oh, so many options. I loved my bottle with a rich mac and cheese. The acidity had no trouble with all the fat. But some lean and briny oysters would work just as well. I think this may have played its way onto our Wines of the Year list! (Decanter magazine seems to have liked it too)

Decanter, 97 Points: Decadent aromas of mango, pineapple, orange peel and quince rustle over the sublime smoky wood character. Ripe and rounded with a mesmerising salve of acidity and a lengthy mouth-watering finish. Brimming with style and finesse.