Jean-François GANEVAT

One could say that the work of 'Fanfan' Ganevat is "a thing of beauty"! Appreciated even by the most resistant to 'sulphur-free' wine, the vintages of this Winery are nowadays very much in demand and you have to get up early to acquire even 2 or 3 bottles! South of Lons-le-Saunier, Rotalier and the hamlet of La Combe(Jura), lost in the woods, at the foot of rocky walls, lie Jean-François Ganevat's famous plots of land: schist on 'Billat', blue marl on 'Chalasses', clay on 'Les Grandes Teppes'. Taken over in 1998, the vines of the family's Winery see a completely different future in the hands of our magician. After a spell as cellar master at Morey in Burgundy and meetings with Philippe Pacalet (Burgundy), Didier Barral (Faugères) and the Schuellers in Alsace, he decided to run his vineyard biodynamically. The Chardonnay, Savagnin, Poulsard and Trousseau rub shoulders with a few pearls, sometimes planted with other grapes, such as the Enfariné and the Savagnin Gros Vert, ersatz of the 40 varieties that still existed in the 19th century.

The grapes are de-stemmed by hand and then vinified and bottled according to the different terroirs scattered around the hamlet. Today, with nearly 45 vintages (just 50 to 60 litres for the sweet wines!), Jean-Francois Ganevat juggles with the storage places, all the more so as he experiments with the containers (large volume, demi-muids, barrels...). It's an obstacle course when it comes to tasting Fanfan's wines!

A meticulous work in the vineyard as well as in the cellar which requires rigour and follow-up. In the vineyard, where 8 people care for the soil without additives and prepare concoctions and soups of horsetail, dandelion, nettle and silica... Sometimes copper and sulphur are used in difficult years but always in a minimal way. Then, in the cellar, where the wines are unfiltered and with little or no sulphur (nothing for the reds, a maximum of 1g. for 'Billat' and 'Florine' since 2006), then aged for 1 or 2 years, up to 11 years for 'La Vigne de Mon Père'!

 Fanfan Ganevat's wines are rare, precise and unforgettable Jura wines. The result of the meticulous work of an extraordinary man, who is also unforgettable. Discover also the beautiful wines that he and his sister Annemake with passion, they are also "beautiful"!