Joseph Dorbon Arbois Vieilles Vignes Les Bernardines

Jura wine dinner, with Michael M. and Susan: I served this first, before the whites, slightly chilled, with a selection of French charcuterie. A single-vineyard mix of ploussard and Pinot Noir from a tiny winery in Jura. This is third bottle I've had, probably the best showing. Pale color, high acidity, crunchiness, with a core of red fruit -- cranberry, pomegranate -- in a savory, earthy package. Dancing the tango with the salami (rosette de Lyon). My wife would normally …

A bit of funk on the nose, high acid and bright, sour and medium dry finish. Sour plum, hint of strawberry jam, wet stone, cranberry sauce.

First, a short rant: This wine has a hard wax seal, which drives me insane. I've learned enough to put the bottle in a sink before I start trying to chip the wax off, to contain the resulting mess, but I still haven't figured out how to remove enough of the wax that there is not a high risk of bits and dust falling into the wine, or into the glass when I pour the wine. (Would a blow-torch be …

This is around 80% Ploussard (Poulsard) and 20% Pinot Noir, destemmed, co-fermented in stainless steel and aged in old Burgundy barrels. Overall, Dorbon uses traditional Jurassien practices such as using no chemicals, sometimes no sulfur, horse drawn plowing and sous-voile aging (aging with a veil of yeast on top) with his whites. Transparent color. Floral notes, mushroom. Friend smelled some VA but I'm not particularly sensitive to that. The palate developed quite nicely into ripe cherry fruit but fresh and …

Cranberry and rainier cherry, leather, wet earth, high acid

Very yummy to enjoy drink; doesn’t seem to have the complexity expected; likely best enjoyed young.

The legs are medium strawberry, red cherries on the nose and palate, very good value

Pale ruby, tart red fruit, high acid, straightforward

This is a recent and worthy addition to the consistently excellent Rosenthal portfolio. This is very light in color and body -- there are rose wines with more substance than this -- but the smell and taste offer a wide and complex range of flavors -- something mushroomy up front, a degree of salinity (olives) in the mid-palate, and red currants in the after taste. High acidity but lovely to drink now.