| La Percée du Vin Jaune |
| It's a remarkable testimony to the allure of Vin Jaune - a regionally obscure wine, produced only in minute quantities - that one of the most vibrant, yet least known, French wine festivals has been created to honour it. Every year the festival is held in a different village or group of villages in the region (the 2009 festival shown in these pictures took place in the adjoining hamlets of Passenans and Frontenay, about 15km north of Lons le Saunier). Held always on the first weekend in February, in deepest winter, the bright yellow colour scheme stands out vividly against the pale stone of the village houses. The weekend begins on Saturday morning with the "Clavinage", named after the unique 62cl Vin Jaune bottle. About 60 Vins Jaunes are tasted blind by a local dignitaries and wine experts, and around one third selected to be claveliné - a great honour, much coveted by the vignerons. |
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| The festival itself opens to the public on Saturday afternoon, and the streets are immediately crammed with local revellers, roving theatre and musical groups - and wine enthusiasts, eager to taste the offerings of the 70 or 80 producers who have set up improvised tasting rooms in the shops, cellars and garages all around the village. Both Vin Jaune and the other distinctive wines of the region - the sparkling Crémant du Jura and the fascinating Cotes du Jura reds - are available to taste. It's all charmingly rustic and small scale - usually it will be the winemaker or cellar owner himself pouring the wines. Of course, Jura wines are quintessentially food wines, and a wide variety of local food specialities are available from streetside vendors, including the famous local Comté cheese, honey, snails and charcuterie. |
| The festival reaches its climax on Sunday morning, after a service at the local church. Crowds throng the streets (up to 30 000, often in a village with a normal population of 500) to watch the Ambassadeurs des Vins Jaunes, resplendent in their bright yellow robes, carry a 228-litre barrel of Vin Jaune to the town square. They are joined by other local gastronomic fraternities, also all in full regalia (the Comté cheese group heave around a huge cheese, the Morteau sausage society have sausages hanging from their banners, the Poulet de Bresse dignitaries march along carrying a rather bemused looking chicken on a velvet cushion). When all are crowded in the square a long (very long) explanation of the whole Vin Jaune winemaking process is given, and then, with great ceremony, the bung of the cask is knocked out with a wooden mallet, a glass of the precious elixir is held aloft, the crowd roars its approval, and an afternoon of serious drinking begins in earnest! |
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