DOMAINE DE L'AIGILE A DEUX TÊTES

Sometimes you meet a guy and you just know he’s doing something right. That's exactly what we thought when we met Henri Le Roy, the man behind Domaine de l'Aigle a Deux Têtes. His Jura wines are pure and clean and his property is picturesque. There is a ton of marl in the vineyards which is a sedimentary form of calcareous soil. It’s like a really compact form of clay. The surface sticks to your boots. The first time we visited the estate we drove back into the canyons behind his village to visit a site he had acquired a few years ago, a vineyard named Derrier les Roches that is almost entirely surrounded by woods.  Sadly, the last few vintages from this site have either been struck by hail, or been picked clean by the birds from the surrounding forest.  Derrier les Roches is planted to Chardonnay with the average age of the vines over fifty years of age on blue marl, one of the region’s most desirable soil types. Taking protective precautions last year by netting the vines, Henri will release a 2015 bottling of this wine and future vintages to boot. 

Tthe Les Clous vineyard is home to his savagnin and poulsard varietals. The vines are on a mix of blue and red marl, ideal for the two regionally classic grapes. We’ve never experienced the weight and intensity of poulsard like Henri's; such dynamic flavors and so much weight. It's one of the best we've ever tasted. He also makes a macvin, a local specialty of grape juice fortified with marc (grape spirit) from the region. His macvin, though not technically macvin because he doesn’t boil the grape juice down, was loaded with sweet candied fruit—like those Japanese hard candies with melon and plum flavors.