Domaine du PELICAN- Marquis d'ANGERVILLE

Domaine du Pelican, among the top Jura estate

Guillaume d'Angerville, not content with producing perhaps the best in Volnay in his Cote de Beaune to the Marquis d'Angerville family vineyard, fell in love with Jura (typical Savagnin wine). So he created Domaine du Pelican (named after the bird-emblem of the town of Arbois).

The story is fun. During a blind tasting in one of his favorite restaurants in Paris, Guillaume d'Angerville tastes a great Arbois wine signed by Andre and Mireille Tissot, and believes at first a mistake. Had he not asked to taste everything but a Burgundy? The sommelier informs him of the origin of the wine (Jura), and Guillaume d'Angerville realizes the potential of these terroirs less known than his native Cotes de Beaune ... then begins a search of ten years that will culminate in the progressive purchase of three times 5 hectares, carefully chosen for their particular terroir, ideally located, with a potential of exceptional quality.

Domaine du Pelican is now composed of:

- On the one hand, a vineyard with vines planted in 2001 with state-of-the-art equipment (all gravity wines, pneumatic press, two vibrating sorting tables, ultra modern ...)
- on the other hand, a domain with an exceptional terroir, but left "in the wild" by its previous owner, therefore particularly healthy (and organic), where the vines have since been replanted.
- Best for the end: the third third of Domaine du Pelican comes from the redemption of a legendary vineyard: the old vines of Jacques Puffeney who, for lack of heir, was happy to find a successor whose objective is to pursue his work by creating very great wines of Arbois. The fruit of these mythical vines will enter the domain of Pelican in the vintage 2015.

The originality brought by Guillaume d'Angervile and Francois Duvivier (manager of Domaine Marquis d'Angerville since 2005) is based on their biodynamic philosophy, applied for many years to the Marquis d'Angerville in Burgundy. With a unique know-how, to propose wines perfectly representative of their terroir, helped by the application to the letter and according to the lunar calendar of the principles of biodynamy since 2006.

Three wines of Arbois of high class, in red as in white. (Including a typical Savagnin wine in the nose as in tasting)

Savagnin wine

Savagnin grape variety is the king of the Jura. It is the most typical of the region and it adapts very well to the local terroir. Its grape allows the vinification of powerful, rich and complex white wines with great ageing poetential. It is in the yellow wine that it finds its greatness particularly the PDO Chateau Chalon.

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate : Domaine du Pélican is the name of the Jura winery from Marquis d’Angerville in Volnay in the Côte de Beaune, just one of the Burgundian vignerons that are arriving in Jura. They started in 2012 with one red blend, one Chardonnay and one Savagnin. The 2013s I tasted were bottled in November 2014. In 2015, they will do three different reds, but perhaps will only release two of them. They also want to make some single vineyard wines from Savagnin and Chardonnay. They started with the old Château de Cavanne in Montagny, then they took over Domaine Brignot, and since 2015 they are also taking over the 4.5 hectares from Jacques Puffeney, who is retiring. As of 2015, they have 13.5 hectares of vineyards and they also planted some more, so from 2016 they will have 15 hectares of vineyards, which is about the size they want to remain (never more than 20 anyway). I walked some vineyards, had a long discussion and a nice tasting with winemaker François Duvivier, who is also a partner here and is the one in charge of the wines in Burgundy (he lead the conversion to biodynamics there) and commutes between the two wineries. He hopes to get some old Vin Jaune barrels from Puffeney and hopefully some know-how to start producing that specialty wine from Jura in the future, but they have not started yet. The wines somehow have a clean Burgundy profile, less Jura than other locals, but in any case delicious, transparent, fresh, precise and very nicely priced. A new name to follow. Ah! the name is taken from the pelican, which is part of the Arbois coat of arms and the symbol of the city. It's surprising how nobody had thought of that name before...

Jancis Robinson (Nov 2017)