It seems like only yesterday that Jura wines were, to quote Billie Holiday, as cold as yesterday’s mashed potatoes.  They excited the market the way Swiss wines do. But no more.
 
Today, the Old Guard gems of Puffeney and Macle can easily set you back $500 to $1000 a bottle, if you can find them. And the rarest cuvées of the new generation of superstars—Ganevat, Overnoy and disciples—have also skyrocketed in price. 
 
So little is made that the price of admission can be as steep as for the most iconic red Burgundies.
 
There’s one more name to add to the list of Jura unicorns: Philippe Bornard. In France, Bornard is a cult figure, even appearing on a French reality dating show. And, under normal times, if an underpriced bottle of Bornard’s best ever appeared on a Parisian or Arbois wine list, it would get snapped up as quickly as a bottle of Ente or Truchot in New York. 
 
Part of Bornard’s allure is that many of his 7 hectares of vines are in the limestone-clay amphitheater of Pupillin, Arbois’s finest cru. Those that are not are in the Côtes du Jura. He works with the rare native red varities of Poulsard and Trousseau; the white Savagnin and Chardonnay and a small plot of Melon-Queue-Rouge, an anicent relative of Chardonnay. The whites are made in both the classic semi-oxidative sous voile and the non-oxidative ouillé styles. He also makes a classic vin jaune which will appear in a later offer.
 
At the bottom of this email, you’ll find a totally unprecedented offer of Bornard. Ten different Bornard cuvées have been organized into two assortments: a mixed 4-pack and a mixed 6-pack. Because there is so little wine to go around, we ask that you choose one or the other. But if you’d like both, let us know, and we’ll try to get you both. 
 
Birth of a Star
While both of Bornard’s grandparents made wine, his father was a member of the Pupillin co-op, delivering his fruit there. Philippe followed suit when he took charge of the family holdings but, encouraged by Pupillin cult hero Pierre Overnoy, he left in 2005 to make his own wine. And, as Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutiérrez has written, Philippe became “in a matter of ten years, an absolute star of the zone.”
 
In the cramped cellar beneath his house, his Overnoy-inspired, low-sulfur natural winemaking flexibly uses a mix of stainless steel and fiberglass fermenters and neutral oak barrels of various sizes, depending on what each cuvée asks.
 
But with so many different cuvées from such a small amount of land, production of each is microscopic. And with every sommelier in France vying for an allocation, very little makes its way anywhere else. 
 
Finally, a comment on the prices. Like a number of other French superstars, Bornard prices his wines modestly; but once they leave his cellar, the prices multiply three, four or five times.  
 
Fortunately, everything in this offer was purchased on release from the domaine. Consequently, the prices for these sets are lower than you could possibly pay elsewhere (assuming you could find these wines.)
 
All wines are white except as noted. * indicates Pupillin appellation; ** indicates Côtes du Jura. All bottles are 750ml. Notes can be found below.
 

Notes on the Wines:
 
Trousseau Le Ginglet
Trousseau is the more structured of the Jura’s native reds, and like his Ploussard, Bornard’s Trousseau vines are located in the great red wine terroir of Pupillin. Philippe’s plot of red shale and gravel soils produces finely structured, herb-tinged red fruited Trousseau, which he destems and ferments, with daily stirring of the lees, for three weeks in stainless steel. The wine is tank aged as well, for approximately one year.   
 
Le Melon le Rouge-Queue
An indigenous variant of Chardonnay whose stems turn red as they ripen, hence its name, Melon à Queue Rouge is prized for its fascinating combination of orchard fruit richness countered by razor-sharp acidity, concentrated by naturally low yields. Bornard is one of the champions of this now rare variety and his rendering, from clay and shale soil aged ouillé for two years, is a beautifully nuanced and creamy textured example.
 
Chardonnay Le Blanc de la Rouge
This cuvée gets its name from its site, the La Rouge lieu-dit, a high-limestone content red marl soil site in the renowned appellation of Arbois-Pupillin. The terroir produces intensely citrus and mineral inflected Chardonnay, purely expressed through two years aging ouillé in neutral demi-muids.
 
Savagnin Les Chassagnes 
From the Les Chassagnes lieu-dit, a limestone-rich parcel in the Côtes du Jura, this is a ouillé Savagnin, carefully topped up in barrel to avoid oxidation for the purest expression of its powerful terroir. Fermented and then aged for two years in foudre, which has enhanced its intensely exotic, mineral aromatics with a hint of Jura tang. 
 
Ploussard La Chamade
The Jura’s uniquely delicate, perfumed Poulsard red grape is most at home in Bornard’s hometown of Pupillin, where it is known as Ploussard. Here he tends a parcel of half-century old Ploussard vines in red loam soil, which gives the fruit uncommon depth and earthiness to complement its  inherent elegance. Philippe carefully captures this singular character with a long, cool fermentation in stainless steel before aging in neutral foudre, bottling with the residual CO2 for a gentle sparkle.
 
Ploussard Point Barre
Bornard also makes a Ploussard from equally old vines on red and grey marls that he declassifies, bottling it as a Vin de France. Philippe handles this Ploussard differently, with the grapes undergoing carbonic maceration in stainless steel, enhancing its delicate red fruit and baking spice character before 18 months aging in foudre.
 
Savagnin Les Marnes
In contrast, Bornard’s Marnes cuvée is a sous voile Savagnin, made in traditional Jura fashion—aged in pièce for several years without topping up, during which a voile (“veil”) of yeasts formed on the wine’s surface. Rich and nutty, with strikingly saline minerality, it’s a classic expression of Jura Savagnin made in the sous voile mode from clay-limestone marl soil.
 
Chardonnay Les Gaudrettes
From diverse marl soils in the Côtes du Jura, Philippe’s Chardonnay Les Gaudrettes is rich and highly aromatic, underpinned by very complex minerality. Like its Le Blanc de la Rouge Chardonnay stablemate, Gaudrettes was aged in carefully topped up old barrels for a transparent articulation of site character.