Jura Winery's Assets Seized

Last week saw a unique vertical tasting in New York of Les Vignes de Mon Père, the most sought-after cuvée from Domaine Ganevat. All 10 vintages released were tasted over a meal for a group of die-hard Jura wine lovers, hosted by Master Sommelier Pascaline Lepeltier at Chambers Restaurant.

Not even winemaker Jean-François Ganevat had tasted the whole line-up at one time, and Lepeltier has written movingly about the experience of tasting these wines, which currently achieve among the highest prices in the Jura, according to Wine-Searcher data.

The timing of the tasting seems particularly poignant, coinciding as it does, with a story originally broken by Le Monde in Paris last week, and taken up by the eastern France local press, revealing that in June this year the assets of Domaine Ganevat were seized by the French courts.

The seizure was confirmed by the Paris prosecutor as being part of preliminary investigations into money laundering of former owner, Alexander Pumpyanskiy, son of Russian oligarch Dmitry Pumpyanskiy.

The story began in 2020 when rumors circulated that Jean-François Ganevat planned to sell the esteemed 13-hectare, family-owned estate, which he had run since 1998, and that the buyer was believed to be Russian.

Rumors became reality in September 2021 with the confirmation of the sale to Pumpyanskiy, a customer and friend of Ganevat. As reported in Wine-Searcher, following interviews with both parties, Ganevat himself and his sister Anne were to remain closely involved in the running of the estate on behalf of the wine-loving Pumpyanskiy.

Less than six months later, after Russia invaded Ukraine, there appeared to be a form of rapid buy-back of the estate, in conjunction with Benoît Pontenier, general manager of Prieuré St-Jean de Bébian, the Languedoc estate owned by the Pumpyanskiy family since 2008. The Pumpyanskiy assets were frozen just days later.

In the event, it took until March this year for the new ownership to be finalized, with Pontenier purchasing both estates, with a small share also taken on by Jocelyn Brancard, Ganevat's enologist since 2021. Neither Jean-François Ganevat nor his sister Anne were involved in the financial transactions.

French wine publication, La Revue du Vin de France (RVF) reported at the end of last year that there was "stupefaction" among other vignerons that the €15 million price tag for the estates could be funded by two employees of the domaines.

From the start of the crisis in March 2022, suspicions were raised that the Pumpyanskiy family had somehow found a dubious route to ensure the financial survival of the two estates. RVF journalists discovered that large sums had been transferred to companies presided over by Pontenier, and that these may have come from a Cypriot fundholding company originally owned by the Pumpyanskiy family.

In the meantime, Jean-François Ganevat told the local reporter for Le Progrès last week that he was simply focused on dealing with vinifying the very good 2023 harvest, asserting that Pontenier never discussed financial affairs with him.

Recent appeals by Dmitry Pumpyanskiy for him and his family to be removed from the EU sanction list have been rejected. However, the French justice system does at least allow the work on the estates to continue as normal until the end of investigations.

Terroir treat

Over in New York, tasters gathered at Chambers Restaurant at the instigation of Jura wine lover Sun Chung, who had collected the 10 vintages of Les Vignes de Mon Père, which dated from 2008 back to 1998 (the 2001 vintage was not made). Currently these wines fetch on average about $700 per bottle, a price unimaginable for a Jura wine only five years ago.

Les Vignes de Mon Père (meaning "my father's vineyards") is from century-old Savagnin grapes grown in the Côtes du Jura village of Rotalier on a typically marly slope. What makes the wine unique is that it is aged in 600-liter demi-muid barrels, fully topped up for over 10 years.

The wine was initially made as a gamble by Jean-François Ganevat, whose father had made only traditional oxidative wines, without topping up the barrels. Jean-François wanted to see the expression of the terroir that could be achieved by leaving a wine for as long as a Vin Jaune would be aged, but in a reductive method, excluding oxygen by topping up the wine.

The first vintage of Les Vignes de Mon Père, from 1998, was aged for seven years, just as a typical Vin Jaune would be, but topping up the barrels. The ever-questing Ganevat, who works biodynamically and with no added sulfites, decided to try for longer from 1999 onwards. Since that vintage, all have been aged in barrel for 130 months.

Chung shared a report of the tasting on Instagram: "If this fascinating experiment [the tasting] confirmed anything it’s that Ganevat's Les Vignes de Mon Père is an epitome of Savagnin Ouillé. This cuvée stands alone at the top of a peak."

Lepeltier, who he tasked with hosting the tasting, worked hard to make sure the wines were at their best and made the most of this unique tasting opportunity. She communicated in advance at length with Ganevat, who was happy to share with her details on every nuance, from vintage conditions to how the ferments and maturation evolved for each year.

Ganevat suggested that rather than decant the wines, Lepeltier should open and pour right away so that tasters could see the evolution over the course of the dinner. She herself tasted earlier using a Coravin to check that the wines were in perfect condition and to give her the chance to take her own notes.

Lepeltier told Wine-Searcher: "I must say these wines belong to the most complex, moving, stimulating wines I was lucky to enjoy. Time. Patience. Care for each detail. Uttermost passion... but time. Nothing replaces old vines, beautiful farming, precision to know what to do and adapt each year at harvest and during winemaking, and then let time for each wine to find its balance... you could tell the synergy between the Savagnin vert, the marls and the hands of Jean-François ... real terroir wines! Who does this today?"

She concluded: "The tasting was incredible, definitely a once in a lifetime experience knowing the scarcity of the wines."