Jean-François Ganevat

Jean-François Ganevat is not only one of the leading producers in Jura, he is also a role model for many young growers in the region and around the world. He took over from his father in 1998 after a decade of working in Burgundy, and that same year they started the transition to organic and moved to biodynamics in 2006. Today, all of his vineyards are Demeter certified in organic and biodynamic viticulture. Like many of the best growers, he does not use the organic and biodynamic approach in the vineyard as a sales argument and instead does it out of pure conviction. Ganevat works biodynamically and takes vineyard work very seriously. He employs one full-time person per hectare of vineyard, which implies very high running costs. But he does not want to make the wine prices high, even if the secondary market seems to be cashing in on them. He is one of the most revered producers of natural wines; the wines have character and precision, and they are clean and showcase the grapes, soils and vintages faithfully. He's often referred to as 'L’Enfant terrible' from Jura, a name with which he seems quite comfortable and a role he likes to play, being a bad boy. He even has a Poulsard red named precisely Cuvée de L’Enfant Terrible. He likes to joke and be casual, but behind his informal and jovial façade, there is someone with solid knowledge about vineyards and winemaking. He is not a simple peasant; he knows what he is doing, and he is a very smart guy. He works with his sister Anne in the south of the Jura, in the village of Rotalier, which is classified in the appellation Côtes du Jura. They work by soil and variety, marl, limestone and schist and Chardonnay, Savagnin, Pinot Noir, Poulsard and Trousseau (and some of the pre-phylloxera varieties, too), with and without 'flor', so the number of bottlings is very high.

The Ganevat family has been growing vines in Jura for some 400 years, and Jean-François Ganevat is lucky to have inherited some great vineyards from his father. Domaine Ganevat was officially created in 1976 but came to the forefront only after Jean-François, who everybody calls Fanfan, took over completely in 1999. His cellar and (most of the) vineyards are located in the village of Rotalier, in the south of the Jura region. This is a zone that is probably more apt for the production of the more-Burgundian ouillé wines. The zone has less marl and more limestone in the soils, and it's slightly warmer and closer in distance to Burgundy. Ouillé wines are the normal wines in the rest of the world, except in Sherry and a few other places, matured in topped-up barrels and without a veil of yeasts. That's what he learned to do when he studied in Beaune and what he did when he worked in Burgundy as cellar master at the domaine of Jean-Marc Morey in Chassagne-Montrachet, one of the many Moreys making wine in the Côte de Beaune (brother of Bernard Morey) for 10 years. It was what he had in mind to do when he returned to take over the family domaine in 1998. As demand for the Domaine’s wines has outgrown supply, he started a négociant business to produce more wine from purchased grapes. The number of labels has exploded. His range of regular Jura wines is also growing, and it's sometimes not easy to differentiate a Domaine from a négoce bottling; in some cases, it might even be the same appellation. The Domaine wines are always labeled “Domaine Ganevat,” and the négoce wines go under the name “SAS Anne et Jean-François Ganevat,” which is shown on the back labels.