Trousseau

Trousseau is the fuller of the Jura's two native red grapes, the counterpart to the pale and delicate Poulsard. It needs warmth, and in a cool region that restricts it to the best-drained gravel and marl sites, particularly around Arbois and Montigny-lès-Arsures, which is effectively its home village.

The wine is medium-bodied and considerably darker than Poulsard, with red cherry, redcurrant and cranberry over notes of dried herbs, woodsmoke, black pepper and a savoury, gamey, faintly rustic quality. Acidity is high, tannins are moderate and grainy, and the whole is aromatic rather than powerful.

It is often handled with some oxidative character in the Jura manner, which adds a nutty, cider-like note, though many producers now work reductively to keep the fruit clean.

Under the name Bastardo it is grown in Portugal, where it is a minor Port and Douro variety, and it was once significant in Madeira. It also appears in Spain's Canary Islands, and there are small plantings in California made by producers drawn to the Jura style.

It is a genuinely distinctive grape and, like much of the Jura's production, it was obscure until the natural wine movement drew attention to the region in the 2000s. Prices have risen sharply since, and the total planted area remains very small.

Served slightly cool, it sits somewhere between a Loire Cabernet Franc and a light, savoury Pinot Noir.