2024 L'Abeille et le Papillon

Jintaro Yura is originally from Japan and one of the biggest shooting stars in Alsace. His production might be tiny, but the potential of his wines is enormous.

After several years as a sommelier, Jintaro sought new experiences in the world of wine with stops in New Zealand, Japan and Burgundy, until he found his way to Gueberschwihr in Alsace in 2012, where he worked for a number of organic domaines. His accumulated experiences resulted in his impressive debut vintage 2020, which he released with the help of Vincent Gross of Domaine Gross and with a production of only 2000 bottles.

Jintaro buys the grapes from local organic certified farmers, who he has built a strong relationship with. For now, he works with Riesling, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir, but his dream is to acquire a few hectares to make his own single vineyard cuvées.

In the cellar, Jintaro works without filtration or added yeasts. During the aging of the wine, he often uses bâttonage (i.e. stirring of the lees), a practice often seen in Burgundy, but not particularly widespread in Alsace. Aging primarily takes place in old barrels, typically between 225-500 litres, but he also has steel tanks and cement containers in his modest cellar.

Jintaro Yura’s Japanese purity and precision is clearly expressed in his extremely balanced wines, and there is no doubt that these wines have great aging potential.