Thomas Popy

Thomas Popy's internship resume is a who's who of vin nature legacy: Michel Guignier, Emmanuel Houillon, and perhaps most importantly Julie Balagny, the latter who first showed Thomas the beauties of natural vinification. Originally from the Beaujolais, Thomas now lives in Mesnay, a village just outside the Jurassic epicenter of Arbois, and has been cultivating grapes and making wine there since 2015. I recently had dinner in the Jura with Thomas and his US importer Lexie Jordan, a Friday evening at Auberge de Bellevie that turned into what I would imagine as one of the bigger ragers in the area that night. It was one of those soirées with a potent combination of guests that could only lead to more and more wine as the night progressed; the current winemakers of Les Jardins de la Martiniere, Japanese importer Kisho Mizu and his crew, students from the local vin nature-leaning école, and of course myself. It was early on my trip to France and I was admittedly ready to go. The cellar at Bellevie only enabled things further. Over a beautiful dinner cooked by the Australian chef Byron Fini and a couple of bottles by Julien Labet and Arnaud Greiner, Thomas maintained his enigmatic presence towards me, but showcased a specific kind of flattened dark humor that resonated. Popy has a kind of Charlie Hebdo caricature look about himself, with a cryptic smile that doesn't tell you too much about what he’s thinking. Though when I asked him about what the toad on his labels meant, he launched into an impassioned monologue about the importance of polycultures, the toad being a symbol of this for him. Inspired by Balagny’s En Remont parcel, Sous la Roche is a similar kind of ecological haven to the land that produced our favorite cuvée of Julie’s. About his own wines, Thomas didn't seem to say much, but when he opened a magnum of his 2015 Sous la Roche Maldru—his first wine—words just simply weren't necessary, and I was stopped in my tracks. While in my opinion completely stunning as a topped-up Savagnin, the 2015 probably isn't ready to most palates, and maintains a boxy kind of sensation on the palate, as opposed to 2018's more orb-like and crystalline feel. 2018 is a near perfect wine, and an example of what happens when all the stars align during a healthy harvest in the hands of a winemaker with an approach towards making artful wines. While 2018 is thought of as a hot and troubled vintage in France, there is no sign of that in this cuvée. What first feels like fresh spring water opens up in both aromatics and mouth feel to reveal a lucid and energetic balm full of lemon and wild herbs on top of a deep minerality, and a sense of classic-style ouillage that could only come from wines of this caliber made in the Jura.

One per customer, and please bear in mind that Thomas' wines are produced in tiny quantities and extremely limited, and procuring them is a dark art unto itself. If you'd like to purchase a bottle, I ask that you also purchase at least five other bottles from the site. Thank you for understanding.

Sous la Roche Maldru 2018
Savagnin
$120