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Domaine L'Aigle À Deux Têtes

Henri Le Roy farms 3.5 hectares of limestone-rich white and grey-blue marl in the southern Jura, making topped-up, native-yeast wines led by Les Clous Poulsard, a pale 100% Poulsard red from a south-facing parcel.

The producer

Domaine L'Aigle À Deux Têtes is Henri Le Roy's 3.5-hectare estate in the southern Jura, with parcels around Grusse and Vincelles planted on limestone-rich white and grey-blue marls. Le Roy studied oenology in Beaune, made his first vintage in 2005, and now works with native yeasts, topped-up ouillé vinification, and sulfur dioxide added only at bottling. Herbicides have been absent for more than a decade, although the estate does not hold formal certification.

Les Clous Poulsard 2023 is a dry 100% Poulsard from a south-facing parcel planted in 2010 at 250 to 280 metres. Its pale colour, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, floral and forest-floor notes, bright acidity, subtle reduction, measured grip and plush mouthfeel lead to a lively, salivating finish at 13% alcohol. The stated drinking period is 2025 to 2035.

Known for

Ouillé vinification with native yeasts and sulfur dioxide only at bottling, paired with herbicide-free farming and Poulsard from Les Clous.

Notable facts

The story

A Beaune Student and a First Jura Vintage

In 2004, while studying oenology in Beaune, Henri Le Roy bought a few scattered Jura parcels around Rotalier and Grusse. He had left a career as a Parisian biologist and geneticist to pursue winemaking in the southern Jura. Soon after, a meeting with Jean-François Ganevat shifted his approach toward non-oxidative winemaking. Le Roy made his first vintage in 2005. The choice can be traced in the cellar built from those early parcels: vessels are topped up during vinification, native yeasts carry fermentation, and sulfur dioxide is added only at bottling. A student in Beaune became the owner of a small Jura estate, with the first harvest following one year after the parcels were bought.

From the atlas

Domaine L'Aigle À Deux Têtes

At A Glance

Henri Le Roy farms 3.5 hectares in the southern Jura, with parcels around Grusse and Vincelles on limestone-rich white and grey-blue marls. His cellar uses topped-up, or ouillé, vinification with native yeasts and sulfur dioxide added only at bottling. The clearest documented bottle is Les Clous Poulsard 2023, a pale, dry red from a south-facing Poulsard parcel planted in 2010.

The Producer

Domaine L'Aigle À Deux Têtes is Henri Le Roy's small southern Jura estate, built from scattered parcels around Grusse and Vincelles. Its most clearly documented wine, Les Clous Poulsard, links a local grape to a named marl parcel and a cellar method designed to limit oxidative contact. The bottle is light in colour, bright in acidity and carried by red fruit rather than weight.

Le Roy studied oenology in Beaune, bought Jura parcels in 2004 and made his first vintage in 2005. The estate now produces about 15,000 bottles in a favourable growing vintage, and regularly fewer than 10,000. That scale keeps the range close to the vineyards, with each documented bottle carrying a specific place and grape instead of a broad industrial blend.

The name reaches further back than the domaine itself. L'Aigle À Deux Têtes refers to the Habsburg Two-Headed Eagle crest associated with the Jura frontier from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. A historical emblem sits on a young estate whose wine style follows a deliberately fresh, non-oxidative path.

Place

Grusse and Vincelles place the domaine in the southern Jura, where white and grey-blue marls are rich in limestone. Those soils are described as giving the plantings a firm, saline edge, a useful contrast to the generous red-fruit character of Poulsard. The documented bottle is named Les Clous Poulsard, joining parcel and grape in the label rather than relying on a stated village classification.

The grape is Poulsard, a red variety presented here in a wine so clear that it could pass for rosé. At 13% alcohol, Les Clous Poulsard carries strawberry, raspberry and floral aromas while bright acidity keeps the palate dry and mobile.

Soil And Site

Les Clous is a south-facing parcel planted entirely to Poulsard in 2010. The vines sit on blue-grey and white marl at 250 to 280 metres elevation. Exposure, marl and the thinly coloured grape meet in the glass as a red wine with lifted fruit, visible freshness and a lighter visual register than its red-wine label suggests.

The available record does not establish comparable soil or parcel detail for every other cuvée. Les Clous therefore remains the estate's most specific vineyard reference, with its grape, planting date, aspect, elevation and marl soils all documented together.

Story

The estate's arc runs from a historic name to a modern cellar choice. Le Roy named the domaine after the Habsburg eagle that once marked the Jura frontier, then developed wines around ouillé vinification, native fermentation and limited sulfur use. Topping up the vessels reduces oxidative contact during élevage, so the red fruit and acidity of Poulsard remain central to the finished wine instead of being shaped by deliberate oxidation.

The farming has followed the same quiet direction. Herbicides have not been used for more than a decade, and the rows are tended following organic principles without formal certification. In a domaine producing fewer than 10,000 bottles in many vintages, the choices are carried through a small physical estate rather than spread across a large commercial operation.

Vineyards And Cellar

The vineyard work begins with herbicide-free rows and organic principles, but no formal certification claim is attached to that practice. In the cellar, native yeasts carry fermentation, while ouillé vessels are kept topped up to limit air contact. Sulfur dioxide is added only at bottling. These decisions favour a wine profile built around red fruit, floral lift, bright acidity and a clean, dry finish.

Les Clous receives the most complete vineyard description: 100% Poulsard, planted in 2010, south-facing, and rooted in blue-grey and white marl at 250 to 280 metres. The parcel gives the bottle its pale colour and red-fruited shape, while the cellar keeps the palate lively rather than oxidative.

Wines

Les Clous Poulsard 2023 is the fully documented centre of the range. It is a dry red made from 100% Poulsard, with a colour light enough to resemble rosé, red and purple flowers, bright acidity and measured grip. Raspberry, wild strawberry, redcurrant and forest floor place the fruit in a distinctly Jura register, while the 13% alcohol keeps the wine light on its feet.

The range also includes Les Clous Savagnin Naturé 2023. Its name establishes a separate cuvée, but the available detail does not establish its complete grape treatment, cellar method or tasting profile. Les Clous Poulsard remains the bottle with enough documented vineyard, winemaking and sensory information to describe the estate's range with confidence.

In The Glass

The Poulsard opens with strawberries, cherries and raspberries, followed by red and purple flowers. A small note of reduction sits behind the fruit rather than replacing it. The wine's very clear colour reflects Poulsard's delicate visual register, while the marl-grown fruit gives the aroma a more earthy edge through wild strawberry and forest floor.

On the palate, bright acidity arrives first, bringing lift and a mouth-watering flow. The texture is plush, but measured grip keeps the fruit from feeling soft or sweet. It finishes dry and salivating, with red fruit returning alongside a faint earthy note. The wine's regional rusticity appears in its savoury edge, while the clean fruit and flowing palate keep the whole glass lively and refined.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose Les Clous Poulsard 2023. It comes from the south-facing Les Clous parcel, planted entirely to Poulsard in 2010 on blue-grey and white marl at 250 to 280 metres. In the glass, its 13% alcohol, pale colour, strawberry and raspberry fruit, floral lift and bright acidity show how a red Jura wine can feel vivid without heaviness. The stated drinking period is 2025 to 2035, giving the bottle a useful window from immediate freshness into a more developed expression of its red fruit and earthy notes.

Anecdote

In 2004, while studying oenology in Beaune, Henri Le Roy bought a few scattered parcels around Rotalier and Grusse. A meeting with Jean-François Ganevat then influenced his approach to Jura winemaking, turning him toward a non-oxidative style. Le Roy made his first vintage in 2005. The decision travelled from those early parcels into the cellar, where the wines are topped up during vinification, fermented with native yeasts and given sulfur dioxide only at bottling. A student in Beaune, a handful of southern Jura vines, one influential meeting and a first vintage one year later.

Final Word

Les Clous Poulsard 2023 is the bottle to seek when the appeal is pale-coloured Jura red fruit, bright acidity and a marl-grown savoury edge. Its parcel, grape and cellar method are all clearly documented, and its 2025 to 2035 drinking window gives the wine room to develop without losing its lively shape.

Sources

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