Ratapoil is a local slang word for an amateur vigneron, and while Raphaël Monnier may have started off that way, he has since earned his keep as one of the most well-respected professional winemakers around, producing fabulous examples of the singular Jura wines that we have come to love from the region. Nevertheless, the dilettantish spirit of the term still applies to his wines today, and they remain as lively and playful as ever. Domaine Ratapoil owes its existence to decades of experience that Raphaël undertook as a passionate lover of all things wine. While still a full-time history teacher, a profession he maintained into the 2010s, he began a small negociant project with fellow Jura winemaker Jean-Baptiste Menigoz of Les Bottes Rouges. (In a coincidental aside, he was a high school teacher of Max Lannay of Domaine des Barbatruks, which we learned only once we started importing wines from both). In 2009, Domaine Ratapoil was launched on 2 ha around a farmhouse in Arc-et-Senans. Raphaël is installed just north of Arbois in the neighboring Doubs region - home to some of the most unique terroir and topography in the Jura.

Today, he has pieced together 5 ha of vines dotted around the region, centered around his farmhouse home. His cellar is built into the side of the house, and its modest size ensures the (unfortunately) tiny quantities that Raphaël manages to produce. Not that we want Raphaël to push his production capacities any further in the first place, the quality of the wines speaks for itself.

Raphaël adheres to certified organic farming with additional biodynamic principles. He is a bit unique in the Jura for producing more red wine than white. The vines in Doubs are grown on calcareous soils with veins of Kimmeridgian limestone (the same soils found in Champagne and Chablis), a soil type not found in neighboring Arbois, which gives his wines a distinct character. Raphaël also prides himself on his work to revive ancient, practically extinct varieties from the Jura that were once banished from Arbois but found a home in Raphaël’s unique vineyards. The reds are de-stemmed and see short, infusion-style macerations under carbonic gas. The white wines, which come from vines in Vadans, between Arbois and Poligny, are mostly produced in the topped-up style. His intuitive approach to winemaking lends itself to deceptively complex results. These are truly stunning wines indeed.