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Jauma

Jauma Why Try So Hard 2020

Price: $33.95
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Tasting notes

Three grapes, three fermentation methods, zero purchased additions — the carbonic Grenache from 80-plus-year-old Lilies vineyard vines gives the Chenin and Muscat blend a pale blush and a burst of raspberry and gooseberry fruit that keeps the whole thing feeling weightless at 11.5% ABV. It is dry, crisp, and stony, with a floral lift from the Muscat à Petit Grain that distinguishes it from any obvious category.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
RaspberryGooseberryGuavaWhite Pepper
  • Style: Skin-contact white-rosé blend; faint blush; aromatic, dry, and stony; 11.5% ABV; crown seal
  • Grapes & Terroir: 70% Chenin Blanc, 20% Muscat a Petit Grain, 10% Grenache; certified organic (NASAA); McLaren Vale; Lilies vineyard 80+ y.o. bush vines on deep white sand over clay
  • Winemaking: Chenin pressed to barrel (10 months); Muscat on skins 2 weeks then barrel (10 months); Grenache carbonic maceration; no additions, no filtration, no sulfur; indigenous yeast
  • Serving: Serve at 48-52F; no decant needed; drink now through 2023
  • Pairing: Pad Thai, prosciutto and arugula flatbread, raw oysters, funky soft cheese, herb-forward salads
  • Similar To: For fans of skin-contact Chenin Blanc or light carbonic Gamay who want something aromatic and zero-zero

Why Try So Hard is Jauma's shape-shifting blend — the name signals that the grapes and vintage dictate the wine, not a house recipe. For 2020, James Erskine landed on 70% Chenin Blanc, 20% Muscat à Petit Grain, and 10% carbonic Grenache from the Lilies vineyard in McLaren Flat, where 80-plus-year-old bush vines grow on deep white sand over clay. The wine carries a faint blush from the Grenache and sits in skin-contact white territory rather than a traditional white or rosé.

Each variety is handled separately. The Chenin is destemmed and pressed directly to barrel, where it ferments for 10 months. The Muscat à Petit Grain is destemmed and left on skins for two weeks before pressing to barrel for a further 10 months. The Grenache undergoes carbonic maceration in a sealed tank — unusually, the CO2 comes not from purchased dry ice but from 50 litres of actively fermenting Chenin added to the vessel, staying true to Jauma's zero-purchased-additions approach. All three components are then blended before bottling under crown seal.

The vineyards are certified organic through NASAA and managed by viticulturist Fiona Wood. No sulfur, no fining agents, no filtration, and no additions of any kind are used at any stage. The result is a wine that reads as dry, aromatic, and lightly textured, with a distinctly fresh and low-alcohol profile at 11.5% ABV.

The wine's bright acidity and aromatic lift make it a natural with pad Thai, prosciutto and arugula flatbread, or anything with fresh herbs and citrus. It also holds up to funky soft cheeses and charcuterie boards where you want freshness without weight. Lightly chilled at around 50F, it works well as an aperitif or alongside raw shellfish.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Orange Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Chenin Blanc, Muscat a Petit Grain, Grenache
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2020
Alcohol:, 11.5%
Country:, Australia
Region:, McLaren Vale
Appellation:, McLaren Vale GI
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


Re-shipping a Package

If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


Re-routing a Package

If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


Canceling an Order

If you'd like to cancel an order after it's been shipped, we can do so upon payment of a small cancellation fee – the amount depends on the size of the order. Carriers charge us a lot of money to recall a package en-route.


Heat/Frost damage

We are not responsible for heat- or frost-related issues. We offer ice-packs upon request. Please let us know if you think that there could be heat-related issues. If we don't hear anything from you regarding weather issues before an order is shipped, or if you don't request a hold due to the weather, we are not responsible for heat/frost damage.


Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

3. Please track your package using the tracking service.

4. The carrier will attempt delivery a maximum of 3 times. After 3 delivery attempts, your package will be sent back to our warehouse.**

*Please ensure your email address is correct; otherwise, you will not receive the order and shipping confirmation emails.

**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Jauma

James Erskine launched Jauma (pronounced 'yow-ma') in 2010 after a decorated career as a sommelier that included winning the Gourmet Traveller Australian Sommelier of the Year award in 2008, placing first in Court of Master Sommelier exams in Melbourne, and holding a Negociants working-with-wine fellowship. He also holds an honours degree in Agricultural Science with a specialisation in soil chemistry, studied at the University of California Davis, and was a founding member of Natural Selection Theory alongside Tom Shobbrook, Anton van Klopper, and Sam Hughes — a collective that helped establish Australia's natural wine movement from 2010 onward. Jauma produces exclusively from organically farmed McLaren Vale fruit and, since 2018, from Erskine's own certified organic farm in Lenswood, Adelaide Hills.

Vineyard management for the McLaren Vale sites is handled by viticulturist Fiona Wood and David Gartelman. The vineyards are certified organic through NASAA; certification requires annual assessment that includes demonstrated social justice practices. Soils across the sourced blocks vary: the Lilies vineyard in McLaren Flat sits on deep white sand over clay with 80-plus-year-old bush vines; the Wood vineyard in Clarendon features grey sand over ironstone with dry-grown, unirrigated vines. Jauma uses compost tea sprays, brewed for 18 to 24 hours with fungi-rich compost, to build leaf and soil biome rather than relying on sulfur and copper sprays.

In the winery, Jauma operates on a strict zero-addition, zero-subtraction philosophy. No sulfur has been added since 2015. No fining agents, no filtration, no commercial yeasts, no acids, no tannins, no preservatives. Fermentation relies on indigenous yeasts present on the fruit. All wines are bottled under crown seal. Why Try So Hard changes composition each vintage; the 2020 saw Chenin Blanc pressed directly to barrel for 10-month fermentation, Muscat à Petit Grain given two weeks of skin contact then pressed to barrel for 10 months, and Grenache fermented carbonically using CO2 generated by actively fermenting Chenin in place of purchased gas.

Wine region

McLaren Vale, Australia

McLaren Vale sits roughly 45 minutes south of Adelaide, bounded by the Gulf St Vincent to the west and the Southern Mount Lofty Ranges to the east and south. The region has a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers, low relative humidity during the growing season, and winter-dominated rainfall of 580 to 700 mm annually. Cooling maritime breezes from the Gulf of St Vincent and gully winds from the Mount Lofty Ranges moderate daytime temperatures, reducing the risk of heat stress in the vineyard. Elevation across the region ranges from near sea level at the coast to around 350 metres in the foothills.

McLaren Vale is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with over 40 distinct soil types ranging from red-brown sandy loams and grey-brown loamy sands to yellow clay subsoils interspersed with limestone, red-black friable loams, and ironstone. The McLaren Vale GI was registered in 1997 and covers 433 square kilometres with approximately 7,438 hectares under vine. Shiraz is the dominant variety, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache, though Mediterranean whites including Fiano, Vermentino, and Chenin Blanc are increasingly planted. Districts within the GI include Blewitt Springs, McLaren Flat, Seaview, and Willunga, each with distinct soil profiles and microclimates.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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