Savagnin

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The Poligny domaine's Chateau-Chalon, made only from Savagnin, as the appellation requires. Badoz describes its Vin Jaune range as six years in oak under a yeast veil that gives the colour and the walnut, hazelnut, almond and spice character.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Baud's bottling from the Chateau-Chalon appellation, where Vin Jaune is the only wine permitted. The domaine describes long veil ageing giving walnut, curry and spice, and treats it as the flagship of its range.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The ninth-generation Le Vernois family's Cotes du Jura Vin Jaune, which the domaine says is aged at length under the veil to develop its walnut, curry and spice character. Dry, oxidative, and sold in the 62 cl clavelin.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Vin Jaune from the Chateau-Chalon appellation: Savagnin held six years under its yeast veil on Lias marl, oxidative and saline, and served by the domaine at 14 degrees with smoked haddock, snails, cream and morel dishes and Comte.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Savoury

The domaine's entry into the sous voile style: Chardonnay with 30 percent Savagnin, two years under the veil on gravel and marl, dry and savoury rather than fruity, with a 30 year cellar life on the producer's own reckoning.

Sweet · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

A dried-grape sweet wine: bunches left on spruce racks for three to four months before a slow press, then three years of ageing split between cask and tank. Poured at 10 degrees over foie gras, dark chocolate or blue cheese.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Organic and Demeter-certified Savagnin off the blue-grey Lias marl of Chateau-Chalon, seven to eight years under the veil with a third lost to evaporation. Bourdy describes a deep golden robe, an intense nose and a long finish on walnut, curry and green apple. Residual sugar under 20 mg per litre.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury · Contemplative

Bourdy's Cotes du Jura Savagnin given the same seven to eight year veil ageing as the domaine's Chateau-Chalon: bright golden yellow, powerful, walnut-dominant and long. Sulphites under 20 mg per litre.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Low acidity · Rustic · Savoury

Two thirds unfermented must blended with one third Marc du Jura, which halts fermentation and leaves a lightly syrupy, naturally sweet mistelle at 145 grams of residual sugar. Bourdy notes fresh grape with ripe fruit and prune, the marc rounding rather than biting.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Savoury

A shorter veil ageing than the domaine's Vin Jaune, two to four years rather than seven, which Bourdy says gives a bright yellow robe with golden glints and an assertive Jura character of walnut and curry at a lighter 13 percent.

Sweet · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Savagnin off grey marl and Poulsard off red marl, dried in bunches for three to four months and pressed to a trickle. Bourdy records 102 grams of residual sugar and an amber wine of honey, ripe and candied fruit.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The cooperative's Chateau-Chalon, hand-picked off south and southwest slopes and given six years under the veil. The Byards note walnut, curry and saffron, and ask for the bottle to be opened at least an hour ahead and served at 15 to 16 degrees.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Savoury

The cooperative's house blend of the two Jura whites, which it describes as the power of Savagnin set against the elegance of Chardonnay for a balanced wine with real keeping potential.

Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Savoury

Old-vine Savagnin in the domaine's still white range rather than its veil-aged Jaunes: Clavelin describes a deep golden robe, a nose full of flowers with vanilla touches, and a balanced, warm palate of green walnut, blond tobacco and gingerbread.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Savagnin picked at the edge of overripeness and held six years under the veil. Clavelin records a pale golden robe, a complex nose of fresh walnut and morel, and a powerful palate of green apple and walnut closing on vanilla and exotic fruit.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Four grapes dried until Christmas, when 100 kg of fruit yields only 15 to 18 litres of must. Fermentation stops around 15 or 16 degrees with sugar left. Clavelin notes a bright golden robe, intense fresh-grape aromatics and a palate of toast, candied fruit and a touch of caramel.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Vin Jaune from blue Lias marl, held six years and three months sous voile: the domaine describes a bright yellow robe and a harmonious, complex palate of grilled almond and walnut with surprising intensity and length.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

The topped-up, non-oxidative face of Savagnin: casks refilled through the year so the grape's own fruit stays in front. Credoz records a golden robe, a complex nose of dried fruit and white flowers, and a sweet-almond close. This is not a veil-aged wine and carries none of the nutty oxidative character of Vin Jaune.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Chardonnay, Savagnin and Poulsard raisined on wooden racks until four fifths of the water is gone, then three years in cask. Credoz describes a bright copper robe with fig and apricot, served at 8 to 10 degrees.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

A Pupillin family bottling Savagnin grown inside the Chateau-Chalon appellation. The domaine describes a pleasant, frank attack running long on walnut, and calls the finesse and subtlety of the cru the equal of its expectations. Served at 15 to 17 degrees.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Three grapes dried for months in open air, pressed to just 17 litres per 100 kg and then three years in oak. The domaine records a superbly amber, bright copper robe with fig, apricot and dried currant. Served at 8 to 9 degrees.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Nathalie and Emmanuel Grand describe their veil-aged whites as the identity of the house, made by the Grand and Morin families for ten generations. The veil gives walnut, almond and spice, and the Chateau-Chalon takes the full seven years.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

A south-facing hillside of grey marl that Nathalie Grand planted with her parents 25 years ago. This is Savagnin in its ouille form, topped up and never allowed a veil, so the primary aromatics of the grape come through in what the domaine calls a crystalline expression. Drink now or forget for a decade.

Sweet · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Rare and concentrated, from grapes dried for months on racks before a delicate press and a slow fermentation. The domaine's own note runs to candied fruit, mushroom, honey, tobacco, fig and cocoa.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The Arbois cooperative's Cotes du Jura Vin Jaune, six years and three months sous voile. The house note runs golden yellow with a complex, powerful nose, and a palate of the same power and persistence but finer and more restrained than its Arbois bottling. Open 24 hours ahead if you can.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The Pupillin cooperative explains the arithmetic plainly: 228 litres go into the cask, a third evaporates over six years and three months under the veil, and the 62 cl clavelin is what is left of one litre of Savagnin. Harvest runs late, sometimes to All Saints. Open it 24 hours ahead.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury

The domaine calls this the little brother of its Vin Jaune: the same Savagnin under the same yeast veil, but bottled after a shorter ageing, with fresh walnut and curry aromas at a lower price and in a standard 75 cl bottle.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The Arbois Vin Jaune of a domaine that sells from two tasting rooms in the town, Savagnin aged oxidatively for more than six years under the veil and bottled in the 62 cl clavelin. The house describes the range's veil character as fresh walnut and curry.

Sweet · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

The domaine notes that straw wine is one of the Jura's flagship styles and accounts for about 1 percent of its vineyard. Poulsard, Chardonnay and Savagnin dried before pressing, giving candied fruit and honey in a 37.5 cl bottle.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Medium acidity · Savoury · Easygoing

A Chardonnay and Savagnin blend the estate pitches as the middle path: not so marked by the Jura for a newcomer, not so classical that it bores an enthusiast. The domaine says the job is dosing the finesse of Chardonnay against the power of Savagnin.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury · Contemplative

The estate is blunt about this one: vinified in its original form, Savagnin is a wine you either adore or reject. Several years under the veil with no topping up give what the domaine calls incomparable heady notes of walnut and spice for a white wine.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The estate describes a wine that starts as a classic fruity white and turns, over six and a half years on blue and black marl Savagnin, into something else entirely. No topping up, a veil of yeast on the surface, and an intensity the domaine warns can wrong foot a first time drinker.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Low acidity · Rustic · Savoury

A mistelle rather than a fortified wine: the Savagnin juice is muted with marc before it can ferment, which is the whole Macvin method. The estate blends two thirds must to one third marc, ages the result in oak and bottles a year on.

Sweet · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

A blend of Poulsard, Chardonnay and Savagnin dried for weeks on racks. The estate describes a golden to amber robe, candied apricot and quince, honey, dried fruit, soft spice and beeswax, and a rich, unctuous palate held up by an acid freshness that keeps it from turning heavy.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Biodynamic Savagnin off blue Lias marl cropped at 15 hl per hectare and held seven years under the veil. La Pinte records a golden robe, a very complex nose of walnut and candied fruit lifted by a note of marc, and a palate surprising in its power and aromatic persistence.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Late-picked Savagnin from grey and blue Lias marl, six years and three months under the veil. Ligier describes a deep golden robe, a nose of fresh walnut, spice, almond and green apple, and a powerful palate with fine acidity and exceptional persistence. Open two hours ahead and serve at 14 to 16 degrees.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

Ligier's topped-up Savagnin, made expressly as the counterpoint to its veil-aged tradition bottling: the casks are refilled through ageing to keep minerality and aromatic freshness rather than developing nut and curry. Served lightly cool at 12 degrees.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Low acidity · Rustic · Savoury

Unfermented Savagnin must stopped with a third of Marc de Franche-Comte and given two years in cask, reaching 18 degrees. Ligier describes an amber robe, a fine complex nose and a frank attack where marc and sugar meet on quince and spice.

Sweet · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Picked at the very start of harvest and raisined until late winter, the fermentation stopping around 14 to 16 degrees with sugar left. Ligier records an amber robe with orange glints, an open nose of candied fruit, wax and honey, and a concentrated palate closing on prune and dried apricot. Half bottles only.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury · Elegant

Chardonnay with a little Savagnin off marl and stony ground scattered with crinoid fossils, four to five years in cask while a veil slowly forms. The domaine describes roundness and finesse with a pronounced expression of site, and calls it a wine for long keeping.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

A single plot interplanted with Savagnin and Chardonnay by Jean Gros in 1970, picked and vinified together. The domaine says co-fermenting and co-ageing the two grapes sharpens minerality and salinity, and the wine can be served chilled as an aperitif.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Vin Jaune from the small L'Etoile appellation, Savagnin picked late off grey and blue Lias marl at 40 hl per hectare and left under the veil for more than six years. The domaine records walnut, spice and vanilla, elegance and harmony, and calls it a wine for long keeping.

Sweet · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

It takes 130 kg of grapes to make 20 litres here, and the domaine bottles only five or six hectolitres in a good year. Honey-coloured, with complex walnut, honey and quince aromatics and a suave, very long palate balanced between alcohol and sugar.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Mouillard's Chateau-Chalon comes off the appellation's own vines and spends at least six years sous voile, the evaporation the domaine calls the angels' share accounting for the 62 cl clavelin. Served at 16 degrees.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Savoury · Elegant

A Chardonnay and Savagnin blend from the small L'Etoile appellation, bottled after two years in cask. The domaine records a powerful nose of green almond and dried fruit, and serves it at 12 to 14 degrees.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Low acidity · Rustic · Savoury

A mistelle, not a wine fermented and then fortified: one third aged Marc du Jura to two thirds fresh must straight off the press, rested a year in cask. Mouillard reports mirabelle and cooked prune, and serves it chilled.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Elegant · Contemplative

The Grand Curoulet parcel sits on grey and variegated marl, which the domaine credits for the richness and mineral drive of this Savagnin. Topped up throughout its sixteen months in cask, so it is not an oxidative wine, with an overnight skin soak on a third of the crop adding texture.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Funky · Savoury

Created in 2018 and vinified like a red: several days on the skins, then a year in barrel. The domaine says the skin contact gives extra structure while keeping the tension of its Savagnin.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

Ouille means topped up: the barrels are kept full, no veil of yeast forms, and the wine stays fresh and precise rather than oxidative. The domaine has made it since the estate began and calls it a lively, precise reading of Savagnin.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury · Contemplative

Started in 2016, this is the estate's oxidative Savagnin short of Vin Jaune: three years under the veil rather than six and a quarter, never topped up. The domaine describes a cuvee that keeps freshness alongside the aromatic complexity of oxidative Savagnin.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The domaine's first Vin Jaune, started in 2016. Six years and three months under the yeast veil with the cask never topped up, in a cellar deliberately left open to ventilation and temperature swings, then the 62 cl clavelin. The estate promises high complexity and a long life.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury · Contemplative

Savagnin blanc and Savagnin jaune interplanted in the En Boivin parcel, five years under the veil. Pignier says its cool cellars give the veil fineness and complexity, and the wine develops the hazelnut and walnut register typical of the Jura without tipping into oxidation.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Demeter-certified Savagnin from the Val de Valliere reculee, seven years under the veil in cellars that date from the thirteenth century. Pignier records a golden robe, a fine powerful nose of dried fruit and citrus, and a palate where walnut returns with spice over great length.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

From the Chagnon parcel between Montigny and Les Arsures on a southwest exposure, hand-picked at the very end of harvest at maximum ripeness because Savagnin runs late. Six years and three months under the veil. Rolet asks for 16 degrees, uncorked two hours ahead, and gives it 20 years and more.

Dry · Light-bodied · High acidity · Festive · Refreshing

An unusually broad blend for the appellation: half Chardonnay, a tenth Savagnin and the remaining 40 percent shared between Pinot Noir, Trousseau and Poulsard, from vines across both Arbois and Cotes du Jura. Whole bunches pressed, a year on lattes, served cold at around 8 degrees. Brut in dosage, dry on the palate.

Dry · Full-bodied · Medium acidity · Savoury · Contemplative

An openly oxidative blend: nine topped up months apart, then fifteen months together with no topping up under the veil. Chardonnay comes off clay parcels such as Le Moulin and En Chagnon and limestone ones such as Sauvagny and Chevrettes, the Savagnin off Trias clay. Walnut, white flowers, spice and a celery note.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Drawn from 1.32 hectare of Trias clay at Les Bruyeres and La Vasee, vines planted between 1941 and 1976. Six years under the veil with no topping up, then the 62 cl clavelin. The estate notes walnut, spice and vanilla, and a palate it calls almost atypically unctuous.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Low acidity · Savoury · Rustic

Half Bajocien limestone and half Lias clay. The must is muted with marc before it can ferment, which is what separates a mistelle from a fortified wine, and the liqueur then rests two years in cask. The estate describes a powerful nose and a suave palate on spice notes.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

The domaine has been topping up its Savagnin since 1994 and states the point plainly: this is a savagnin ouille, therefore not oxidative. Grey marl, 35 to 40 hl per hectare, wild yeast and no sulphur, the aim being the minerality of Savagnin on marl rather than the nut and curry of a veil-aged wine. Served at 12 degrees.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Savoury · Contemplative

Pure Savagnin given three years under the veil, which the domaine describes as delicately spiced on the nose, powerful and mineral on the palate, and closing on fresh walnut. Served at 14 to 16 degrees.

Dry · Full-bodied · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Savagnin grown only on Lias marl and picked past 13 potential degrees, then six years minimum under the veil. Vandelle describes a yellow robe and a powerful nose of walnut, curry and ginger, and calls it a keeping wine that holds its virtues for more than a century.

Dry · Medium-bodied · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

The domaine's one openly topped-up cuvee, 100 percent Savagnin off the white marl of the Chainai lieu-dit and kept a year in refilled cask. Vandelle records a white-flower nose and an iodine, powerful palate with citrus notes, none of the nutty veil character of its other Savagnins. Served at 10 to 12 degrees.