Savagnin, Jura
Here’s a quick write-up on one of our favourite white grapes, Savagnin. Savagnin hails from Jura in North-eastern France, just south of Burgundy and very close to the Swiss border. It’s a luscious, bucolic, meadow-y region rife with buttercups and happy cows. Read on.
5 facts on Savagnin:
Savagnin is an indigenous variety that’s unique to the Jura with a pre-historic, mythical status.
It’s a ‘founder variety’ and its genes have bred three world famous offspring: Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Grüner Veltliner.
It’s an intense, powerful, muscular white wine: it can be bone dry with electric acidity and yet fully-ripe, broad-shouldered, rich and generous on the palate at the same time.
Savagnin Ouillé means that the barrel in which in the wine is ageing is routinely ‘topped up’ to keep it as full as possible thus minimising any contact with air and preventing oxidation. This protects the wine against the development of acetaldehyde - a chemical compound with an acrid aroma and flavour.
Savagnin is the grape that makes the renowned Vin Jaune - a buttery, salty, oxidized wine which famously pairs well with Comté cheese (which also hails from the Jura).
3 pairings for Savagnin:
Pumpkin & Baron Bigod fondue.
Baron Bigod is a soft cheese made here in Suffolk with raw milk from free-ranging Montebeliarde cows. This unique breed of cow originates from Jura… Well - what grows together goes together! Jura’s Savagin is a wonderfully old-fashioned tasting wine - it’s citrusy, apple-y and floral, with crisp acidity, and a pleasingly rich, even oily in texture which is a very good match, body for body, with the creamy fondue.
Roasted fennel, comte & radicchio pie.
Along with Savagnin, Comté is a famous export of the Jura - its buttercup yellow hue and astoundingly delicious flavour profile are famous the world over. It’s fruity, nutty and savoury all and once, with a sweet & salty back-and-forth on the palate. All of this is echoed in an aged bottle of Savagnin.
The best damn roasted cod you can imagine.
Much like Savagnin this dish has a fantastic sweet/salty tension. It’s got a rich, generous texture on the palate, much like the wine itself, thanks to the meaty cod that’s dressed with plenty of olive oil and waxy pine nuts. And finally, both the dish and the wine have a vibrant acidity.