Ganevat Savagnin Le Clos 2020
95,90 €
| Year | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Ganevat |
| Typology | White Wine |
| Format | 75 Cl |
| Origin | Francia |
| Regione | |
| Grape Variety | Savagnin |
| Magazzino |
Savagnin Le Clos 2020 – Anne et Jean-François Ganevat
From a single south-facing parcel, old Savagnin vines on marl and limestone scree: Le Clos 2020 is the mineral, taut Jura according to Ganevat.
Overview
Savagnin Le Clos 2020 is a pure Savagnin from old vines, made by Anne et Jean-François Ganevat, in the Arbois AOC. Unlike the Jura’s oxidative Savagnins, it is an “ouillé” wine, vinified with the barrels kept constantly topped up to preserve its freshness and brightness, in the Burgundian style that made Fanfan famous. It is born from a single south-facing parcel, sheltered from cold winds, which gives the wine tension and deep minerality. It is a dry, saline white of rare intensity, made in tiny quantities and with an ageing potential measured in decades.
The story of the wine
“Le Clos” is the name of the parcel from which this wine comes, a plot of old Savagnin that Ganevat vinifies separately to capture its identity. The cuvée carries the “Anne et Jean-François Ganevat” signature and represents the modern, luminous style the vigneron set against the Jura’s oxidative tradition. Trained in Burgundy as cellar master at Jean-Marc Morey, Ganevat brought the logic of the cru and the practice of ouillage, topping up the barrels, to the Jura, in order to produce taut, precise whites. Le Clos reaches the market only after long ageing, a sign of the patience that defines the whole estate.
Philosophy in the vineyard
The old vines of Le Clos are rooted in a terroir of grey marl covered with limestone scree, on a south-facing parcel protected from cold winds, a condition that gives the wine tension and marked minerality. Ganevat works biodynamically, with very low yields and a strictly manual harvest, following the almost obsessive care he devotes to every plot. Savagnin, the Jura’s signature white variety, is late-ripening and rich in acidity, qualities that allow it to withstand long ageing while keeping its nerve and freshness. For Fanfan, it is in the vineyard that the greatness of a wine like this is built.
Approach in the cellar and grape varieties
The variety is pure Savagnin. The hand-harvested grapes undergo direct pressing and ferment spontaneously with indigenous yeasts only. The wine then ages for over three years on its fine lees in neutral demi-muids, with regular topping up that prevents oxidation and preserves the fresh, mineral style. Bottling takes place without fining, without filtration and with no added sulfur, leaving a slight, entirely natural deposit. The result is a vertical, deep Savagnin, where the minerality of the terroir stays centre stage and the freshness is never compromised.
Tasting notes
Colour: bright, luminous gold, the result of the long ageing on the lees.
Nose: complex and precise, on blood orange, candied quince and toasted almond, with verbena, star anise, citrus and a smoky note.
Palate: dry, voluminous and intensely mineral, with white flowers, sweet spices, almond and honey, iodized nuances and a very long finish with the classic salinity of Savagnin.
Food pairings
A gastronomic, powerful white, best served cool. It shines with rich shellfish such as lobster and scallops, with turbot and fish in creamy sauces. It is perfect with chicken in vin jaune sauce with morels, with Alpine cheeses starting with Comté and with dishes built around walnuts and mushrooms. Its structure and minerality also make it ideal with flavourful, lightly spiced cuisines.
Technical sheet
- Producer: Anne et Jean-François Ganevat (Domaine Ganevat, Rotalier)
- Appellation: Arbois AOC, France (one retailer lists it as Côtes du Jura, to be confirmed on the label)
- Type: Natural white wine, non-oxidative ouillé style
- Grapes: Pure Savagnin
- Farming: Organic and biodynamic
- Winemaking: Direct pressing, spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts, over three years on the lees in neutral demi-muids with regular topping up, unfined, unfiltered
- Alcohol: 12% vol. (figure from a retailer source; to be confirmed on the label)
- Serving temperature: 12–14 °C (recommended for this style of mineral white; not a producer figure)
- Sulfites: Contains sulfites, no added sulfites
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Jean-François Ganevat (Domaine Ganevat)
Fourteen generations, just over a dozen hectares and more than forty different cuvées every year: Domaine Ganevat is the beating heart of natural wine in the Jura.
The story
Jean-François Ganevat, known to everyone as “Fanfan”, is the fourteenth generation of a winegrowing family rooted in Rotalier, in the hamlet of La Combe, in the southern Jura. The estate’s sources trace the family’s viticulture back to 1650, when grape-growing went hand in hand with a dairy that produced milk for Comté cheese until 1976. After years of apprenticeship at his father’s side, Jean-François trained at the oenology school in Beaune and became cellar master at one of Chassagne-Montrachet’s most prestigious estates, Jean-Marc Morey, in Burgundy. It was there that he developed his devotion to Chardonnay and to single-parcel winemaking. In 1998 he returned to the Jura to take over the family cellar, converting it to organics immediately and to biodynamics from 2006. Today he works alongside his sister Anne. In little more than two decades he has turned a small rural estate into one of the most revered names in the world for natural wine lovers.
Philosophy in the vineyard
Ganevat considers vineyard work by far the most important part of his craft, and proves it with almost obsessive numbers: one person per hectare to ensure that his biodynamic farming is carried out to perfection. The vines climb the marl and limestone slopes around La Combe, between 300 and 400 metres of altitude, on a mosaic of soils that shifts from one parcel to the next. Many vines are over fifty years old, some more than a century, with historic plots dating back to the early 1900s. No herbicides, no synthetic chemistry, extremely low yields and strictly manual harvesting. Alongside the Jura’s classic varieties, Chardonnay, Savagnin, Poulsard, Trousseau and Pinot Noir, Ganevat stubbornly safeguards dozens of almost-forgotten native grape varieties, such as Béclan, Enfariné and Portugais Bleu, rescuing them from extinction. Each parcel is tended and vinified separately, following a micro-terroir logic he brought back from Burgundy.
Approach in the cellar
In the cellar the rule is simple: intervene as little as possible and let the terroir speak. Fermentations start spontaneously, with indigenous yeasts only, and are famously long. For his Chardonnay and Savagnin whites, Ganevat favours the Burgundian “ouillage” style, with barrels kept constantly topped up, to bring luminosity and elegance where the Jura would choose oxidation, without entirely renouncing the traditional sous voile style. Ageing lasts two years or more in old demi-muids and neutral barrels, sometimes in amphorae or large casks. For his Pinot Noir, Trousseau and Poulsard reds, he destems completely and then ferments whole berries in the old way, with a carbonic-style maceration close to Beaujolais, before ageing in neutral wood. Sulfur is used in minimal doses, or none at all depending on the vintage, a choice that explains the purity, transparency and energy that make these wines instantly recognisable.
Style, cuvées and the négoce
The most disorienting trait of Ganevat is the sheer number of labels: often more than forty different cuvées every vintage, each with a precise identity. The domaine wines, with their two-part labels, come only from the oldest estate vineyards and culminate in icons such as Les Grands Teppes and Les Chalasses Vieilles Vignes, up to the legendary Les Vignes de Mon Père, a Savagnin aged for around ten years from vines his father planted in 1930, among the rarest and most expensive wines of the Jura. To defend against the frosts that regularly devastate the harvests, in 2013 Jean-François and Anne launched a négoce line under the name “Anne et Jean-François Ganevat”, with grapes leased or bought from growers in the Jura and other French regions, from Burgundy to Beaujolais and Alsace. It is this dual track, an extremely rare domaine alongside a more accessible négoce, that has made Ganevat a cult name on the wine lists of the world’s best restaurants.