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96 WA.
"My favourite Savagnin year in, year out is the 2012 Côtes du Jura Savagnin les Chalasses Marnes Bleues, which is produced from old vines planted on the most appreciated soil in the region, blue marl, aged for two years in demi-muid. This is a subtle, mineral, sharp, focused white even at this tender age, and it showed great despite the fact that it had just been bottled. The palate is both spherical and linear, sharp and round, incredibly mineral and tasty with high, citric acidity. It coats your palate and then cleanses it with the lively acidity; it is ideal for the table. Complex, mineral, powerful and elegant. A world-class white. Brutal! I believe I first drunk a bottle of Ganevat at the cult wine bar/restaurant Le Baratin, in Paris years ago, and then had the luck to find some of his 2004, 2005 and 2006s in a shop in Madrid. He has now become a star and his wines are highly allocated and sought after by fans all over the world. Jean-François Ganevat is the modern star of the Jura. Demand for his wines outgrows supply and his costs are high, but on the other hand, he doesn't want to put the prices up, so the solution is to increase volumes. With the vineyards he has, the way is to purchase grapes and to start a new négociant line of wines. That's how, for the first time, we see a Château Chalon from Jean-François, who is known as Fanfan. The reds have a more radical/earthy/organic profile and are more of an acquired taste. His ouillé whites from Chardonnay are among the most Burgundian wines from Jura, probably both because of his location and also his past work in Burgundy. The veil-aged wines are very good but do not reach the levels of Macle, Montbourgeau and Puffeney. His strengths are Grands Teppes, Chalasses Marnes Bleues and especially the other worldly Vignes de Mon Père." Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate #221, Oct 2015 |