Arbois Vin Jaune

The French don’t like not having a particular style of wine in their repertoire, and one famous international style that isnt produced in France is that of sherry – a deliberately oxidised, fortified wine.
What the French do have up their sleeve however is a little gem that goes by the name of Vin Jaune…

Literally translating to ‘yellow wine’, Vin Jaune is an idiosyncratic wine from one of France’s smallest regions, the Jura.

Here, the native white grape variety Savagnin is picked relatively ripe and then the juice is aged in oak barrels for a minimum of six and a half years before being bottled.

Oak barrels are slightly porous, so the wine actually evaporates out through the wood over this long period of time, and oxygen sneaks in to fill the space left by the wine.

The wine thus slowly oxidises and takes on seriously nutty and salty characters.
These wines are like nothing else – intense, powerful, dry and yet still with plenty of acidity. A great match for hard cheeses (especially Comté, another Jura speciality!), it should be experienced once in your life!