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Vin Jaune is a wine made from 100% Savagnin grapes, a native Jura grape variety that belongs to the Traminer family and is generally classified as non-aromatic.

It has a thick skin and is resistant to diseases. A late ripener, it is the last grape variety to be harvested in the Jura. 

Its high acidity is stable: it is found in the musts and the wines produced.The acidity helps to preserve the wine’s aromas, gives balance and a very good length.  This is one of the factors that makes Savagnin wine perfectly adapted to this oxidative maturation under the yeast veil and to age in non-topped up barrique for so long afterwards.

After the wine is made and fermentation has finished, the future Vin Jaune is aged in oak barrels, which are not topped up for 6 years and 3 months. The barrel is filled to 98% in order to let a population of yeasts – also saccharomycès cerevisiae – multiply until they cover the surface of the wine. The veil – called “le voile” – forms and protects the wine from oxygen. These yeast can develop if the savagnin has reached a good ripen, of 13% alcool potentiel. 

Throughout this maturation – under an intact veil – the level of the wine decreases, and the wine becomes concentrated and charged with ethanal and sotolon, metabolites produced by these yeasts. Sotolon is an aromatic molecule, which develops aromatic notes of walnut, curry, fenugreek, cumin, undergrowth, etc. This is a very long ageing time and different yeasts strains will be present during the process. 

In a research study up to 54 different yeasts strains have been identified in the Jura depending on the location of the estate and the type of the cellar. We know today, that the “voile” producing the more complex wines are those which are thin and grey.

At the end of this minimum ageing period of 6 years and 3 months, the barrel of wine has lost about 38% of its initial volume, corresponding to what is locally known as  “angel’s share”. This calculation may be an explanation for the particular measure of the Clavelin – Vin Jaune’s unique 62 cl bottle –  corresponding the 62% of wine remaining in the barrique.

Domaine Rolet keeps the Vin Jaune under veil for a longer period of time to gain even more aromatic complexity.

As the Vin Jaune ages, the acidity becomes more integrated and less aggressive, and the aromas gain in complexity: notes of undergrowth, nuts, mushrooms, curry, cumin, fenugreek, dried apricot. 

It is a wine that can also be enjoyed young, so don’t hesitate to open it a little before a meal or an aperitif and remember that it should be drunk at room temperature, not cold!