Arbois Blanc, Savagnin, “Sous Voile”

Only a small portion of Touraize’s output is in the classic oxidative style, but A-J’s touch with sous-voile wine is masterful—of a piece with his topped-up whites and his reds in its emphasis on purity and precision. From a hectare of early-1990s Savagnin planted in the grey-blue marl of the northwest-facing Petit Curoulet vineyard, this wine spends 30 months with no topping up in used 228-liter barrels in an attic above the winery, whose temperature fluctuations promote the development of the yeast veil. Petit Curoulet is a very cold site which produces fruit of remarkable acidity: an ideal scenario for oxidative Savagnin, as it provides a spine around which the complex and unusual flavors are anchored. Here, notes of marzipan, salt, and green apples frame an ebullient palate marked but not dominated by oxidation.