2023 Famille Savary, Petit Chablis, White Burgundy, France.
I was first introduced to the Francine et Olivier Savary Chablis wines in the mid 2000s and I was immediately a big fan, so it was great to find this new to me bottling of Famille Savary Petit Chablis to try. Set on clay and limestone soils the Savary Petit Chablis, 100% Chardonnay, is from vines planted between 1983 and 2010 and sees a fermentation, both primary and malolactic conversion in exclusively temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks with fine lees aging. This pale straw gold Petit Chablis is vibrant, steely and zesty with a nose of lime blossom, almond and stony/chalky essences which repeat on the medium bodied and crisp palate with a range of citrus, green apple, Bosc pear and tart muskmelon fruits, along with fine herbs, saline, wet rock, hazelnut, a touch of reductive flint and clove.The appellation Petit Chablis represents close to 20% of all Chablis production, not insignificant, these days and the top producers in the region turn out some absolutely delicious examples, and while maybe not on the most coveted of Kimmeridgian plots in Chablis, are wines capable of turning heads. The Savary Old Vine Chablis, is one of my all time favorite wines, has everything you could want in a Chablis and in some years it blows away wines twice and three times the price. I used call this Vieilles Vignes the “Baby Raveneau” and when you taste it you’ll most likely understand why, it is always intense, vigorous and mineral rich, but best of all it is an affordable option! When Kermit Lynch introduced Savary to the States back in 2006 or so, I was in awe of just how good a Chablis in this price class could be and I’ve been a huge fan ever since, and legend has it, that old man Raveneau himself and Kermit Lynch, later, had a hand in getting the Savary’s to bottle their own wine.
Petit Chablis is an appellation created in 1944 for dry white wines made from Chardonnay in Chablis and the surrounding communes. Interestingly the terroirs of the Petit Chablis appellation, on both sides of the Serein valley are located on the higher slopes or the beginnings of the plateau, it forms one of the rings of the Chablis area, with soils dating from the Tithonian age, which is much younger that the more famous Kimmeridgian era in the Premier Cru, Grand Cru and even some of village AC areas.. They are made up of hard, brown limestone, or sometimes silty, sandy soils, in general at an elevation of between 230 and 280 meters, with varied orientation. Famille Savary, based In Maligny, a village well-poised between Paris and Dijon, just north of Chablis, Olivier Savary and his wife, Francine, have been vignerons or growers since 1984, even though as Kermit Lynch notes, many generations of Savary’s family members were vignerons. As Kermit nows tells it, Olivier Savary initially sold off the majority of his production in bulk to a négociant, but was after time emboldened by their years of combined experience and family history of winemaking, Francine and Olivier finally found their wings and began bottling under their own label. In 1990, Olivier’s longtime friend and Chablis legend Jean-Marie Raveneau introduced Olivier to Kermit, who saw the potential and helped push the brand in the United States to great success. Today, Francine and Olivier are joined by their sons, Maxime and Mathieu, in the family business and the future looks bright for this once under the radar producer. Originally they offered only three different cuvées in the States, the Premier Cru Fourchaume, a straight Chablis AC and their mentioned Selection Vieilles Vignes (old vines), but now a Vaillons Premier Cru, this Petit Chablis and a rare Bourgogne Epineuil (Chablis) Rouge.
($30 Est.) 91 Points, grapelive