Savennières wine is a

white wine White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without skin contact. The wine color, colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured Juice vesicles, ...

, usually dry, produced from Chenin blanc around

Savennières Savennières () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. It lies near the river Loire south west of Angers and is best known for its production of highly rated white wine. With production predominantly centred on the Ch ...

in the Loire Valley. The vineyards are situated on the north bank of the river

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...

, in the

Anjou Anjou may refer to: Geography and titles France *County of Anjou, a historical county in France and predecessor of the Duchy of Anjou **Count of Anjou, title of nobility *Duchy of Anjou, a historical duchy and later a province of France **Duke ...

Saumur Saumur () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. The town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc.. Saumur statio ...

subregion. There are three ''

Appellation d'origine contrôlée An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

s'' (AOCs) for Savennières wine: Savennières, covering most of the vineyards, and the enclaves Savennières-Roche-aux-Moines and Savennières-Coulée-de-Serrant. The area allowed for Savennières AOC spreads over 3 hills of

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes o ...

, located on the northwest (right) bank of the Loire river, totaling about , situated in three communes: Savennières,

Bouchemaine Bouchemaine () is a Communes of France, commune in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France, department in western France. Population See also *Communes of the Maine-et-Loire department References External links Official site
Commun ...

and

La Possonnière La Possonnière () is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France. Population See also *Communes of the Maine-et-Loire department The following is a list of the 177 communes of the Maine-et-Loire department of France. T ...

. Of these, about are actually planted with vineyards. Savennières-Roche-aux-Moines covers and Savennières-Coulée-de-Serrant covers . Savennières was originally defined as an AOC in 1952, and was revised in 1996 to introduce designations for sweet wines.

Coulée de Serrant

The top enclave of Savennières, Coulée de Serrant, consists of a single estate run by

Nicolas Joly Nicolas Joly (born 1945) is a French winegrower in the Loire wine region, and one of the pioneers and leading personalities of the biodynamic wine movement. Early life and education Joly studied at Columbia University and subsequently worked fo ...

. The wine produced by Joly from this appellation is labelled '' Clos de la Coulée de Serrant'', and is mentioned by many critics as one of the world's top dry white wines. Coulée de Serrant was first planted in 1130 by

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monks.Coulée de Serrant: History
, accessed on June 26, 2009

Wine style

Savennières is typically more full-bodied than dry

Vouvray Vouvray (, , ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. It is around 9 km east of the centre of Tours. It is best known for its production of white wine, rated among the best in France. Population Education Schoo ...

, and a significant step up in concentration and quality from basic Anjou blanc. As a wine produced from Chenin blanc in a relatively cold climate, Savennières is relatively high in acidity and tends to be a quite long-lived wine. The traditional, long-lived style of Savennières wine can be somewhat austere and unapproachable in youth. In recent years, some producers have aimed at producing wines that are more approachable when young, but that probably will be less long-lived. Nicolas Joly, the most well-known producer of Savennières, only produces

biodynamic wine Biodynamic wines are wines made employing the biodynamic methods both to grow the fruit and during the post-harvest processing. Biodynamic wine production uses organic farming methods (''e.g.,'' employing compost as fertilizer and avoiding most p ...

s. In some vintages, Joly's wines (especially Coulée de Serrant) may include grapes affected by noble rot, which is unusual for dry wines.Coulée de Serrant: Chenin with noble rot?
, accessed on June 26, 2009 Historically, Savennières was a producer of sweet wines, but today almost only dry wines are produced. In those rare instances when semi-sweet or sweet Savennières is produced, the wine is often less sweet than most wines produced across the river in

Coteaux du Layon Coteaux du Layon is an ''Appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (AOC) for sweet white wine in the Loire Valley wine region of France. Coteaux du Layon is situated in the Anjou district of the region, along the river Layon, which is a tributary of the ...

and its subappellations. From 1996, the following regulations apply to Savennières wine with respect to

residual sugar The subjective sweetness of a wine is determined by the interaction of several factors, including the amount of sugar in the wine, but also the relative levels of alcohol, acids, and tannins. Sugars and alcohol enhance a wine's sweetness, whil ...

:INAO: Appellation regulations for AOC Savennières, updated until December 5, 1996 * Regular Savennières may not have more than 8 grams sugar per liter. * Wines marked ''demi-sec'' have 8 to 18 grams sugar per liter, and would typically be perceived as off-dry. * Wines marked ''moelleux'' have 18 to 45 grams sugar per liter, which normally corresponds to semi-sweet. * Wines marked ''doux'' have more than 45 grams sugar per liter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savennieres wine Loire AOCs