Domaine Du Pelican Arbois Savagnin Ouille 2016
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Robert
Parker -
Wine &
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Wine Spectator
Bright fennel, white peach and chamomile notes streak through, with a ripple of quinine on the finish. This shows echoes of Chardonnay but with a more distinctive zing. Drink now through 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Showing the pure varietal profile, the 2016 Arbois Savagnin Ouillé reflects very much the style of Domaine du Pelican—clean, fresh and focused wines. It fermented and aged in foudre and 500-liter barrels for ten months. It has good ripeness and nicely integrated oak. The palate revealed pungent flavors or great intensity and good acidity. 18,000 bottled produced. The aim is to make Savagnin the grape of the Domaine. This is my favorite wine of the portfolio, a wine with energy and character.
Rating:92+ -
Wine & Spirits
Fermented in stainless steel and aged in neutral 350-liter casks, this is a fragrant, limestone-inflected savagnin. It starts out dark, with notes of soil and tangy orange, then brightens with air, as if the clouds were giving way to blue sky. Bright with lemon-custard freshness, this is a wine with clarity and salty mineral tones to direct toward pan-roasted fish.
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Robert
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Wine &
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Wine &
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This sent him off on a five year search to find a choice location in the Jura. He consulted with a well-known geologist to find ideal vineyards. In the end, he and Francois Duvivier purchased two domaines, one with well tended vines and another where the vineyards were in need of some rehabilitation. At Chateau Chavanes in Montigny-les-Arsures, they created a state of the art winery surrounded by 5 hectares of biodynamically farmed vines that had been impeccably replanted 10 years prior by former owner Francois de Chavanes. The domaine is supported by an additional 5 hectares of chemically-free vines formerly farmed by Jean-Marc Brignot at a site of high-quality geology and exposure.
He named it Domaine du Pélican, a reference to the pelican on the crest of the city of Arbois.
All of Pélican's wines are currently made in a topped up, non-oxidative style.
An ancient and genetically valuable vine variety with origins in NE France, Savagnin is a parent to many modern varieties but is most associated today with the Jura. It is responsible for a few styles of wine, the idiosyncratic Vin Jaune, a wine matured in barrel under a film of flor yeast and the sweet, concentrated Vin de Paille. Savagnin also makes a charming sparkling or still wine and is often found in blends with Chardonnay. Somm Secret—While Savagnin is an off-spring of Pinot, Savagnin is a parent of Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltiner, Sauvignon Blanc, Silvaner and Trousseau.
On the foothills of the Jura Mountains, just east of the Cote de Beaune on the Switzerland border, the Jura wine-producing zone is recognized for its unique reds, as well as its particular and diverse styles of whites.
Though borrowed from their neighbor Burgundy, Chardonnay and Pinot noir have been growing in Jura since the Middle Ages. But here the altitude, topography, climate and clay-rich, marl soils support a different style of Pinot noir, not to mention its other deeply-colored, full-bodied indigenous reds, Poulsard and Trousseau.
Considering area under vine, growers here favor Chardonnay for its consistency and reliability; it comprises almost half of Jura's vineyard acreage. However, Jura Chardonnay is anything but boring; its many offbeat styles are part of what make region’s wines so distinctive. It is used for Cremant (sparkling), Macvin (a fortified wine), as well as fine examples at the quality level of Burgundy.
Jura also has a unique oxidative style for Chardonnay but is better recognized for its similarly-styled “vin jaune,” meaning ‘yellow wine,’ which is made from the indigenous variety, Savagnin. Vin jaune is made using techniques similar to those used to make Sherry.
For all of its wines, Jura favors a traditional, natural and often organic style in viticulture and winemaking.