Arbois Savagnin 2009

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While reading Nigel Slater's fascinating A Thousand Feasts I came across a text that, for me, stood out from all the others. Unlike what often happens with me, in this case, it was not a particular bombastic text, but one which has something of a Japanese simplicity and beauty.

In a sensitive way Slater describes the joy of eating alone, in an intensity spiral growing throughout the text to some sort of a final climax when he refers to a book where someone has stated that people who have a glass of wine on its own can already be considered an alcoholic. His reaction to it appears as a request "to get out and find yourself a life"*.

He ends up concluding that a glass of wine on your own can be as good as one shared with friends. 

I can only but agree.

Even though I really love to share a glass of wine with people I love, I also deeply enjoy opening a bottle of wine on my own and enjoy the first sip of wine without any distraction. Just me and a glass of wine in a sort of intimate complicity, making it an almost holy moment where time and space suspend themselves.

In the particular case of this wine, I was surrounded by loads of people as I have just finished helping cleaning a public park in an action promoted by my favourite fishmonger along the city hall. At the end he has invited everyone who has joined the action for a typical Bismarckbrötchen. 


A friend of mine who has also joined the action, made a huge smile and said he had the perfect wine to pair it. 

As I was offered a glass to taste it blind, I suddenly found myself uniquely focused on it, as if I would be just on my own.

After having failed completely to guess what it was as I tended to manzanilla, I immediately got fascinated with its oxidative notes that do have matched perfectly the pickled fish.

Very nutty and juicy,  it is incredible how fresh it still is almost 17 years after its harvest. Being a wine which has stayed 4 years under flor I do know this is exactly what you can expect , but that has not stopped me from being positively surprised. 

Another thing that has also pleased me tremendously was its saltiness. It was absolutely striking, matching perfectly the pickled fish.

Having just recently bought a couple of Vin Jaune to fill a gap in my wine collection I can barely hold my enthusiasm to open it some time soon. Or to let it mature and see how it develops. Or both.  

 17/20
Country: France
Region: Jura
Grapes: Savagnin
Winemaker: n/a
14%
Link: https://www.fruitiere-vinicole-arbois.fr/boutique/arbois-savagnin 

* Unfortunately I am unable to offer you the original quote as I am reading the book in German 

 

Location: Hamburg, Germany

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