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Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Jura, France

Vin jaune

Savagnin grapes are made into a dry white wine, which is then left in oak barrels that are never topped up. A film of flor yeast (the voile) grows on the wine and ages it slowly for more than six years before it is bottled in the 62 cl clavelin. Made in 5 steps over 61 years – 111 years. The longest step, keep in bottle, takes 50–100 years (INAO 2022). Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Flor strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which make up most of the voile do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step50–100 yearsReported[cdc-cotes-du-jura]Keep in bottle
AciditypH 3.1–3.4Measured[davidvaizant2018]Age in oak under the voile, never topped up

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedSet by the appellation rules (cahier des charges); there is no recipe beyond the grape, the barrel and the time.
Savagnin grapes · The only grape allowed for the vin jaune mention[cdc-cotes-du-jura]
No added starter for the voile · The rules protect the natural growth of the local yeasts that form the voile[cdc-cotes-du-jura]
Starter: spontaneous (indigenous flor yeasts)

Total time across the recorded steps: 61 years – 111 years

Start
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What changes: Starting material: ripe Savagnin grapes

Step 1 of 5
Harvest ripe Savagnin
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Yeasts

Output: ripe Savagnin grapes.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Unlike sherry fino, vin jaune is not fortified, and it is not blended through a solera. It stays in one barrel, never topped up, for more than six years under its voile, at least 60 months of that under the film.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Château-Chalon AOCAn appellation that makes only vin jaune.

Made the vin jaune way

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The appellation rules describe vin jaune as a Jura speciality of obscure origin, which local makers have bound with strict rules on grape, voile and ageing.

  1. [cdc-cotes-du-jura] INAO 2022, Cahier des charges de l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Côtes du Jura », version for the national opposition procedure after the committee opinion of 10 February 2022spec
  2. [davidvaizant2018] David-Vaizant V., Alexandre H. 2018, Flor yeast diversity and dynamics in biologically aged wines, Front Microbiol 9:2235, doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.02235paper
  3. [charpentier2004] Charpentier C., Dos Santos A.M., Feuillat M. 2004, Release of macromolecules by Saccharomyces cerevisiae during ageing of French flor sherry wine Vin jaune, Int J Food Microbiol 96:253–262, doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2004.03.019paper
  4. [charpentier2009] Charpentier C., Colin A., Alais A., Legras J.L. 2009, French Jura flor yeasts, genotype and technological diversity, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, doi:10.1007/s10482-009-9309-8paper
  5. [pham1995] Pham T.T., Guichard E., Schlich P., Charpentier C. 1995, Optimal conditions for the formation of sotolon from alpha-ketobutyric acid in the French Vin Jaune, J Agric Food Chem 43:2616–2619, doi:10.1021/jf00058a012paper
  6. [wp-vin-jaune] Wikipedia, Vin jaune (outline only)wiki