Savagnin wine
Savagnin stumbled into Australia through a twist of fate when a group of ambitious winemakers, eager to plant the popular Iberian variety albariño, found that the material sent to Australia by the supplying nursery was actually the distinct Jura variety savagnin.
It was during the 2000s that this albariño-savagnin chicane occurred. Growers were left scratching their heads with broad disappointment, wondering where to go. To many, savagnin was an unfamiliar variety, not only to the broader consumer landscape but to themselves. The winemaking culture at its Jura origin produces nothing similar to the seaside Spanish whites hoped to flourish in Australia. By virtue of this, many producers ripped the variety out of the ground and started again.
Savagnin is a late-ripening, low-yielding grape that strikes forth with incredible acid profile and builds around this with intensity of apple and stone fruit characters, and, with judicious lees maturation, appealing nutty savouriness. The variety is known for being malleable in the winery, presenting with potential richness yet inherent freshness from the intense, natural acidity.
Savagnin would have to be one of the most versatile white varieties on the planet. It does light, fresh alpine styles; medium-weight, textural whites; saline, minerally styles; and at its apex, when matured under layers of flor yeast (like sherry), some of the world’s most complex and long-lived wines under the traditional moniker of Vin Jaune. At its most elegant, with maturation in neutral barrel or alternative vessels on lees, it produces wines of profoundness, equal to any of the great white wines of the world. Those that persisted have been given a boon.
Today, savagnin is garnering more serious respect around Australia, with Jura acolytes driving some of the inspiration. Producers such as Crittenden in Mornington Peninsula, one of the first to plant both albariño and savagnin, embraced the variety and did due diligence on Jura wines.
Driven by winemaker Rollo Crittenden, careful experimentation led to the wildly complex and delicious Cri de Coeur cuvée, a flor-matured, oxidatively handled wine released after a minimum of four years in barrel. Complexity is writ large in vivid, saline minerality, light fino sherry notes, incredible concentration of fruit character and layers of nutty savouriness. It’s a tour de force as an Australian representation of the variety.
La Villa Wines in the northwest of Tasmania “liked a savagnin we drank in northern Victoria” so decided to plant the variety on their Spreyton property. Their rendering of savagnin is sleeker and racier than Crittenden’s approach, though retains the variety’s prominent crystalline acidity. Tamar Valley’s Stoney Rise sources savagnin from La Villa and produces a blend of full oxidative savagnin and chardonnay labelled ‘Tradition’, and a lees-matured, oxidatively handled straight varietal savagnin. Both find doses of savouriness, with oyster shell and fino sherry-esque characters elevating the complexity stakes.
A cohort of avant-garde producers in South Australia, including BK Wines, Borachio, Tscharke, Manon Farm, and Yetti and the Kokonut, also work with the variety, with expressive, saline-driven styles inherent. In Victoria’s north, King Valley, Beechworth and Alpine Valleys see fine-boned, energetic, alpine styles being produced. These wines present as gently herbal, more skeletal and vividly refreshing.
Margaret River has plantings that result in the more discreet, lightweight styles of wine from Glenarty Road, in contrast to the wilder streaks found in Amato Vino’s more oxidative, nutty-focus flavour profiles. Yarra Valley seems also fertile ground, with Arfion a leading light with its medium-weight, succulent offering. With time, the variety has garnered attention and growth in Australia, albeit off a small base. What is emerging is a sect of truly fascinating wines with the potential to shake the foundations of premium wine, while offering distinction in character, diversity and contrast.
Savagnin to try
Municipal Wines Savagnin 2022 Strathbogie Ranges, VIC $45
Municipal Wines is a dedicated savagnin producer and makes various iterations of the variety from a pint-sized plot in Strathbogie. This is super saline, minerally, crunchy with green apple and has a brilliant chalky texture. There is intensity but also great vitality; a hallmark of the variety. Outstanding.
Crittenden Cri de Coeur Savagnin Sous Voile 2019 Mornington Peninsula, VIC $95
This is perhaps the richest, densest release of this wine, but contains all the freshness of cooling, saline acidity, the tell-tale fino sherry-like lift, among stewed cinnamon apples, ginger and crème brûlée. Power and presence, and something quite extraordinary. For long cellaring too.
Stoney Rise Savagnin 2023 Tasmania, $40
This is a textural, medium weight white wine with pithy, grapefruity acidity and saline tang at its core. Around this, almond, nectarine, red apple lending character and depth. It feels refined, quite compact, and delivers a sense of sophistication, amongst its gentle, pleasingly savoury tendencies. Very good, is the message.
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Image credit: Crittenden, Stoney Rise.
