Domaine Ganevat La Combe Cuvée Marguerite Melon à Queue Rouge 2016 Magnum
Jean Francois GanevatGrape: Melon à Queue Rouge - Chardonnay
Vintage: 2016
Type: White
This white comes from 100-year-old vines of melon à queue rouge, the red-stemmed Jura strain of Chardonnay, that has nearly disappeared from the region. The parcel sits on clay-marl at La Combe de Rotalier, where the soils are plowed rather than sprayed and the vines are treated with herbal infusions. Cuvée Marguerite is the bottling that keeps the variety in the ground. There is not much of this grape left anywhere, and very little of it is 100 years old.
It displays a deep straw-gold color, opening with aromas of quince, bruised apple, and dried chamomile. On the palate, the medium-bodied frame is broader than the Jura chardonnays around it, balancing orchard fruit and beeswax against a clay-driven weight through the middle. A faint bitterness sits on the back palate, the kind old vines tend to give. Acidity is moderate rather than sharp and lets the texture lead. It finishes long and waxy, with the fruit turning nutty as it goes.