"Yellow wine." Vin jaune is wine made from late harvest Savagnin grapes, an unusual local white variety in Château-Chalon. They are fermented slowly and then kept in small old oak casks for up to 75 months. The casks are not topped up, unlike most wines, so an air gap appears above the wine due to evaporation. A film (flor) of yeast grows over the wine, protecting it partially from oxidation. The wine acquires the typical yellow colour and flavours as it ages for six years and three months. At this point only about 62% of the original wine remains and so, unusually, the wine is bottled in 62cl wine bottles called clavelins.
The wine ages extremely well, and it is not recommended it is drunk until ten years after bottling, about sixteen years after the vintage. It will keep for 50 or 100 years.
