Grape Guide
Jacquère
WhiteJacquère is the leading white grape of Savoie in the French Alps, where it yields dry, low-alcohol wines of pale colour, crisp acidity and delicate floral and citrus aromas. Planted on roughly 1,000 hectares, almost all of them in Savoie, it descends from Gouais blanc and is made to be drunk young, typically alongside cheese fondue.
Key characteristics
- Progeny of Gouais blanc; the second parent is unidentified
- Belongs to the Pelorsien family of Alpine varieties, alongside Mondeuse blanche and Verdesse
- Vigorous and highly productive; buds early and ripens from the middle to the end of the season
- Best on cool, deep, calcareous soils such as glacial moraine and limestone rubble
- Prone to black rot and botrytis; comparatively tolerant of downy and powdery mildew
Typical flavors
Major regions
Apremont (Savoie) · Les Abymes (Savoie) · Chignin (Savoie) · Chautagne and Jongieux (Savoie) · Cruet and Montmélian (Savoie) · Crémant de Savoie · Bugey (Ain)
Also known as
Cugnette (Isère) · Jaquère · Jacquerre · Martin-Cot (La Rochette · Savoie) · Molette de Montmélian · Plant des Abîmes (Chambéry) · Raisin des Abîmes · Redin · Robinet (Conflans · Savoie) · Roussette (Montmélian)
Jacquère is the workhorse white of Savoie, the Alpine corner of eastern France, and the base of most everyday Vin de Savoie. Its wines are pale gold, dry and light in body, commonly 11 to 12 percent alcohol, with white flowers, acacia, grapefruit and peach on the nose and a gentle bitterness on the finish that recalls grapefruit pith. Young bottlings often show a faint prickle of carbon dioxide, which is accepted as part of the style.
The grape rarely makes profound wine, and its interest lies in how clearly it reflects the site. On glacial moraine and limestone rubble around Chignin, Apremont and Abymes it can show a flinty, mineral edge and a fuller palate, and a handful of growers working old vines at restrained yields make bottlings that keep for several years. Elsewhere it is simple, refreshing mountain wine that suits fondue and other dairy-rich Alpine food.
Jacquère is thought to be native to Savoie. Ampelographers place it in the Pelorsien group of Dauphiné and Savoie varieties, a group that also takes in Mondeuse blanche, Verdesse and Peloursin. Microsatellite analysis of its DNA has identified Gouais blanc as one parent; the other has never been traced. Gouais blanc was the humble white grape of medieval north-eastern France, and it is also a parent of Chardonnay, Aligoté, Gamay and Melon (Melon arising from a cross with Pinot).
Records of the variety are thin. A vine named Redin appears in a text from 1855, but that mention is doubtful, because the same author afterwards equated Redin with Savagnin. The earliest dependable account dates from 1868 and concerns the vineyards planted on the limestone debris of the Abîmes de Myans near Chambéry, where growers called the vine Raisin des Abymes, Martin-Cot or Jacquère. A local tradition credits a man called Jacquère with bringing the vine into Savoie during the 1200s, but no document supports the story, and the surname is uncommon in the region. The Abîmes are themselves the rubble left by the collapse of Mont Granier in 1248.
Plantings grew through the 1980s and have hovered around 1,000 hectares in France since the 1990s; the 2009 figure was 1,027 hectares.
Jacquère is vigorous and highly productive, a trait recalled in its old synonym Robinet, meaning tap. It buds early, which exposes it to spring frost risk in the Alps, and ripens in the middle to late part of the season. Short pruning helps hold yields in check. It does best on cool, deep, calcareous soils: clay-limestone, stony slopes and glacial moraine with a limy matrix, as well as the colluvial rubble at the foot of Mont Granier. The main threats are black rot and bunch rot caused by botrytis, while downy and powdery mildew cause it less trouble. Because the vine overcrops easily, quality depends on restraint in the vineyard, even though the regulations accept a lower minimum natural alcohol for wines labelled Jacquère (8.5 percent) than for Chardonnay (10 percent).
The standard expression is a dry, still white sold as Vin de Savoie or Savoie, either under the variety name or with a cru such as Apremont, Abymes, Chignin or Cruet. The regulations describe the white wines as pale yellow to golden, fine and fresh, with floral and fruity aromas; such wines are often lightly spritzy when young. Most are made for early release. Montmélian bottlings are described as dry and delicate with exotic fruit and white flowers, and old-vine or single-vineyard cuvées from Chignin and Apremont offer more weight and some ageing capacity. Jacquère is also a base for sparkling wine: Crémant de Savoie must contain at least 40 percent Jacquère, with Altesse and Jacquère together at 60 percent or more and black grapes capped at 20 percent. Note that Chignin-Bergeron is a Roussanne wine, not a Jacquère one.
Where it grows
Vin de Savoie
Jacquère is a principal white variety of the appellation and the most widely planted, grown mainly in the Combe de Savoie and the Chambéry basin. Producers worth knowing include Quenard and Berthollier in Chignin, Frédéric Giachino and Jean Masson in Apremont, Grisard in Fréterive and Romain Chamiot.
Apremont and Les Abymes
These crus south of Chambéry lie on the limestone debris of the 1248 Mont Granier collapse. Jacquère is the principal variety, with at least 80 percent required in the vineyard, and the wines are the most mineral and structured of the grape.
Chignin, Chautagne and Jongieux
Still whites under these names must contain at least 80 percent Jacquère. Chignin counts several old-vine cuvées; Chautagne, by contrast, is better known for Gamay.
Cruet and Montmélian
Both denominations name Jacquère as the principal variety; Montmélian wines are dry and delicate with white flowers and exotic fruit.
Crémant de Savoie
Jacquère is one of the main white varieties and must supply at least 40 percent of the base cuvée.
Bugey and beyond
It is authorised in Bugey, recommended in Ain and Isère, and also used for IGP Vin des Allobroges. Some vines grow in Condrieu vineyards although the grape is not permitted in that appellation, and Portugal had about 3 hectares in 2009.