Anne et Jean-François Ganevat
The Ganevat estate is situated in La Combe, a small village in Rotaille in the southern Jura region of eastern France, not far from the Swiss border. This tiny estate produces an astonishing variety of wines each year and has become one of the most sought-after brands in the natural wine sector. Production is very limited, demand far outstrips supply, and its reputation continues to grow.
History
The Ganevat family has been cultivating this land since around 1650, originally combining viticulture with a dairy farm producing milk for the local Comté cheese. Jean-François, known to his friends as Fanfan, and his sister Anna are the latest generation to run the estate.
Jean-François initially worked alongside his father, then trained at the oenology school in Beaune, after which he spent several years as head winemaker at Domaine Jean-Marc Morey in Chassagne-Montrachet, Burgundy. In 1998, he returned home to take charge of the estate, immediately switching to organic farming and later obtaining Demeter biodynamic certification.
Vineyards
The estate covers around 8.5 hectares, spread across a large number of separate plots on the slopes surrounding Rotalet. Each plot is cultivated exclusively by hand, without the use of machinery. Many of the vines are old, and some of the Savagnin plots are particularly ancient.
After severe frosts destroyed the 2017 harvest, Jean-François and Anna also began sourcing grapes from trusted growers in other regions of France, including Alsace, Savoie and Beaujolais, to produce a range of Vin de France cuvées under the brand name.
Terroir
The vineyards are situated on blue-grey marl soils mixed with limestone, on slopes at moderate altitudes. This is a cool, continental wine-growing region where differences in soil composition between individual plots are significant enough to warrant separate vinification for each. This is precisely what Ganevat does.
Grape Varieties
The main varieties are Chardonnay and Savagnin for white wines, and Poulsard, Trousseau and Pinot Noir for reds. What sets Ganevat apart is the number of rare and almost forgotten indigenous Jura varieties also grown on the estate, including, amongst others, Petit Beclan, Gros Beclan, Portugais Bleu, Efaran, Geusch, Corbo and Argan. Some of these technically do not comply with the appellation’s approved regulations.
The family has long been committed to preserving this biodiversity rather than allowing it to disappear.
Winemaking
A minimal intervention approach is applied throughout the process. Only indigenous yeasts are used for all fermentations. Clarification and filtration are not carried out, and sulphur is added minimally or not at all, depending on the cuvée.
White wines are aged on the lees for an extended period in old demi-muids or larger barrels, with no new oak used. Instead of following the traditional Jura practice of oxidative ageing sous voile, most of Ganevat’s white wines are topped up to the rim, preserving freshness and a more Burgundian style.
Red wines are completely destemmed, fermented as whole bunches using a method similar to carbonic maceration, and then aged in neutral barrels.
Each cuvée receives its own individual ageing regimen, tailored to the specific plot and grape variety from which it is produced.
Wines
The estate produces a large number of cuvées each year, each made from grapes from a single plot, a single soil type and a single variety. Among the well-known white wines are Les Chalasses Vieilles Vignes and Les Grands Teppes Vieilles Vignes, both made from old-vine Chardonnay. Among the reds, Trousseau Plein Sud is often cited for its freshness and delicate texture.
In the range of wines intended for sale, Jura varieties are blended with grapes from other regions, yet they undergo the same meticulous processing as the estate’s wines.
Production volumes for all cuvées are small, which largely explains why these wines are so hard to find.
