🍷 Château-Chalon

Château-Chalon is a French appellation of origin (AOC) reserved for vin jaune, the "yellow wine", from four communes around the village of the same name in the Jura in eastern France: Château-Chalon, Domblans, Menétru-le-Vignoble and Nevy-sur-Seille. The medieval village stands on a limestone promontory above the vineyards, which lie on steep slopes of grey marl at 250 to 400 metres.

The wine is made mainly from the white grape Savagnin; the 2026 rules also allow a small share of the varieties Enfariné and Gringet. After fermentation it is aged in oak casks without topping up the part that evaporates, until at least 15 December of the sixth year after the harvest, at least 60 months of that under a film of yeast. The film protects the wine from air and gives it the "goût de jaune": aromas of dried fruit, especially walnut, very ripe apple, candied fruit and spices such as curry, cinnamon and nutmeg. The wine is dry and full-bodied.

Vin jaune is sold in a special bottle called clavelin, holding 62 centilitres. That is roughly what remains of a litre of wine after six years of ageing without topping up. According to the appellation rules, the wine keeps in the bottle for 50 or even 100 years.

The Château-Chalon appellation is reserved for still white wines of the vin jaune type; no other wines are made under this name.