Fyé Gris, Saint-Bris

Domaine Bersan

vintage

2023

region

Bourgogne

grape

100% Fyé Gris (Sauvignon Gris)

alcohol %

12.5

availability

Vinification

Fyé Gris, the pink-skinned cousin of Sauvignon also known as Sauvignon Gris, had all but vanished by 1958, when barely ten hectares remained in France, and it is still a rarity today. Bersan grows it on young, mainly north-facing plateau parcels of Kimmeridgian soil in Saint-Bris-le-Vineux, the only village in Burgundy where the appellation exists. After gentle pneumatic pressing, the juice ferments with indigenous yeasts alone, without added yeasts or enzymes, and the wine is then raised entirely in seasoned oak barrels, with no new wood to shade its aromatics. The attack is frank and round, a gentle richness held in balance by well-judged acidity, and the nose is all finesse: exotic fruit, flowers and a thread of citrus.

Importer's notes

A small jewel of a wine, and one of the rarest bottles on our list. We brought in the Fyé Gris because it tells a story few wines can: a grape rescued from the edge of extinction, in Burgundy’s only Sauvignon village, made by a family that has farmed here since 1453. Finer and subtler than classic Sauvignon, it deserves a place at the start of a good dinner: serve at 10–11 °C with shellfish, a Nordic fish plate, or, in the producer’s word and ours, something as “grandiose” as a ripe goat cheese. It also handles spice with ease, from curry to saffron. Certified organic, and made in small quantities.

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