Thomas Savre

The University of Burgundy gave Savre his formal grounding in a region where wine education and wine history overlap. The lineage deepened at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in Burgundy, Domaine Dujac in Burgundy, and Domaine Chevrot in Burgundy. Those estates represent a hard school of making, and Savre’s time there placed him inside a tradition that prizes precision, structure, and the ability to carry a site cleanly into the glass.

Evening Land in Eola-Amity Hills, Willamette Valley (until 2015) extended that Burgundian frame into Oregon. The move connected old-world training to a different landscape, and that exchange became part of his working vocabulary: how to translate one set of instincts into another region without flattening either. Since 2015, Savre has served as director of winemaking and viticulture of Lingua Franca Winery, where cellar and vineyard are treated as one system. The title reflects the scope of the job, but also the approach behind it: guide the fruit, respect the site, and keep the final bottle accountable to both.

The work is organized around a simple standard: wines should speak directly of their terroir and place. In practice, that means decisions are measured against origin, not against style for its own sake. His own words point to the same method. “I’m gonna do something fun and some things that I love. Why would I just do something that I’m not sure about?” The line is casual, but the position is clear: taste and conviction still matter, and the work has to stay alive enough to justify itself.

Poulet Gaston Gerard sits inside Savre’s signature vocabulary because it matches the register he works in: Burgundian, exacting, and grounded in balance. The dish carries the kind of flavor structure that rewards precision, and it aligns with a palate that reads wine through texture, warmth, and place rather than through display.

A pairing can reveal more about a winemaker’s thinking than a long explanation, and Savre’s preferred match does exactly that. “My favorite dish to pair with the 2017 Bunker Hill Chardonnay is Poulet Gaston Gerard.” The dish, a classic Burgundian chicken preparation with white wine, Dijon mustard, crème fraîche, and grated comté, gives the Chardonnay a familiar frame while keeping the balance tight. That pairing also shows how Savre connects Burgundy to Salem, United States without forcing the comparison.

The logic is simple and practical: work with texture, keep the flavors legible, and let the wine meet a dish that understands where it comes from. In that sense, the pairing mirrors the aim of the wines themselves — clarity, confidence, and place.