Eventually, with air, individual flavors begin to emerge and insinuate themselves, echoing the aromas with the underlying addition of a fine mineral tang, expansive and closegrained. With age (they can go for decades), the wine deepens yet never quite cozies up, remaining somewhat austere in contrast to, say, a plump white Burgundy. Savennières, especially young ones, most definitely benefit from decanting. They blossom when cool but not icy.

Because the appellation is so small, chances are you will come across maybe 10 or 12 producers if you are lucky enough to find a good selection. Many of them are long-established names. One of my favorites is Château Soucherie; I loved its 2010 Savennières Clos des Perrières, a mellow, complex wine with great finesse.

Other established names well worth seeking out include Château d’Épiré. The 2012 vintage of its old-school Cuvée Spéciale, aged in chestnut barrels, is already available, and while it’s lovely now, it will only get better with time. Domaine aux Moines makes a more exuberant style of Savennières. Its 2010 Roche aux Moines is lean yet rich, pure and delicious. Domaine du Closel makes a cuvée, La Jalousie, that offers an attractive introduction to Savennières for around $20 to $25 a bottle.

Several newer names are injecting energy into the appellation. Damien Laureau’s 2007 La Bel Ouvrage is a beautiful, intriguing wine, tightly knit and silken textured, understated yet with much to offer. Eric Morgat is another relatively new name worth following. His 2010 L’Enclos is clean, fresh, tight and full of mineral flavors.

Hovering over the appellation is the best known, most expensive and most baffling domaine, Nicolas Joly, among whose holdings is Savennières’s most hallowed terroir, the Clos de la Coulée de Serrant. Mr. Joly may be best known nowadays as the guru of biodynamic viticulture. Biodynamics has come to be widely accepted (though fervently dismissed as well), but Mr. Joly holds other beliefs that may be equally or even more controversial.

For example, while all wine producers wish to harvest ripe grapes, what constitutes ripe is subjective. Mr. Joly seeks grapes that have begun to shrivel and, he hopes, develop botrytis, the noble rot that is an essential component of wonderful sweet wines but not always desirable in dry wines. Fermented until dry, the Joly wines are typically high in alcohol, 15 percent or more as against the more typical 13 to 14.5 percent. Mr. Joly also recommends the extreme measure of decanting his wines two days in advance.

I have tried Mr. Joly’s methods, most recently with a 2007 Clos de la Coulée de Serrant, the crown jewel of Savennières. The wine pours out almost an amber brown, as if it were oxidized. It’s not. In fact, it’s complex and gets better the longer it sits in the decanter. But it’s never altogether pleasant. The alcohol simply creates too much heat on the palate.

By contrast, Les Clos Sacrés 2007, the basic Joly Savennières, is far better balanced and enjoyable, rich yet austere, even though it’s 15 percent as well. The Joly wines are the biggest puzzle, eccentric yet not lovably so. I prefer the pleasures of Savennières’s more conventionally intriguing wines.