The end of the day in the vineyards of Apremont, Savoie, looking over to the Belledonne mountains.

INTRODUCTION

Alpine wines have been on my radar for many decades for the simple reason that I have been an avid skier all my life. Intrigued by vineyards close to mountains and already working in the wine trade, in the mid-1980s, on my way back from a spring ski trip, I visited Pierre Boniface, who was exporting his Apremont to England at the time. It was my first, memorable glimpse of the picture-postcard scene of Lac St-André surrounded by vines, with Mont Granier looming behind. In 1989 I discovered good Mondeuse. Close to where now I am lucky enough to live part-time, I was choosing wine in a restaurant for a group of friends, who were confirmed red wine drinkers. At the time no one thought Savoie reds were worth considering, but I had just read a tasting report on Mondeuse in La Revue du Vin de France magazine. The wine list included a magnum of 1983 Mondeuse from the magazine’s top-selected producer, Domaine Louis Magnin, and we were all blown away by it. By the mid-1990s I was regularly visiting Savoie vignerons, dipping into Bugey too, and by the end of that decade I was beginning to write about them. Always drawn to vineyards on mountain foothills, the wine region of Clairette de Die, further south in the Diois, came next.

Following on from my first book, Jura Wine, it would have been neat to call this book ‘Savoie Wine’, but for a long time I have known that Bugey, especially, was often wrongly subsumed into Savoie. ‘The Wines of Savoie, Bugey and beyond’ was never going to make a good book title, hence the more flexible Wines of the French Alps. But which regions to include or exclude was a challenge. Savoie and Bugey are the focus of this book. However, Isère and Hautes-Alpes are included too, because their tiny vineyard areas produce Alpine wines of increasing interest. On the same latitude as Hautes-Alpes, with its vineyards on the Prealpine foothills, the Diois is dominated by one wine style, the méthode ancestrale Clairette de Die and here there is another connection, since Cerdon from Bugey is also a méthode ancestrale sparkling wine. All these wines share the Alpine characteristics of lightness and freshness, born from steep slopes, limestone-based soils, mountain climate and relatively high altitude.

Most of all, it is the unusual grape varieties that exist in the French Alps that have attracted the interest of wine lovers around the world in recent years. Wine geeks in New York, London, Tokyo and elsewhere now seek out Mondeuse in their trendy neighbourhood wine shops, bars and restaurants. I’ve heard wine lovers gasp when I have mentioned that there are only about 20ha of Persan in the world. Altesse is becoming better known, even with the somewhat confusing Roussette designations. And new wine drinkers love the purity and steeliness of wines made with the sometimes maligned Jacquère grape, grown on the chaotic stony soils of Mont Granier’s collapse or beneath the fortified towers of Chignin. And, if they display Alpine freshness too, Bergeron (better known as Roussanne), Chardonnay, Gamay and other classic grapes also have their place in the Alpine wine offering. No fewer than 52 grapes are mentioned in the book.

Navigating the book

The book is divided into four main parts, starting with ‘Setting the scene’. The first chapter, ‘The wine regions in context’ gives a snapshot of the five wine regions and the wines each one produces. The second chapter of Part 1 delves into a little history, and the third chapter looks very specifically at people and movements that have shaped today’s wine regions.

Part 2 is very much the textbook part of the book: it should serve as a useful reference for anyone interested in learning why a wine from the French Alps tastes like it does. Whereas the chapters on terroir, growing the grapes and making the wines are necessarily generalizations, the appellations provide the nitty gritty of the rules for each wine region – and in Savoie and Bugey these are very complicated. And perhaps the chapter I am most proud of in this part, and the one you will probably consult most often, is the chapter on the grape varieties, as so many of these grapes do not exist anywhere else in the world.

The sheer numbers of producers in Savoie and Bugey is staggering for such small regions and increasing numbers of them are exporting. Part 3 includes profiles of almost 120 producers from across the French Alps, and several others are mentioned briefly in the preamble to each area. Do read the introduction to this part as it explains how I chose who to include (and what a difficult choice that was). I hope you enjoy the human nature of the stories behind the French Alpine wines you drink. These chapters also summarize the characteristics of each area, especially useful for the visitor.

Wine and cheese, anyone? Those people who regularly visit the French Alps – indeed anywhere in the Alps – know that that the locals appear to live on a diet of cheese, pork and potatoes. Well, it’s not true. Amazing lake fish, excellent vegetables and plenty of fruit are on the menu too, with a good choice of gourmet restaurants. However, cheese matters in the French Alps – the quality is considered to be the best in France, and cooked cheese dishes have their own traditions. The other chapters in Part 4, ‘Enjoying the local food and wines’, look at the other foods and some typical regional dishes, give a brief overview of Chartreuse and other locally produced spirits, and list a small selection of recommended places to stay, eat, shop and visit. The appendices include some more details on AOCs and a useful glossary, as well as my attempt to help you pronounce the names of wines and places – hint: that well-known Savoie red grape is not pronounced ‘Mondooze’.

The photographs in the book give a flavour of the beauty of these Alpine wine regions and help to introduce you to the people as well. And the maps are simply unique and invaluable. I feel that both help to bring my words to life.

Wines of the French Alps is a more complete documentation on Savoie, Bugey and beyond than anything ever published, even in French. Yet even with 32 more pages than first planned, my editor and I had to make many tough decisions as to what to omit. There is so much to discover in these up-and-coming little wine regions, and I hope this book goes some way into making the discovery more rewarding. Every factual book is out of date by the time it is printed, so forgive me if things have changed, or if there is a glaring omission or a mistake. Any errors are my responsibility.

From top: Mick Rock photographs Gringet grapes in Ayze; Wink and Brett working hard at Domaine Monin in Bugey; in Chignin, Wink visits cousins Gilles and Adrien Berlioz.

Author’s acknowledgements

This book has been a long time coming for many reasons, not least the gruelling illness and sad death of my partner, Brett. I am immensely grateful for the understanding and patience of family, friends, colleagues and all who have worked in connection with this book or even just had to put up with listening to my regular anxieties. Some specific thanks follow, and I apologize to anyone I have omitted.

First, to all who supported the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to help finance this project. You have been the most patient of all and the fact that you committed ahead of time kept motivating me to keep on going and finish the book. Kickstarter supporters are listed here.

To those who answered my many questions or checked text: For Part 1 (Setting the scene): the Allemand family, Dominique Belluard, the Dupraz family, Michel Grisard, André and Michel Quenard, Olivier Pasquet, Claude Paul, Franck Peillot, the Perrier family, Charles-Henri Tavernier, Françoise Vaisse of the Musée de la Vigne et du Vin at Montmélian, and Jean Vullien. For Part 2 (All about the wines): Eric Angelot, Jean-Louis Bergès of Jaillance, Claire Blackler, Maxime Dancoine, Nicolas Gonin, Patrice Jacquin, Isabelle Letessier of Sigales, Fabien Lombard, Alex Maltman, Pierre Renau of CalcEre, Nils Sergent of the environmental department of Savoie, Olivier Turlais of Oeno Conseil and José Vouillamoz. For Part 3 (Places and people): all the producers profiled and mentioned. For Part 4 (Enjoying the local food and wines): Wendy Rowe.

To the following people from the official regional syndicates, who helped with my research and also paid some of my accommodation costs when visiting the regions. Michel Bouche, Franck Berkulès and Fabien Chaillat of the Syndicat Régional/Comité Interprofessionnel des Vins de Savoie, and its public relations agent Michèle Piron of Vinconnexion; Sandrine Bartolini-Bois and Julien Hubail of the Syndicat des Vins du Bugey; Marie Lafargue of the Syndicat de Clairette de Die et des vins du Diois and its previous PR agency Rouge Granit. I particularly want to single out Michel Bouche, who retires in 2019 as director of the Savoie syndicate after 35 years – I have badgered him with questions for about 25 of those years and am immensely grateful for his patience.

To various people who have helped on this book: all the photographers, both professionals and those who donated Images – they are listed here; Liz Sagues and Anne Burchett, who stepped in at the very last minute to respectively proofread text and index; Richard Chalmers of Dolman Scott and my brother, Rob Lorch, who have both been extremely helpful on the logistical side of printing and despatch.

Finally, this book would not exist without my main team, which has worked with me so assiduously and so long on this stop-start, immensely complicated, self-published book. Editor Maggie Ramsay, designer Jane Dixon-Smith, cartographer Quentin Sadler, and my main photographer Mick Rock have all gone over and above the course of duty to make this a great book. Thank you so much.