Kudos To WA#200

I have, of course, followed Parker’s WA from the very start. Fortunately, never had to subscribe because a friend always loans me his copy to read.
Last week I started in on #200 w/ my usual jaded/jaundiced attitude…Bordeaux/Barolo/Brunello/Priorat…nothing to really jazz me. Then I hit DavidSchildnicht’s “Exploring The Savoie”…a region I find absolutely fascinating because it’s the birthplace of so many interesting varieties. I try almost every Savoie wine I stumble across…which, alas…are not that many.
As I started into David’s article; it struck me that this is probably the most interesting article I’ve ever read in the WA. Lots of new information, lots of producers I’ve never heard of. This is a read I’d highly recommend to anyone who can beg/borrow/steal a copy of this latest WA.
After I finished his article, I thought…“I’d really like to try some of the wines he recommends”. Prolly the first time I can recall, over the yrs, that I’ve actually used the WA to guide my buying decisions.
So I went back and made a list of some of the wines I wanted to try to track down. Then disaster struck…arrrrgggghhhh. Most of the scores of those wines were only in the 80’s, a few drifting into the low-90’s. Being a typical point-whore…I couldn’t, in good conscience, go out and buy those sorts of wines.
So I guess it’s back to my old technique of randomly stumbling across any Savoie wines I see. So sad. But David’s article is an excellent/excellent read and highly recommended.
Tom

Funny stuff!

I got into wine from spending a summer in the Savoie in 1997 - so that’s the first stuff I got to know. Imagine my surprise when I got back here and found out that the Savoie wasn’t on anybody’s map. For years the only Savoie wine you could get was the Pierre Boniface Apremont - a nice wine, that, but only one small part of the picture of Savoie. Plenty more to choose from now that importers like Garagiste and Selection Massale have gotten behind Savoie in a big way, and the critical attention is long overdue. David Schildknecht deserves a lot of credit for getting this coverage in and taking the wines seriously as a region of note and not merely as a few random bottles to toss into a “great values” report. I don’t subscribe to any journals anymore but if I could subscribe just to David’s work that would be my first choice in a heartbeat.

i loved this report as well. i’ve also noticed that the amount of savoie wines featured in my daily glut of wine emails has increased a good deal since the article was published.

It really was a great writeup. I am having some trouble finding many of the wines though.

Got some Belluard vin de Savoie from Garagiste - the Les Alpes (100% Grignet) and Ayse Methode Traditionnelle (also 100% Grignet). Just getting to know them but can say that they both are quite tasty and different from other french whites I’ve had. Very crisp and fresh with subtle fruits underneath a rocky cold mountain stream.

Having got these in March, I was psyched to see D.S. write up on The Savoie in WA#200. He writes very well and it is indeed great to see other areas being explored.

BTW, Garagiste had another offer of a Belluard wine Sunday and Jon R. quoted D.S. in his email:

2010 Belluard Vin de Savoie “Grandes Jorasses” - $28.74 (WA91) EXTREMELY LIMITED

David Schildknecht wrote:

($30); For most of the 19th century, the name “Ayse” (or “Ayze”) on a bottle was a sign of uniquely high-quality (particularly sparkling) wine rendered from diverse cepages including Mondeuse and Persan but especially the white grape Gringet, a late- and irregular-ripener whose lineage is shrouded in mystery – like many Alpine varieties tied to tall tales of faraway places – but which has recently been demonstrated by Swiss vine geneticist Jose Vouillamoz to be unrelated to any other well-known cepage and almost certainly of local origin.

The post-phylloxera, post-World War I decline of these rocky moraine and chalk-clay (by Alpine standards gentle) slopes overlooking the Arve River halfway between Geneva and Mont Blanc is not dissimilar to that of many once-renowned French wine growing sectors, and in this instance both the vineyards and the Gringet nearly died out. Patrick Belluard has made it his life’s work to rescue both, though surely no one including him could have imagined just what their synergy might ultimately amount to in bottle.

Not to leave you in suspense, it amounts to some of the most remarkable not to mention improbable vinous excitement and promise I have witnessed anywhere in France during the past decade… Belluard’s 100% Altesse, 12% alcohol 2010 Grandes Jorasses – based on ancient vine material acquired from Dupasquiers’ Marestel vineyard – leads with scents of diverse flowers, as well as apricot, litchi, and lime that then lusciously fill the mouth. Subtly oily yet brightly citric, this picks up stony and saline nuances and light fruit skin chew en route to a long, exuberant, buoyant, vibrantly interactive finish. 91pts”

Sadly, I am not buying right now so I forwent the offer; I suspect it’s all sold @Garagiste - check with Selection Massale (list@selectionmassale.com) they had some last week at a slightly lower tariff.

I find that these wines taste delicious in the 88-point restaurants of Grenoble.

So, I guess I’ll never go to Grenoble ‘cause I only go to 90-point or better restaurants!

Have you been to Grenoble (or is this joking)? Just curious, since I lived there for 3 yrs in the 70s. As a result, I have a soft spot for Apremont, but I have yet to find one that’s as intense as what I remember drinking back then. Of course my memories may have “grown” with the years–or maybe my taste buds aren’t what they were…

The Pierre Boniface Apremont is my go to wine from Savoie. Dan Kravitz imports it. David Schildknecht is a conservative rater of wines. His 88 is equivalent to a Parker 94. Just my take on it. I picked up some of the Belluard wines as well via Garagiste. Lovely wine. I love the lightness of these wines as well as their minerality and the fact that most of them have no oak treatment. These are excellent whites with food due to their usually bright acidity.

Byron

Yes, I’ve had the '05, '08, and '09 Boniface. All good, but none of them up to what I remember.

All of the Savoie wines I own I bought from Garagiste. I still have a case of random bottles. So Jon was ahead of the curve on this!!

Picked up the '10 Pierre Boniface Apremont on a whim today having never tried a Savoie wine. Come home to read this thread. Coincidence or good karma, will have to pop the bottle to find out.

Yes, I’m there periodically on business. I love drinking Apremont there, but I think it’s one of those things like drinking Provençal rose overlooking the Mediterranean - it may not taste the same back home.

What’s weird is that I’ve been sipping on the 2014 Bonfiace during this hot week, and I too think it’s just not as good as I remember as well. I’ve been drinking a bottle or two most years for the last decade plus and they don’t seem to be as thrilling as when I first remember them. I thought it was just me.