Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
An in-store tasting at Chambers Street with Wink Lorch and winemaker Didier Berthollier. A store alum, David Hatzapoulos, is also on hand to help pour.
Wink cannot help but teach about Savoie, for which I am grateful:
- If no grape is mentioned then the wine is almost certain jacquere, the preponderant white grape. The Savoie also has good vineyards of roussanne (which is locally called bergeron) and altesse (which is locally called roussette de savoie). In the northern end of the region you can find two more white grapes, in small quantities: gringet and chasselas.
- The preponderant red is mondeuse, though people also plant pinot noir and even a little gamay.
- 2015 was a great vintage here but it's been trials and tribulations ever since: hail, late frost, summer rain (=>mildew). Quantities have been short in every year.
- The soils are also difficult with lots of slippery clay: as soon as it rains, the vineyards become impassable to tractors, and as soon as it's been dry for a day or two, the water has all evaporated and the ground is hard.
On the table:
Denis & Didier Berthollier 2021 Chignin VV - jacquere, spicy, sappy, just a touch of herbs and acids, rather nice
Denis & Didier Berthollier 2020 Chignin Bergeron "La Coulee de Prosperpine" - yes, this has the taste of a Rhone roussanne but completely different mouthfeel: this is not at all unctuous and rich, instead it has a saline edge and slightly ragged corners that dig in around your tongue the longer you keep it, really good, Didier says that Rhone makers who visit are envious of the acidity he gets
Denis & Didier Berthollier 2020 Savoie Rouge "Sel de Marius" - pinot and gamay, this is the only wine that seemed harsh and fruitless, must be alleles because others liked it just fine
Cellier de Baraterie 2020 Vin de Savoie "Paroxysme" - pinot, gamay, and a drop of mondeuse; this is from a young winemaker whose style is reminiscent of Didier's; the first sip is all pinot and gamay in typical style for a non-Burgundy region: good flavors, rather bright, but lightweight texture; but there's a surprise in the finish as the mondeuse comes through last and it is earthy and dense and much more blue-fruited (as befits its syrah heritage (or offspring))
Denis & Didier Berthollier 2020 Appellation Mondeuse Protégée "Et ma Goutte de..." - the real deal: old vines mondeuse, weighing in at 11%, so much flavor and shaped sorta-kinda like a syrah with dark berries and a mid-palate plumped with flowers and fruit juice, excellent
Under the table (ho ho!):
Maillet, Jacques 2015 Savoie Rouge "Autrement" - Eben Lillie thinks this is a good time to open a magnum... and it is terrific: another blended wine (Wink says that it's really not that common, despite this table) 70% pinot, 15% each gamay and mondeuse; the warm year serves this wine well as it has enough substance to match with the acidity
Maison des Ardoisieres 2020 IGP Vin Des Allobroges "Cuvée Silice" - jacquere, mountain wine, similar to the first wine but maybe a little fuller, more glyceral, more Meyer lemon than Lisbon lemon
Dominique Belluard 2020 "Cuvee Eponyme" - gringet, harvested by Dominic Belluard before his death and finished by his friend Jean-Francois Ganevat; white flowers and pears but wrapped in a zingy, salty package, excellent
A great little visit, the kind of thing that happens at Chambers Street.
Wink cannot help but teach about Savoie, for which I am grateful:
- If no grape is mentioned then the wine is almost certain jacquere, the preponderant white grape. The Savoie also has good vineyards of roussanne (which is locally called bergeron) and altesse (which is locally called roussette de savoie). In the northern end of the region you can find two more white grapes, in small quantities: gringet and chasselas.
- The preponderant red is mondeuse, though people also plant pinot noir and even a little gamay.
- 2015 was a great vintage here but it's been trials and tribulations ever since: hail, late frost, summer rain (=>mildew). Quantities have been short in every year.
- The soils are also difficult with lots of slippery clay: as soon as it rains, the vineyards become impassable to tractors, and as soon as it's been dry for a day or two, the water has all evaporated and the ground is hard.
On the table:
Denis & Didier Berthollier 2021 Chignin VV - jacquere, spicy, sappy, just a touch of herbs and acids, rather nice
Denis & Didier Berthollier 2020 Chignin Bergeron "La Coulee de Prosperpine" - yes, this has the taste of a Rhone roussanne but completely different mouthfeel: this is not at all unctuous and rich, instead it has a saline edge and slightly ragged corners that dig in around your tongue the longer you keep it, really good, Didier says that Rhone makers who visit are envious of the acidity he gets
Denis & Didier Berthollier 2020 Savoie Rouge "Sel de Marius" - pinot and gamay, this is the only wine that seemed harsh and fruitless, must be alleles because others liked it just fine
Cellier de Baraterie 2020 Vin de Savoie "Paroxysme" - pinot, gamay, and a drop of mondeuse; this is from a young winemaker whose style is reminiscent of Didier's; the first sip is all pinot and gamay in typical style for a non-Burgundy region: good flavors, rather bright, but lightweight texture; but there's a surprise in the finish as the mondeuse comes through last and it is earthy and dense and much more blue-fruited (as befits its syrah heritage (or offspring))
Denis & Didier Berthollier 2020 Appellation Mondeuse Protégée "Et ma Goutte de..." - the real deal: old vines mondeuse, weighing in at 11%, so much flavor and shaped sorta-kinda like a syrah with dark berries and a mid-palate plumped with flowers and fruit juice, excellent
Under the table (ho ho!):
Maillet, Jacques 2015 Savoie Rouge "Autrement" - Eben Lillie thinks this is a good time to open a magnum... and it is terrific: another blended wine (Wink says that it's really not that common, despite this table) 70% pinot, 15% each gamay and mondeuse; the warm year serves this wine well as it has enough substance to match with the acidity
Maison des Ardoisieres 2020 IGP Vin Des Allobroges "Cuvée Silice" - jacquere, mountain wine, similar to the first wine but maybe a little fuller, more glyceral, more Meyer lemon than Lisbon lemon
Dominique Belluard 2020 "Cuvee Eponyme" - gringet, harvested by Dominic Belluard before his death and finished by his friend Jean-Francois Ganevat; white flowers and pears but wrapped in a zingy, salty package, excellent
A great little visit, the kind of thing that happens at Chambers Street.