Hand-harvested, organically-farmed Jacquere and Altesse grapes from southwest-facing vineyard ‘Les Chateaux’ in Chignin. Old vines (50 years), densely planted on silty limestone soils worked with horse-plow. Carefully sorted whole clusters, delicately pressed and fermented in the tank without additions. Natural malolactic fermentation, 4 months aging in the tank.
MW Clive Coates notes that Mondeuse sometimes has difficulties fully ripening in the cool alpine climates of Savoie and eastern France which can lead to some examples of the wine being very acidic, tart and lacking fruit. Such as it is, Gamay finds it's soulmate, and as fate has it, this is destined for a very soapy opera, one involving vampires.
Dreamy alpine Jacquère grown a days hike from Switzerland. Fruit mixes with esters, spices and rustic accents: flint, chives, breadcrumbs, caramel, narcissus, peach pit and lemon balm. Empyreumatic aromas (burnt, cooked or smoked qualities) with subtle oxidation and a slight fermentation note.
"Mountain wine regions are complex for a reason: their topographical challenges have meant, through most of history, that they were a series of little kingdoms and fiefdoms, clinging on to specialities and traditions which reflect, with some fidelity, precise and highly contrastive local conditions."
