🏔️SCINTILLATIN' SAVOIE 🏔️

Hey, Fionn again!

As per, lots more gd things to chat about this week.

Straight to it and we’re off to the Savoie. If you’re lucky enough to be on the receiving end of a Noble Rot subscription then you’ll know this region is the next big thang. A mountainous, verdant land. Somewhat of a unique oddity producing wines that feel firmly alpine.

BIG reload on the Savoyarde icons Domaine des Ardoisières. Hyper local varieties fill these steep slopes, which despite only getting two hours of sunlight a day, are at such a slant temperatures easily hit a cool 50°C. Ripening and freshness are of little concern. Cult status 4 good reason.

Silice is a lime-laden joy, zippy and the perfect starting point if you’re new around here. Argile brings lots of minerals. Minerality is a word I’m guilty of using far too much, it’s pretty ambiguous, meaning lots of different things to different people. Just taste this and you’ll get it. The Rouge is also a nice starting point for   Alpine reds, with herbal spice aplenty.

Schiste takes us one step further with the fruit veering into the tropical. Equal parts textured yet tense. Quartz is just tear-jerkingly beautiful. If you’re tryna wrap you’re head around how soil does things to wine then this is your ticket. Again, please bear with the painful wine jargon but the schist brings what I can only describe as a ‘verticality’ to the wine. God, you must all hate me. But trust me, the acid goes top to bottom, not side to side. Anyhow, this is the elite of the elite, a wine you simply must try. Similarly elite on the red front is Améthyste. Drinks like top-shelf Côte-Rôtie. High praise indeed!

Would be rude to mention Savoie without Peron. A master of all things on their skins you should probably be drinking things like this, and defo this. Never had a bad bottle of amber-hued deliciousness from JYP! Never had a bottle of red from him either until I drank this. Full of tertiary, savoury, natty goodness that is niche but nice. Herbal, white choc kinda thing that served blind would have me at an aged Radikon red in no time. Again, high praise indeed.

You thought you could make it this far into a NBW mailer without us mentioning the Jura? Sorry folks, can't stop, won't stop. Domaine La Grapp’A making some silly good stuff considering 2021 was their maiden vintage. I guess it must help when you’ve got kind neighbours like Ganevat, Bottes Rouges, Catherine Hannoun of Domaine de la Loue to give you a hand. Wish my London neighbours were as friendly!

The reds capture why I love this region so much. Beautifully wild, crunchy fruit with just enough earthy charm that takes nothing away from their sheer drinkability. Ploussard is my pick of the bunch, no surprises. The colour had me floored, shimmering and shiny in my glass and gone in a flash. Some old vine skinsy business too. A Jurassic Chardonnay with typicity to a T. Plus, a little Chardy from the Ardèche. A region, that is swooning me atm. Fruit is more sun-kissed and fleshy but still with high drinkability. YUM.

OK OK, enough chit-chat. Gotta go!

LYSM

FIONN

XOXO