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2019 Chignin-Bergeron “Les Terrasses”

André et Michel Quenard
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With all due respect to the northern Rhône and its gorgeous expressions of Roussanne, it is very tempting to say that the variety’s future lies in Savoie. Known here as Bergeron, it grows on well-exposed slopes of limestone scree, sucking up mineral essence from the stone that has crumbled down these precipitous mountainsides. Bergeron enjoys an Alpine-influenced climate significantly cooler than that along the baking banks of the Rhône, fifty miles or so to the west—a welcome chill in a time when each vintage seems hotter and drier than the last.
      While Alpine Roussanne may be a novelty to most, the grape has been cultivated in these parts just as long as it has thrived in the Rhône Valley. In fact, the Romans arrived here from across the Alps in the second century AD, planting some of Savoie’s first vineyards, records indicate, on a steep slope known today as the Coteau de Torméry.
      Nowadays, the Quenard family of nearby Chignin carries on the tradition of growing grapes on the near-vertical heap of rocky rubble that is the Coteau de Torméry. The highest and steepest section of the vineyard has even been terraced to enable viticulture.
      This beautifully refined, tenderly floral, and succulently peachy wine, born from pure stone, is the outcome—a product of centuries of tradition, one chosen site, and a family’s laborious dedication to eking out a most genuine elixir from Savoie’s towering mountain facades.

Anthony Lynch


Technical Information
Wine Type: white
Vintage: 2019
Bottle Size: 750mL
Blend: Roussanne
Appellation: Vin de Savoie
Country: France
Region: Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Producer: André & Michel Quenard
Winemaker: André & Michel Quenard
Vineyard: 25 years, 3 ha
Soil: Terraced steep limestone scree slopes
Farming: Lutte Raisonnée
Alcohol: 13.5%

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About The Region

Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes

map of Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes

Fifteen or twenty years ago, there was little buzz about the wines of Savoie, the Alpine region hugging the Swiss and Italian borders. In fact, most wines from Savoie were some combination of overcropped, thin, searingly acidic, and painfully rustic; even the best examples rarely made it out of the local mountain resorts, where they were served as an après-ski to wash down many a melty croque-monsieur.

But all that has changed, and today Savoie produces a number of top-quality wines in all styles, from simple thirst-quenchers to wines of substantial gravity. Kermit sought out some of these wines early in his career, having imported the spritzy, mineral whites of Apremont and Chignin in the late 1970s.

With vineyards at the foot of the Alps that occasionally climb to higher elevations, Savoie is defined by its mountain-influenced climate and extremely rocky terrain, with abundant limestone. Thanks to a diversity of indigenous grape varieties, quality-oriented growers with the choicest parcels—steep and well-exposed—can craft anything from crisp, low-alcohol whites from Jacquère to deep, gamey reds from Mondeuse. More serious whites are made from Altesse as well as Bergeron, the local name for Roussanne, which the Romans planted on the slopes of Chignin around the same time as they introduced it to the Rhône Valley.

Savoie’s diversity of styles and distinct sub-regions, from Arbin to Seyssel to the Bugey (technically not a part of Savoie, but included here for convenience) makes it a fascinating region for the thirsty explorer. There is no better place to look for brisk mountain refreshment.

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Old cob-webbed wine bottles

Living wines have ups and downs just as people do, periods of glory and dog days, too. If wine did not remind me of real life, I would not care about it so much.