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Les Hauts Lieux: WAY Off the Beaten Path
Les Hauts Lieux: WAY Off the Beaten Path
by Chris Santini by Chris Santini
Day 2 of Our Wines of the Moment Day 2 of Our Wines of the Moment
2021 Hautes Alpes Blanc “Grains de Clotinaille”
2021 Hautes Alpes Blanc “Grains de Clotinaille”
Harvest
The Alpine vineyard
Mickaël Olivon
The rugged landscape of Hauts Lieux
Domaine Les Hauts Lieux France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes | IGP Hautes Alpes
Your typical multigenerational vigneron tale this is not. Long story short: here we have a young fellow from the Loire who studies wine in Burgundy, bikes to Georgia (the country, that is) while stopping and working at various vineyards along the route to pay his way, bikes home, crowdfunds a crazy idea to plant vines high up in the Alps, and in 2019 is off and running and turning heads. We get wind of the project, track down our man (we find him working part-time at a local organic grocer to make ends meet), and the rest is history. This blanc is not what one might typically imagine a “mountain wine” to be, as while it has a crystalline edge, there is a surprising dollop of sun, heft, and deep, creamy notes of white flowers and citrus fruit.
Harvest
The Alpine vineyard
Mickaël Olivon
The rugged landscape of Hauts Lieux
Wine Type: | white |
Vintage: | 2021 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | 70% Chasan, 30% Chardonnay |
Appellation: | IGP Hautes Alpes |
Country: | France |
Region: | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes |
Producer: | Domaine Les Hauts Lieux |
Winemaker: | Mickaël Olivon |
Vineyard: | Planted in 1980s, 1.8 ha total |
Soil: | Moraine and scree (dolomite, silt, gravel) |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 13% |
More from this Producer or Region
2023 Savoie Les Abymes
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Les Abymes is the epitome of an Alpine white—an invigorating mineral lick of Jacquère, crackling with freshness and crystalline purity.
2023 Chignin Gamay
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
With notes of mixed black and red fruit and a spine of minerality, Quenard’s Gamay is crunchier, more aromatic, and more succulent than most bottles you’d find in Beaujolais.
2021 Savoie Chignin-Bergeron “Le Grand Rebossan”
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Travel no further than Chignin, where the Quenard family bottles a Roussanne (dubbed Bergeron in these parts) that will exceed your wildest expectations.
2023 Roussette de Savoie “Les Craies”
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
The wine is bone-dry but offers a wonderful nose of bergamot and honeysuckle, along with a zippy freshness supported by all the Alpine minerality you would expect from fruit grown in stony soils in the Alps.
Crémant de Savoie Brut Nature
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
A wonderfully dry, fresh, sparkling wine from one of the most beautiful regions of France.
2021 Chignin-Bergeron “Les Terrasses”
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Grown on near-vertical limestone scree slopes, Bergeron reaches incredible heights here, yielding a blanc full of character and flavors of peach, tangerine, and pine resin.
2023 Chignin Blanc “Vieilles Vignes”
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Few things are more satisfying as an apéritif than a chilled glass of this Alpine elixir made from 70-year-old vines.
Bugey-Cerdon “La Cueille”
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
This is a universally loved pink bubbly delight of candied strawberries and roses, always true and always exquisite. Icing on the cake is that it’s affordable, too.
2022 Hautes Alpes Blanc “Grand Pic”
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Crystalline purity, mouthwatering salinity, and complexity without weight make this akin to an Alpine premier cru.?
2023 Savoie Chignin Pinot Noir
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
If any Pinot Noir on these pages is built for the Parisian bistro or Lyonnais bouchon, it is this one from the hills of Chignin, in Savoie.
About The Producer
Domaine Les Hauts Lieux
The domaine sits above the town of Embrun in the Hautes-Alpes département, between the Alpine city of Gap and the French-Italian border. At the far north of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, the area enjoys a continental climate with strong Mediterranean influence, more similar to Alto Adige than neighboring Savoie or Provence. In fact, the Hautes-Alpes are distinct from both the Provence and Savoie wine regions, in terms of terroir as well as their winemaking traditions. “You need to have a pioneering spirit to make wine here,” says winemaker, Mickaël Olivon, pointing out that local wines have rarely ever been produced on a commercial scale (even today, just a handful of small domaines call this area home). As a result, a hodgepodge mix of grapes—hybrids and transplants from other regions—are found on these Alpine slopes, with Mollard being the only true native. Mickaël has already begun replanting with varieties he feels are better adapted to the mountain terroir, including Savagnin, Pinot Noir, and Persan.
About The Region
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.
More from Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes or France
2023 Savoie Chignin Pinot Noir
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2023 Roussette de Savoie “Les Craies”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Bugey-Cerdon “La Cueille”
Patrick Bottex France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2021 Savoie Arbin Mondeuse “Terres Brunes”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2021 Chignin-Bergeron “Les Terrasses”
André et Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2023 Savoie Les Abymes
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2022 Savoie Chignin-Bergeron “Les Roches Blanches”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2022 Hautes Alpes Blanc “Grand Pic”
Domaine Les Hauts Lieux France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2023 Chignin Blanc “Vieilles Vignes”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2020 Savoie Chignin-Bergeron “Côteau des Ducs”
André et Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Crémant de Savoie Brut Nature
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2021 Savoie Chignin-Bergeron “Le Grand Rebossan”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2023 Savoie Chignin Pinot Noir
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2023 Roussette de Savoie “Les Craies”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Bugey-Cerdon “La Cueille”
Patrick Bottex France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2021 Savoie Arbin Mondeuse “Terres Brunes”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2021 Chignin-Bergeron “Les Terrasses”
André et Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2023 Savoie Les Abymes
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2022 Savoie Chignin-Bergeron “Les Roches Blanches”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2022 Hautes Alpes Blanc “Grand Pic”
Domaine Les Hauts Lieux France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2023 Chignin Blanc “Vieilles Vignes”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2020 Savoie Chignin-Bergeron “Côteau des Ducs”
André et Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Crémant de Savoie Brut Nature
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
2021 Savoie Chignin-Bergeron “Le Grand Rebossan”
André & Michel Quenard France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Kermit once said...
Kermit once said...
A good doctor prescribed the wine of Nuits-Saint-Georges to the Sun King, Louis XIV, when he suffered an unknown maladie. When the king’s health was restored the tasty remedy enjoyed a vogue at court. Lord, send me a doctor like that!
Inspiring Thirst, page 117