Domaine des Ardoisières - Vin des Allobroges Améthyste 2022

This estate, launched in 1998 under the leadership of Michel Grisard, brought two hillsides back into production. The ambitious project originally comprised 450 plots and 250 families, all cultivated organically and under the “Vin des Allobroges” PGI designation, since it was unable to secure support from the Savoie appellation. Today, it spans 24 hectares, including the vineyards of Louis Magnin in Saint-Jean-de-la-Porte and Apremont, and also operates a wine merchant business. The estate is managed by Brice Omont; Nicolas Giraudeau joined him as technical director to address the increase in production volumes and new climatic challenges, particularly summer heat waves. A leading estate offering a fairly broad and high-quality range, with prices for its top vintages sometimes exceeding the region’s usual price ceilings.

Améthyste is a blend of Persan with 30% Mondeuse. The nose offers subtle smoky notes with a strong spicy character, featuring pepper and juniper berries. On the palate, it is rich, refined, and elegant, with lovely complexity.

The estate was born out of the replanting project undertaken in 1998 by Michel Grisard on the Cevins hillside—6 hectares of terraced mica schist between Albertville and Moutiers. Brice Omont, an agricultural engineer from Champagne, joined the estate in 2003 to assist Michel. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the project, eventually taking over as head of the estate in 2008. Biodynamic viticulture here is a heroic undertaking (slopes can reach 70 percent); yields are very low, and the wines are primarily made from co-planted grape varieties blended together. The result is admirable: the wines display exemplary finesse and originality. The product of a restructuring of the aging process—where the diversity of containers adds complexity—the most recent vintages are of the highest caliber. If there is one estate that epitomizes Savoy’s qualitative renaissance and its ambition, it is this one.