Domaine des Ardoisières - Vin des Allobroges Améthyste 2022

Bettane & Desseauve

About the estate:

This estate, launched in 1998 under the leadership of Michel Grisard, brought two hillsides back into production. The ambitious project brought together 450 plots and 250 families. All production is organic and bears the “Vin-des-Allobroges” IGP designation, as the estate was unable to secure support from the Savoie appellation. Today, the 18 hectares managed by Brice Omont—who has just acquired an additional six hectares in Saint-Jean-de-la-Porte and Apremont—have become a benchmark estate for the region. The wines are among the most expensive.

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

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

About the estate:

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 vineyards between Albertville and Moutiers. Brice Omont, an agricultural engineer from Champagne, joined the estate in 2003 to assist Grisard. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to the project and has been at the helm of the estate—which now spans 16 hectares—since 2008. Biodynamic viticulture here is a heroic undertaking (slopes can reach 70%); yields are very low, and the wines are primarily made from co-planted grape varieties blended together. The result is often remarkable: the wines display great finesse and originality, and their character deepens further with aging. The aging process is sometimes prominent in the expression of young wines when first opened; it’s important to know this, as aeration allows their true character to emerge. Améthyste complements the Persan with Mondeuse; the Argile cuvées (from the Saint-Pierre-de-Soucy hillside) blend Jacquère, Chardonnay, and Mondeuse Blanche for the white, and Gamay, Mondeuse, and Persan for the red; Schiste is composed of Jacquère, Mondeuse Blanche, Roussanne, and Pinot Gris. Only Quartz is a single-varietal wine, made from Altesse. If there is one estate that epitomizes Savoy’s qualitative renaissance and its ambition, it is this one.