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2021 Hautes Alpes Gamay “Coste Rouge”
Domaine Les Hauts LieuxPure Gamay from high in the mountains—bright, floral, and deliciously fruit-driven, with a satisfying crunch.
—Anthony Lynch
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2021 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | Gamay |
Appellation: | IGP Hautes Alpes |
Country: | France |
Region: | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes |
Producer: | Domaine Les Hauts Lieux |
Winemaker: | Mickaël Olivon |
Vineyard: | 25, 35 years old, 1.8 ha total |
Soil: | Moraine and scree (dolomite, silt, gravel) |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 12.5% |
More from this Producer or Region
2021 Hautes Alpes Blanc “Grains de Clotinaille”
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2022 Chignin Blanc
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This Jacquère grown on Savoie’s limestone mountainsides may be the crispest beverage to ever grace your palate.
2022 Savoie Chignin Pinot Noir
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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.
Petit Royal
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From a village in the French Alps with a reputation for floral-scented charmers made from the local grapes.
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A wonderfully dry, fresh, sparkling wine from one of the most beautiful regions of France.
2021 Savoie Chignin Mondeuse “Vieilles Vignes”
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It has often been likened to a cross between Pinot Noir and Syrah: bright, elegant, and floral, with suggestions of wild fruit, blood, and minerals.
2022 Savoie Chignin-Bergeron “Les Roches Blanches”
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This medium-bodied white evokes peaches, honey, and pine resin. Perfect for winter nights and dishes like hearty, Savoie-inspired fish chowder.
2020 Hautes Alpes Chasan-Chardonnay “Grains de Clotinaille”
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A blend of Chasan, a crossing of Pinot Noir and Spanish Palomino, with Chardonnay. Aged in barrel, it is creamy yet lively, with the clean finish of a dry sake.
Bugey-Cerdon “La Cueille”
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Its seductive deep pink glimmers in the glass, emanating ambrosial fragrances of alpine strawberries and roses.
2015 Royal Seyssel
France | Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
This bottle of Royal Seyssel had me Royally fooled into thinking I was enjoying a very pricey, very prestigious, vintage Champagne.
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
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2020 Savoie Chignin-Bergeron “Côteau des Ducs”
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2022 Chignin Blanc “Vieilles Vignes”
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Kermit once said...
Kermit once said...
I want you to realize once and for all: Even the winemaker does not know what aging is going to do to a new vintage; Robert Parker does not know; I do not know. We all make educated (hopefully) guesses about what the future will bring, but guesses they are. And one of the pleasures of a wine cellar is the opportunity it provides for you to witness the evolution of your various selections. 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.
Inspiring Thirst, page 171