Skip to main content
Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant
Toggle Navigation Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant Your Cart

2015 Royal Seyssel

Lambert de Seyssel
Discount Eligible $29.00
SOLD OUT

Praise a high-quality sparkling wine by comparing it to Champagne and you risk sounding trite. That said, I will shamefully do just that and admit this bottle of Royal Seyssel had me Royally fooled into thinking I was enjoying a very pricey, very prestigious, vintage Champagne. Its méthode is the same as that of Champagne, though Royal Seyssel offers a unique blend of indigenous Altesse and Molette, and ages three years sur lattes. One sip had me curiously nostalgic for a traditional French breakfast tartine I once enjoyed, whose components of toasty baguette, salted butter, and glossy quince jelly were on full display and living harmoniously in my glass. I wanted the experience to never end.

Jane Augustine


Technical Information
Wine Type: sparkling
Vintage: 2015
Bottle Size: 750mL
Blend: 25% Altesse, 75% Molette
Appellation: Seyssel
Country: France
Region: Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes
Producer: Lambert de Seyssel
Winemaker: Gérard Lambert, Olivier Varichon
Vineyard: 20-50 years
Soil: Clay, Limestone
Aging: A liqueur de tirage is added to launch the second (sparkling) fermentation and the bottles are stocked sur latte for three to four years
Farming: Biodynamic (practicing)
Alcohol: 12%

More from this Producer or Region

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.

More from Savoie, Bugey, Hautes-Alpes or France

Discount Eligible $24.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $49.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $33.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $32.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $49.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $69.00
SOLD OUT
Discount Eligible $38.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $22.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $59.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $35.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $33.00
AT CART MAX
Discount Eligible $32.00
AT CART MAX
Kermit Lynch pulling wine out of a cellar.

If you're looking for value, look where no one else is looking.

Inspiring Thirst, page 211