2022 Jean-Yves Péron Pierra Menta
WINEMAKER: Jean-Yves Péron
REGION: Savoie, FR
VARIETY: Gringet
VITICULTURE: Organic
The gringet, which makes up 100% of Pierra Menta, is a white grape variety endemic to Haute-Savoie historically linked to the commune of Ayse, near Bonneville. Jean-Yves Péron's vines are planted near Albertville, on a mica schist plot facing due south. The gringet has long been confined to the Bonneville region and traditionally produces low-alcohol, high-yield sparkling wines. It is an interesting grape variety, fruity, low in alcohol, with notes of quince and strong minerality. The gringets of Pierra Menta macerate for two weeks in carbonic acid then are punched down for two months, and are aged for one year in 300-litre barrels.
The quince is evident from the olfactory and gustatory attack, and the minerality supports this note. White fruits, florality, lots of structure and a beautiful acidity. An incredible length, too…
Jean-Yves Péron is a young artisan patiently reviving ancient, almost forgotten high-altitude vineyards in the French Alps, near Albertville. After studying oenology in Bordeaux, he trained with natural winemakers Thierry Allemand and Jean-Louis Grippat in the Rhône Valley and Bruno Schueller in Alsace. Started in 2004, he works with multiple steeply terraced micro-parcels (3 hectares total) of 115-30 year old Jacquere and Mondeuse vines, planted to friable mica-schist soils; his oldest parcels were planted in 1893, and have not seen phylloxera. Organic farming, indigenous yeasts, non-interventionist winemaking, avoidance of filtering and fining and use of little or no sulphur make these natural wines of the first rank.