Grape Spotlight: Bugey Cerdon AOP with Cellier Lingot Martin

Bugey is a winegrowing region in the Ain administrative department of eastern France, in the mountainous areas just south of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) and the border with Switzerland. Bugey is most often associated with Savoie as they are close geographically and produce similar wine styles.  Bugey is a very cool climate region and the vineyard area covers a patchwork of communes in the Ain, with the majority of the vineyard area around the town of Belley. Another cluster, further north and more-or-less contiguous with the vineyard area of the sparkling Bugey Cerdon lies just southwest of Bourg-en-Bresse. 

Vineyards in this Cerdon cru are divided between two key slopes: one immediately west of the village itself, the other a little way to the south. These steep, southeast-facing slopes, with their sunny aspect and free-draining soils, are perfect for ripening the grapes.  The vines not only enjoy prolonged exposure to the sunshine; their southeasterly slant means they receive the gentler morning rays rather than the harsher afternoon sun. This, in turn, allows the grapes to ripen more leisurely and retain a certain acidity at harvest, when flavors peak.

Courtesy of Vineyards.com

The Cerdon AOP involves exclusively sparkling rosé wines made from the Gamay and Poulsard grape varieties using the "méthode ancestrale". This is the oldest known method of producing sparkling wine, where primary fermentation is halted before completion and the wine is bottled to finish fermenting, trapping carbon dioxide for bubbles without adding sugar or yeast and without disgorgement. 

Cellier Lingot Martin is located in Poncin, in the Ain department, just a few kilometers from the village of Cerdon. The winery is renowned for producing Cerdon AOP  wines. We received two of these through the Hopwine, the SEC and Intense. Both of these are made using Gamay and the "méthode ancestrale". The Lingot Martin NV Cerdon Méthode Ancestrale Classic Sec shows a dark pink wine with an anticipated fruit forward profile of strawberries and raspberries.  The Lingot Martin NV Cerdon Méthode Ancestrale Intense is darker in appearance with more jammy notes and a little sweeter.  Both are very refreshing wines perhaps as an apéritif or even as dessert with an apple, pumpkin, or cherry pie?

Grape Spotlight: Bugey AOP Chardonnay with Cellier Lingot Martin

Bugey is a winegrowing region in the Ain administrative department of eastern France, in the mountainous areas just south of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) and the border with Switzerland. Bugey is most often associated with Savoie as they are close geographically and produce similar wine styles.  Bugey is a very cool climate region and the vineyard area covers a patchwork of communes in the Ain, with the majority of the vineyard area around the town of Belley. Another cluster, further north and more-or-less contiguous with the vineyard area of the sparkling Bugey Cerdon lies just southwest of Bourg-en-Bresse.

Courtesy of Vineyards.com

The best sites are on the south-facing slopes, where the combination of cool subalpine air, a sunny aspect and free draining soils (mostly based on limestone) provides the best chance for the grapes to achieve optimal ripeness. More than half of all Bugey wines are white. Chardonnay is the principal grape variety of the Bugey appellation, and must make up at least 70 percent of Bugey still white wines.  (wine-searcher)

Cellier Lingot Martin is located in Poncin, just a few kilometers from the village of Cerdon. The winery is renowned for producing Cerdon AOP (a sparkling rosé made using the 'méthode ancestrale') as well as Bugey AOP wines.  One of these is their Bugey Blanc Chardonnay, a fresh wine showing a combination of citrus and green apples laved with noticeable minerality and a refreshing lasting finish.  Bâtonnage of the lees provides depth and increased aromatics. This is a delicious wine, but what pie would you pair it with, apple or pumpkin?

Note: In the video I refer to Bugey being in western France. It is obviously in eastern France.

Grape Spotlight: Jacquère & Roussette (Altesse)

"On the evening of November 24th, 1248 a tremendous earthquake shook the region causing Mont Granier, the tallest mountain of the Chartreuse Massif, to disintegrate into huge boulders which came crashing down into the valley. Some of these boulders were the size of a house, and 16 villages were crushed and 5,000 lives lost. The church of the Sanctuaire Notre Dame de Myans, however, was spared, though gigantic boulders were stopped abruptly at the very door of the church. Some of these boulders can still be seen around the church grounds" The shrine has been a pilgrimage center since at least the thirteenth century, and its small ‘Black Virgin’ was an object of the devotion of Saint Francis de Sales. -- Our Lady of Myans, Savoy, France

Courtesy of Vineyards.com

In the 1980s and only 2 kilometers from this church, Philippe Ravier took over his family's small estate in the Combe de Savoie. He slowly expanded it to the 35 hectares of today with ample plantings of two grapes popular in the Savoy wine region: Altesse & Jacquère. His son Sylvain joined him in 2008 and together they formed Domaine Philippe & Sylvain Ravier. Some of the multiple vineyard sites they farm were created from the Mount Granier landslide such as those near Apremont and Abymes with their soils composed of ancient glacial moraines and marlstone and those in Lac Saint André / Les Marches at the base of Mount Granier.

Further to the northwest, Domaine Gérald Dubreuil resides in the village of Poncin, halfway between Lyon and Geneva, and within the Vin du Bugey wine region.  The family estate has been cultivated for multiple generations and consists of south-facing vines planting in clay-limestone soils.

Within a larger scope, Savoie and Bugey are wine regions in eastern France, in the mountainous areas just south of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) and the border with Switzerland. While not technically connected under French wine law, Bugey and Savoie are often grouped together since they are close both geographically and produce similar wine styles.  They are very cool climates so most of their wines are white led by Jacquère, Roussette (Altesse), Bergeron (Roussanne), Marsanne, and Chardonnay.  For reds look for Pinot Noir, Gamay, and Mondeuse.  The two main appellations within the regions are Vin de Bugey and Vin de Savoie with numerous Crus and sub-appellations that may appear on labels.  (wine-searcher.com).

Jacquère [jah-kehr] is mostly grown within the crus of the Vin de Savoie appellation -- specifically in the villages of Apremont and Abymes within the shadows of Mont Granier.  Wines from the Jacquère grape are noted for their high acidity, low alcohol, sometimes herbaceous, but clean minerality. We received a Hopwine kit from Domaine Philippe & Sylvain Ravier that included the AOP Vin de Savoie Les Abymes 2019. This wine showed many of these characteristics with its lively citrus profile with racy minerality and lasting acidity. An impressionable wine.

Roussette is the local synonym for Altesse and is considered indigenous to the southern shores of Lake Geneva.  The grape is a late ripener and is usually harvested with a reddish tinge on the berries take which provides Altesse with the synonym, Roussette ("reddish" in French).  When grown in the Roussette de Savoie and Roussette du Bugey appellations the grape is known for producing full-bodied, concentrated wines with floral, nutty characters and good acidity.  The Domaine Philippe & Sylvain Ravier AOP Roussette de Savoie Altesse 2019 is pure elegance with nutty pear flavors and considerable depth before finishing with subtle but lasting acidity.  The Domaine Gérald Dubreuil Roussette du Bugey 2017 provides similar depth and acidity but with more citrus - particularly lingering lemons.  Both show the elegance that Roussette produces in both appellations.  Santé.

Distribution: Wines from Domaine Philippe & Sylvain Ravier are available in Oregon, California, New York, and Massachusetts; whereas Domaine Gérald Dubreuil is looking for a U.S. distributor.