Since ancient times, vine growing has been developing in Savoy, as can be seen from the writings of Pliny or Columella dating back to the 1st century BC.
The Savoie vineyard is located at the foot of the French Alps and includes four departments: Savoie, Haute-Savoie and two communes of Ain and Isère. Recognized since 1973, the AOC vin de Savoie covers 2100 hectares and produces an average of 125,000 hectolitres of wine per year.
This wine-growing region is shaped by mountains, valleys, lakes and rivers. The climate is continental and experiences very varied weather and oceanic influences in the north and Mediterranean in the south. This characteristic means that the degree of exposure or sunshine has a considerable influence on the quality of the grapes and therefore on the types of wine produced.
Walking in the Savoy countryside, you can see that the vines are mainly planted on hillsides and most often on old glacial moraines or scree.
The appellation is mainly composed of white wines. They dominate in this region with more than 70% of the production. The grape varieties used are jacquère, roussanne (or "bergeron" to use local jargon), roussette (or "altesse"), chasselas and gringet. The rarer reds and rosés are therefore made up of gamay, mondeuse, pinot noir and Persian.
Without a doubt, the best wine and cheese pairings are those of Savoie. For successful aperitifs, do not hesitate to combine Savoy wines with local cheeses such as reblochon, chevrotin, tomme de Savoie, Beaufort... which are other essential ingredients of the Savoyard terroir.
The red wines of Savoy will go perfectly with cold meats or braised lamb shoulders and rosé wines will go very well with Italian cuisine.
