Roussette de Savoie is an appellation d'origine contrôlée from the Savoie region in the far east of France, specifically for wines made from the Altesse grape. Roussette de Savoie is a richer wine than most other wines produced in Savoie, largely due to the qualities of the Altesse grape, which produces fuller wines than the ubiquitous Jacquère. The wines have strong Floral">floral and honeyed aromas and some stone fruit Character. The appellation's authorized Vineyard lands cover 53 communes in the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie - an area shared by the separate Vin de Savoie appellation, which covers a variety of red and white wine styles.
The AOC Roussette de Savoie was introduced in 1973, at the same time as the appellation Vin de Savoie. Until 1999, Roussette de Savoie wines without a cru appellation could contain up to 50% Chardonnay and/or the rarely grown Mondeuse Blanche. Today, the wines must be 100% Altesse. Residual sugar must not exceed 8 grams per litre.
How’s the weather been this year? Awful. ‘La nature m’écoeure’, one of my wine-growing friends posted on Facebook on 8 April, having been out to look at the frost-crippled shoots on his vines that morning: ‘Nature disgusts me’. It takes a lot to make a wine-grower feel that. He wasn’t alone. Jeremiads echo around the northern hemisphere as 2021 closes. It’s been the year of all the miseries. None suffered more horribly than the growers of Germany’s Ahr valley, where floodwaters caused by the fou ...
Despite the very dry conditions, this feels like a more naturally balanced vintage than 2017, 2018 and 2019. Scroll down for tasting notes and scores for the top-scoring Crozes-Hermitage 2020 wines {"content":"PHA+VGhlIHdpbmVzIGFyZSBqdWljeSBhbmQgY29uY2VudHJhdGVkIHdpdGhvdXQgZmVlbGluZyBoZWF2eS48L3A+CjxwPjxkaXYgY2xhc3M9ImFkLWNvbnRhaW5lciBhZC1jb250YWluZXItLW1vYmlsZSI+PGRpdiBpZD0icG9zdC1pbmxpbmUtMSIgY2xhc3M9ImlwYy1hZHZlcnQiPjwvZGl2PjwvZGl2PjwvcD4KPHA+U29tZSBoYXZlIGEgZ3JlZW4gc3RyZWFrIGR ...
Anecdotal evidence suggests that sales decreased significantly compared to the previous year, with volume and value sales down by as much as 60% in a few cases. In some instances, sales of usually bankable wines crashed to almost zero, according to the merchants that Liv-Ex polled. ‘Yet again, many buyers and collectors have had to ask what purpose the time-consuming event serves when it delivers such pitiful revenue, and who precisely it is for when it offers little compelling value,’ said Liv- ...
