Vin de Savoie (often written simply as "Savoie") is the main appellation of the Savoie region in the far east of France. This mountainous region located west of the Alps has distinctive wine styles that are rarely seen outside their territory of origin. Most are Dry white wines made from the Altesse, Jacquère and Chasselas grapes. Savoy wines are often described as distinctly "alpine", citing their fresh, Mineral characteristics.
The AOC Vin de Savoie was created in 1973, along with the appellation Roussette de Savoie, which covers the region's Altesse grape wines. Wines labelled simply as Savoie or Vin de Savoie, without an associated cru name, can be white, red, rosé and even Sparkling. White wines are dominated by the most common grape variety in Savoie, Jacquere, but may also contain Chardonnay, Aligote, Mondeuse Blanche, Veltliner Rouge Precoce, Chasselas, Gringet and Altesse. To complicate matters, Marsanne and Verdesse are also allowed, but only in the administrative department of Isère.
However, this represents only a tiny fraction of the appellation's surface area.
Cultivated for a very long time in Savoie, it is not the black form of mondeuse blanche and Mondeuse grise is a natural mutation of mondeuse noire. According to Thierry Lacombe (I.N.R.A./Montpellier), the latter is the result of a natural intraspecific crossing between the black tressot and the white mondeuse. Mondeuse grise and Mondeuse noire are both registered in the official catalogue of wine grape varieties, list A1.
red wines from the region of Vin de Savoie go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, game (deer, venison) or mature and hard cheese such as recipes of rosbeef casserole mamie, aiguillettes of duck with auvergne blue cheese or cannelloni with zucchini.
On the nose in the region of Vin de Savoie often reveals types of flavors of apples, tree fruit or grapefruit and sometimes also flavors of citrus, blackberry or minerality. In the mouth in the region of Vin de Savoie is a with a nice freshness.
