NV Domaine Jean Vullien & Fils Vin de Savoie Méthode Traditionelle Rosé

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Savoie (+Book EXCERPT), 7/23/2018

  (NV D. Jean Vullien Vin de Savoie Brut Rose) Hello friends. As per usual, our list members never cease to amaze. Very soon after I announced the existence of my upcoming book (36 Bottles of Wine, to be released Sept 18), the book shot to the #1 spot in Wine Collecting New Releases and Wine Pairing New Releases on Amazon. Which of course puts the title on the radar of all sorts of people who have no idea what a Full Pull is, which represents a real shot in the arm for this book’s chance of succeeding. Thank you. We’re still a few weeks out from our own pre-sale for the book, but today seemed like a good time to mention 36BoW again, because today we’re sending our annual summer Savoie offer. And wouldn’t you know it, Savoie Blanc is 1 of the 36 categories of wine covered in the book. As it happens, it’s the recommended white wine for June; not exactly July, but close enough, don’tcha think? My fantastic partners at Sasquatch Books are allowing me to excerpt the Savoie Blanc entry from the book, so let’s take what is in a normal year one of our longest offers and make it even longer! You don’t really want to do actual work on a summer Monday anyway, do you? ---- Copyright 2018 By Paul Zitarelli. All rights reserved. Excerpted from 36 Bottles of Wine by permission of Sasquatch Books. Some of the finest white wine values in the world right now, dramatically underpriced for their inherent quality, come from ski-and-fondue country in eastern France, right up against the border with Switzerland. In the foothills of the Alps, growers and winemakers are producing pure, thrilling, crystalline wines, chock-full of alpine character. Most of the wines are gobbled up by the captive ski-resort audience, but in recent years, we’ve seen more and more Savoie whites hit our shores, and they’re worth seeking out wherever you can find them. We all gravitate toward the known, and that means we end up paying a familiarity tax. When we buy a bottle of Chardonnay, we’re paying for the wine, and we’re also paying a little upcharge because there’s no sales effort required from a retailer or sommelier. The grape’s reputation sells itself. The inverse case: we have to be bribed to try unfamiliar varieties, and that bribery serves as a price-suppression mechanism. To wit: Jacquère and Altesse and Bergeron, the triumvirate of Savoie white varieties. Jacquère is the gateway into the world of Savoie whites, often hitting a $10 price point and offering a tasting experience that is less about overt fruit notes and more about minerals and lightly herbal notes. Imagine an alpine spring burbling over rocks and wildflowers and wild herbs: that’s Jacquère. More rare is Altesse (sometimes labeled Roussette de Savoie). Altesse possesses Jacquère’s mountain-spring minerality and alpine fruit character, but it ratchets up the intensity, adds compelling dark floral tones (like violets), and has the acid backbone to age successfully for five to ten years, taking on nutty complexities with time in bottle. Finally there’s Bergeron, the local name for Roussanne. This grape is best known in the Rhône Valley, where good versions of Rhône whites can run in the $50 to $100 range. Savoie Bergeron often comes in around twenty bucks and possesses several of the same qualities—haunting aromatics of peaches and raw almonds and chamomile tea, beautiful fruit density with no excess weight—all filtered through the minerality that seems to imprint itself on every Savoie white. A popular pairing with Savoie whites in the ski lodges of the region is raclette, which refers to a type of cheese as well as a dish based on that cheese. The dish involves slowly melting the cheese and scraping it onto plates, alongside charcuterie, cornichons, and small boiled potatoes. What to drink with raclette has long been a subject of vigorous debate in the Savoie, to the point where a team of researchers actually published a 2010 study in the British Medical Journal titled “Effect on gastric function and symptoms of drinking wine, black tea, or schnapps with a Swiss cheese fondue: randomised controlled crossover trial.” (Oh to be a participant in that one.) The study concluded that drinking wine “slowed gastric emptying,” which is a good thing; no one wants to be the post-raclette gassy guest in the chalet bunkhouse. ---- There you have it, folks. I managed to work the phrase “gastric emptying” into a wine and food book. I hope you’re proud. (Bonus for those who read the entire excerpt: here’s a picture of my advance copy of the book showing what the Savoie Blanc entry looks like.) Today we’ll offer all three of the abovementioned whites, as well as three bonus wines: two bubblies and one red. All six come from Savoie stalwart Jean Vullien. The Vullien family is well known in French winemaking circles, in large part for their vine nursery business (Vullien Pépinière Viticole). It is only in the last 40 years that Jean Vullien and his two sons (David and Olivier) have moved into winemaking. They farm 69 acres of vineyards in the Combe de Savoie, a boomerang-shaped hillside between Grenoble and Albertville on soils of dark Jurassic limestone and black marl base with pebbly topsoil layer of scree (degraded limestone fragments). The Combe contains six hillside crus (top micro-regions within Savoie), and the Vulliens farm four of those crus, including all of Savoie’s indigenous varieties. They have previously been honored with a Coup de Coeur from the influential French publication Revue du Vin. This is an outstanding domaine; a perfect prism through which to view the beauty of the Savoie. A 40/30/30 blend of Mondeuse, Pinot Noir, and Gamay Noir, this clocks in at 12% and pours into the glass decidedly salmon in color, with an orange tinge. The nose is wild, with savory notes of earth and dried sausage complementing a core of creamy cherry fruit and brown bread. I suspect the dosage is a little higher here than in the Cremant; it certainly drinks richer, and I’d probably save this bubbly for the cooler months ahead. I can say from experience that this is a dynamite Thanksgiving wine, if you can hold onto it that long.

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull the Savoie Reprise, 7/7/2017

  (NV D. Jean Vullien Vin de Savoie Brut Rose) Hello friends. Almost a year ago, we offered our first full lineup of these lesser-known beauts from Savoie, a little French wine-making region that runs along the Swiss border. Offering wines from a region that has limited distribution on our shores has always been a gamble for team Full Pull, but Savoie felt worth it. And lo and behold, Savoie surprised us all—proving to be a hit with our list members. So, this is officially becoming a thing. Welcome to our second annual Savoie offer. So, what’s so special about this little region? Savoie is widely considered one of the best values in the world right now. This region produces pure, thrilling, crystalline wines that offer pleasures both in youth and in medium term (5-10 years) ageing. (They also produce gooey, ooey cheeses, like raclette and fondue, which just adds to the appeal.) Many of these smaller, alpine, border wine regions equate bang for your buck, but Savoie especially feels like an undiscovered country, with drastically underpriced wines. It’s a combination of unfamiliar varieties and complicated labeling that’s keeping these wines from bursting onto the scene in a major way—and we’re here to reap the benefits. Today we’re offering a collection from Domaine Jean Vullien et Fils. The Vullien family farms roughly 69 acres of vineyards in the Combe de Savoie, a boomerang-shaped hillside. The Combe contains six hillside crus (top micro-regions within Savoie), and the Vulliens farm four of those crus, including all of Savoie’s indigenous varieties. This is an outstanding domaine; a perfect prism through which to view the beauty of the Savoie for the first time or the hundredth time. A 40/30/30 blend of Mondeuse, Pinot Noir, and Gamay Noir, this clocks in at 12% and pours into the glass decidedly salmon in color, with an orange tinge. The nose is wild, with savory notes of earth and dried sausage complementing a core of creamy cherry fruit and brown bread. I suspect the dosage is a little higher here than in the Cremant; it certainly drinks richer, and I’d probably save this bubbly for the cooler months ahead. I can say from experience that this is a dynamite Thanksgiving wine, if you can hold onto it that long.

RJonWine.com

• By Richard Jennings
  11/13/2014, (See more on RJonWine.com...) 90 points

  (NV Domaine Jean Vullien & Fils Vin de Savoie Méthode Traditionelle Rosé) Light orange pink color with steady, tiny bubbles; tart red currant, yeasty nose; tasty, creamy textured, yeasty, almond, mineral palate; medium-plus finish (40% Pinot Noir, 40% Mondeuse, 20% Gamay)