Domaine des Ardoisieres Cuvee Argile Blanc, IGP Vin des Allobroges, France 2024

From Domaine des Ardoisières, it seems Mont Blanc is everywhere. The towering mountain keeps watch over this small estate near the Swiss border, shaping the wines so expertly grown and made here. First planted during Roman times, the vineyard eventually became overgrown until a passionate group of supporters cleared the vineyard in 1998 and began piecing the steep terraces back together to create Domaine des Ardoisières.

Since 2005, Champagne native Brice Omont has been the winemaker at Ardoisières and is now considered one of France's most exciting producers. The domaine's 17 acres of vineyards are planted on steep, rocky slopes high above the town of Fréterive. Sourced from two single vineyard sites in Cevins and Saint-Pierre-de-Soucy, Ardoisières produces wines using the area's unique varietals, including Altesse, Jacquère, Mondeuse, Gamay, and Persan. The estate has employed biodynamic principles in the vineyard since planting. The reds are produced without any de-stemming. All of the wines are fermented with native yeasts and bottled with light filtration. No sulfur is used during vinification and only one gram at bottling.

Brice's wines are brilliantly unique, capturing the vineyard terraces' stony and mineral character and possessing a remarkable crystalline purity. Drinking these wines from Mont Blanc's side is like tasting freshly squeezed juice running off a glacier.

Argile Blanc is a white wine composed of an assembly of Jacquere, Chardonnay, Mondeuse Blanche vinified on indigenous yeasts. The grapes in this case come from the clay-rich slope, where the vines battle with the steep slopes facing the majestic panorama of the French Alps. The elegant, assertive nose vibrates on green notes of pine needles intertwined with citrus. In the mouth it is powerful and broad but with good control.