Domaine Belluard: The Ayse of Spades
4/11/18 -
Brighter days, blooms, and bird song can only mean that Domaine Belluard is back in stock. While savvy wine drinkers have already scrolled past this to the offer, I must confess to the newcomers that it took me a moment to have my "moment" with these wines. The scarceness and subsequent price tag made them seem hard to access. Like modal jazz, abstract expressionism, or wearing white - biodynamic Savoie wines can be an elusive genre (albeit much more rewarding). The gateway for me was a couple years ago when I tasted one of our perennial favorites Les Perles du Mont Blanc, an affordable mineral-driven sparkling wine made from Gringet -- a grape that I had never heard of, but for which Dominique Belluard is synonymous. From here I understood what many others have: these wines have emotional resonance and natural wines of this caliber are priceless.
As far as we know, he is the only winemaker currently bottling Gringet commerically. Master of Wine Jancis Robinson established that (as of 2008) there are 64 acres of Gringet in the world, and of those, 54 belong to Dominique. Before it became nearly extinct, the fate of this lively cultivar was to make sparkling plonk or become part of industrial blends for the local cooperative, a far cry from the proud expression that we have come to expect from Dominique. His mission to elevate this mighty grape began in 1988 when he took over his family's 10-hectare estate, nestled in the village of Ayse in the Savoie region of France.
Dominique’s vines range from ten to sixty years old and are planted in clay soils with broken-down limestone on the foothills of Mont Blanc. Though the winery is not certified organic, his farming practices follow strict biodynamic principles. Winemaking is equally meticulous, meaning only native yeasts are used, no fining, no filtration, and only minimal sulfur added at bottling. Dominique prefers concrete eggs for his fermentations as he believes that the shape promotes a natural movement of the wine inside and this acts as a way to stir the lees without physically stirring them, thus adding texture and overall stability to the wine. He also uses stainless steel and fiberglass tanks, mostly for blending the wine for Les Alpes and Pur Jus before bottling, and his Mondeuse is usually aged entirely in amphora (although for 2016 it was aged in concrete eggs).
Harvest in 2016 was down 40% (and 50% in 2017) so besides loving them, we had no choice but to stockpile the wines. Each cuvée has a separate personality and Dominique's light touch makes them fascinating to compare and contrast. This is especially true for Les Alpes and Pur Jus which are the same wine in every way except that Pur Jus has zero added sulfur. But if you only choose one wine, make it the 2016 Le Feu. Maybe it's not a wine that you can open every day, but every other day you will be really, really happy that you did. Amanda Bowman
