Food & Drink
Simply Mini
19
ALPINE WINE HAUTE SAVOIE
Pam Gagiano
S
ki season is still in full swing and hopefully the snow will be in abundance until right at its end. Après ski is a byword which conjures up all sorts of images, most of them fun. Having had a good day on the slopes, what is better than a vin chaud or a shared bottle or two of local wine with your skiing buddies? Unbelievable to imagine wine, never mind a very good wine, growing in the Alps. We were pleasantly surprised and just love the wines on offer there. The area has its own micro-climate, nestled between the mountains and lakes of the region and the majority of the wineries are open year-round for tastings and tours. There are also many local food markets where one can taste the wines on offer, pairing well with the local cheeses and other delicacies from the region.
T
here are three appellations, with the dominant red grapes being Pinot Noir, Gamay and Persan whilst the dominant white grapes are Chardonnay, Jacquere, Roussanne, Altesse and Chasselas. If you are in the Haute Savoie for the skiing, do yourselves a favour and enquire at the Tourist Information which vineyards are open. Of course, in the summer, it is a fabulous area to visit and ‘wine tour’! I will of course go into a lot more detail when I cover this fabulous area in the magazine in the coming months, until then, have fun exploring the wines.
Salut Pam
“Wine is a passport to the world.” Thom Elkjer
