Seyssel

We were off on a little wine tour, this time to Clairette de Die, when we broke our journey in Seyssel, yet another vineyard area on the Rhône.

Seyssel is just outside the Savoie and is known in the UK for its bottle-fermented sparkling wines, especially Varichon et Clerc Royal Seyssel (more about this later).

Just above Seyssel we climbed up through the vineyards to the village of Corbonod where we visited Maison Mollex, a wine producer and négociant. Their own production is sparkling, and still white wine made with 100% Roussette (the Altesse of Savoie).

Hence their 'smart' delivery lorry to supply local clients!

We visited the cave and saw their stocks of maturing sparkling wine. Very occasionally a bottle will explode but they are stacked in such a way that no damage is done to the neighbouring bottles.

The bottles are disgorged, to remove the sediment, à la volée – always interesting to see.

We tasted a couple of their Roussettes, preferring La Péclette 2006, from the eponymous 5ha vineyard. "Lovely ripe peachy fruit on the nose this just off-dry wine has good balancing acidity with a meaty finish."

As it was now midday we drove down to Seyssel where we had lunch at the Hotel Beausejour, the yellow building to the right, by the river.

Whilst Wink wisely ordered a seafood salad I indulged in the local speciality, La Friture, not dissimilar to whitebait. Accompanying it was a bowl of quinoa and tomato, so at least there was some healthy eating...

... though I had to have an ice cream!

To complete our visit to Seyssel we continued to the outskirts of the town to the Cave de Vins Lambert, an interesting wine shop that Wink was researching for Wine Travel Guides.

There we met Gérard Lambert who told us that he had bought the rights to produce Royal Seyssel, a sparkling wine made in Seyssel since the start of the 20th century by Varichon et Clerc. This company had been taken over by Boisset, a Burgundy négociant, who'd let its reputation slip.

So Gérard had negotiated (hah!) to buy Royal Seyssel in order to restore it to its former glory. He has built a new aging facility behind his wine shop and he proudly showed us the wine maturing. Good luck to Gérard in his brave endeavour!

Savoie - Chautagne

At last the weather was sunny and we were off to visit more of La France Profonde – La Chautagne.

Chautagne is one of the 20 or so small areas in the AOC region of Savoie: there are about 1800ha of vines scattered hither and thither in Savoie where the altitude and slopes allow for wine growing.

With Griselda (my Garmin Nüvi GPS, which can be a tad temperemental but never argumentative) we set off to drive via Annecy through peaceful countryside and then the gorge at Val-de-Fier, with its dams, reaching Serrières en Chautagne to visit a small producer there, Domaine de Verronet.

We rang the bell at the door which connected us to Madame who was working in the vineyard, who said that she would be along in a moment. When she arrived we tasted a range of wines in the little tasting room adjacent to the cellar.

With about 10ha of vines (some rented) 80% are red and 20% white varieties. Chautagne is the exception that makes the rule as Savoie as a whole produces a lot more white than red and rosé. we had a look at the vineyard behind the property before continuing on our way.

We then drove up through the vineyards to find Jacques Maillet. A charming man totally dedicated to making wines with character. After a serious illness in 2002 he reduced his vineyards from 6.5ha to 2.5ha and now produces wine biodynamically, with a loathing of machinery!

We enjoyed a vertical tasting of all his Autrement from its first vintage in 2004 (he now only has 9 bottles left!) to a tank sample of 2007. The wine is a blend of Gamay, Pinot Noir and Mondeuse - some of the latter vines are 107 years old.

I enjoyed all the vintages especially the earliest: pale in colour, which is typical of the red wines of Savoie, with a touch of minerality on the nose with lots of gorgeous ripe fruit - and a touch of heather!

We completed our tasting with a fine aperitif: Jacques' first white, Jacquère 2007 which was delicious. What a great guy!

We had a straightfoward lunch at the Auberge de Motz, a building that had been extensively refurbished by the village council using some of the income generated by the use of the electricity company's hydro-electric dams in its borough.

After lunch we drove through past more vineyards to Ruffieux...

...where we visited the Maison de Chautagne. The home of the local cooperative it also has a very good interactive wine museum as well as a large shop selling their wines as well as other local produce.

Our last visit of the day was to Chanaz, a pretty little tourist town on the Canal de Savières. The canal connects the river Rhône with the Lac de Bourget, the largest lake in France. Boat trips are popular on this waterway which can flow either way depending on the height of the river.

After a visit of the local watermill and a cup of tea we returned home using Griselda to guide us. True to form she found the most direct route which meant travelling up a steep, narrow road by the Lac de Bourget, the trickiness of which was compensated by terrific views of the lake.