What is an authentic Savoy white wine? Taste Domaine Labbé’s Abymes 2019 and you will have the answer. The light yellow robe, the nose of white fruit, fresh hazelnut and almond, rubbed stone, the lively and mineral mouth with a nice final bitterness of citrus peel mean a Jacquère from a beautiful terroir.
At La Croix Verpy, a pretty hill in the Chapareillan with a 30% gradient, the vines planted on the limestone scree of Mont Granier don’t produce many grapes.
“In spring we spend time budding; in sunny years, the vines suffer and regulate themselves”, observes Alexandra Labbé. Follow her cousin Jérôme in the vineyard and you will understand that, for them, nothing is more precious than the life of the earth. The soils are weeded mechanically using a multifunction mower made by the winemaker. “With the same tool I mow between the rows and between the vines in a single pass. It saves time and above all avoids compacting the soil, “explains Jérôme, who developed a 2019 abymes with Alexandra without much intervention in the vinification .
After fermentation, the wines are never racked. They are raised on their lees and retain their natural gas. “It gives complete wines that keep well. Two years later they are not breathless at all, they still retain many aromas and freshness. In four years they will be held again”, assures the winemaker, who intends to re-educate the consumer’s taste for older Jacquere wines.
Another wish of the two cousins: to put an end to chemical treatments and convert to organic. They have already hit the road. “Difficult years like 2021, organic wines have done better than the others. We will train in natural treatments”, they have foreseen so that their abysses are more authentic than ever!
Price per bottle: €6.20. Domaine Labbé, 22 chemin Pré-la-Grange, 73800 Porte-de-Savoie. Such. 04 76 13 21 79
