Pierre Boniface / Les Rocailles   

Pierre Boniface

What a misnomer, just look at the picture! He’s no bony face but a ruddy chubby-cheeks, a compact Saint Nicholas bringing us Heavenly wine down from On High.

When Pierre took over from his father he had a modest business, farming 20 acres and buying grapes from another 20 on handshake deals. Today he has one of the largest wine businesses in his (small) region. He farms over 75 acres and buys grapes on handshake deals from 200 more. The 6 original concrete vats have been joined by about 20 large stainless steel tanks. Instead of one wine – Apremont – he has nine.

What makes this so wonderful is that nothing has really changed. Pierre will tell you that the Apremont he bottles today is just about the same wine his father and grandfather made. It accounts for 70% of the production, with the other eight wines making up just 30%. This remains a totally hands on, down home (if you can call the Alps ‘down home’) family business just like Grandad used to run, only bigger.

Savoie

Or as we say in English ‘Savoy’. It is a true earthly paradise. Valleys nestled at the foot of the Alps are warm, never hot, in the summer; breezy, cool and pleasant in spring and fall, and cold but never frigid during the winter. Vineyards share space with lush meadows whose cows, sheep and goats give us some of France’s greatest cheeses like Reblochon and Tomme de Savoie. There is clean light industry amid the clean air and water. The people of Savoie are well-educated and prosperous. They are also very hard-working as mountain people everywhere have always had to be.

Five hundred years ago the Duchy of Savoy was a power in Europe, covering parts of Switzerland, France and Italy. French Savoy is little known for wine although paradoxically most wine lovers know and love the old Duchy’s best and most famous wines: Barolo, Barbaresco and everything else from Piedmont are wines of Savoy.

The Wines of Today’s Savoie

Most French Savoie wines are as far as you can get from Barolo – white, feather-light, ethereal, evanescent bursts of crystal-clear purity filled with fruit, stones and flowers. The predominate grape is Jacquere (don’t worry, nobody else has ever heard of it either, and it only grows here). Another fine local grape is Roussette, officially known as Altesse. There is the inevitable infestation of Chardonnay which actually does well here, but it’s really a shame when you have such wonderful, original and exuberant local wines like nothing else on earth. After a near-death experience, plantings of Roussanne are increasing. This unquestionably makes the finest wine of Savoie, but it is rare and expensive. The local name is Chignin-Bergeron.

There are reds as well – Gamay and Pinot Noir brought up the hill from Burgundy produce pleasant light reds and rose. The best red however is Mondeuse (Mon Dieu! Mongoose!), known in Italy as Refosco. It is dark in color, light in body and aromatic with a pleasant tannic bite that works wonderfully with the local foods.

The Wines of Les Rocailles

This is the name of Pierre Boniface’s home, actually a compound of buildings that encompasses home, winery, office and equipment sheds. The basic wine of Les Rocailles is Apremont. Writers and merchants who know the wine are unanimous and curiously poetic in its praise:

Robert Parker, the Wine Advocate: “The equivalent of drinking from a mountain stream running through cool, rocky crevices laced with wine.”

Howard Goldberg, the New York Times: “Light White, Savoie Joy – spritzy dry 2000 Paul Boniface Apremont from Savoie – bottled joie de vivre – is a find. Francophiles will relish this simple Alpine white’s floral scent, grapefruity flavor and weightlessness.”

The Wines

Kermit Lynch, wine merchant: “This is as fresh as wine gets, the wine version of bubbling, crystal clear spring water. It is light in body, light in alcohol, alive and kicking on the palate, bone dry, and crisp at the finish. It reminds me of green apple, granite cliffs, and alpine meadows inhabited by of-age nymphs.”

Apremont accounts for the vast majority of our sales. Apremont Prestige sells for a buck more but doesn’t get much play. However the Roussette is another story – more similar to Apremont than different, but richer, with a voluptuous texture and enough flesh on its bones to partner well with things like veal or pork (or wild boar, if you’re lucky). Brut de Savoie is a sparkler – just like the Apremont but with full bubbles instead of just a little spritz. Despite some Chardonnay in the blend, it is as different from Champagne as a dry sparkler can get, which makes it a great change of pace.

New this year is Pierre’s first bottling of Chignin - Bergeron, a ripe and luscious mouthful of the Northern Rhone, but even farther north. Roussanne is one of the world’s great white varietals and the Savoie version can be as fine as any.