Jean-yves péron
Savoie, France
Jean-Yves was born and raised in Savoie where he produces wine today. After studying winemaking in Bordeaux in the late 90s he worked for Thierry Allemand in Cornas and later with Bruno Scheuller in Alsace. Today these two legendary growers are still his mentors.
He returned to Savoie in 2004 basing his production out of the village of Chevaline at the entrance to the Tarentaise Valley near Conflans. The sites here are all between 350m and 550m with primarily schist soils, but also slate, limestone and mica on very steep mountain slopes. Working slopes this steep brings a mountain climbing element to the vineyard work, but vines that are in some cases over 100 years old bring their own rewards. Jean-Yves’ Savoie sites have been worked by hand since the 1800s and have never seem chemicals or machinery in the vineyard. It goes without saying that picking is also done by hand when harvest time comes.
Farming is Organic and Biodynamic. Jean-Yves will simply tell you that he does not put chemicals in the vineyards as nothing is certified. All of the Savoie wines he produces are from single vineyards, the idea to express each site and the different Terroirs here. He works with several mico parcels across the region containing Mondeuse, Persan, Jacquere, Altesse and Roussane. Jean-Yves has also brought a strong negoce element to the project in the last few years sourcing fruit from Alsace, Rhone, Ardeche and soon Italy.
In the winery Jean-Yves doesn’t destem anything and almost all the wines are macerated. There is a degree of carbonic maceration on many of his reds and some of his white wines as well. Elevage tends to be quite long, often up to 3 years. Racking and topping are kept to a minimum and sulfur is not an option, having not been used in the winery for many years. The wines are bottled without filtering, fining or other adjustments.
Surprisingly although alcohol levels range from 8.5% - 12% Jean-Yves picks almost 2 weeks after most of his neighbours. Production is around 15,000 bottles per year.
Retail
Ellement Wine & Spirits
Jones & Co. Wine Merchants
