Chez Eduard Vin de Savoie Ayze Blanc 2022

$79.99 on 3+ 
$84.99 reg US Low

Appellation: Vin de Savoie
Grape: Gringet 100%
Winemaker: Vincent Ruiz
Vineyard: South-facing vineyard, from 620m, planted in 1914 over limestone-based soil with abundant scree.
Viticulture: Biodynamic (not certified). Organic certification pending.
Winemaking: Pressed for 4-7 hours, settled for 24 hours. Then fermented over ambient yeasts.
Aging: Aged for 9 months on the lees in sandstone amphoras. Then bottled and aged for 10 additional months. Bottled with no oxygen exposure. 10-20 mg/L total SO2.

The late Dominique Belluard was a legend in his time.  By the time he built up a very loyal cult following, he left us too soon. Sadly, Dominique passed a couple of years ago in 2021 at the age of 55, leaving little in place to continue on his incredible legacy. I enjoyed several great bottles of his wines over the years when they were “available” before his fame took off in wine circles. Some sparkling, some still, all were exemplary, unique and truly terroir driven.  When you see the terroir of the vineyards it all clicks. I had some smart and “in the know” retailer friends I bought these from until they then disappeared even from their early access to such a brilliant project.

With no plan in place to maintain the incredible legacy, his wife and a few vigneron friends that included Franck Balthazar and Jean-Francois Ganevat stepped in to help save and continue Dominiques legacy.  A plan was created to save the Domaine and transition it from Valérie, Dominique’s partner, to the new entity.

Vincent Ruiz relocated to the Arve valley full time in the spring of 2022. Vincent farms in his predecessor’s footsteps, but also introduced innovative training and pruning techniques, while staying true to biodynamic and organic viticulture (uncertified). He got rid of the tractors to avoid soil compaction and restore plant  biodiversity.  This allowed for wild grasses to flourish between the rows. Vincent significantly reduced yields and is pursuing official certifications for organic farming. While the sparkling wines are gone, the emphasis here is on still wines with clear terroir expressions, including a single-vineyard wine from Dominique’s most prized vineyard, Le Feu.

Vincent favors long pressings in a pneumatic horizontal press in the cellar, followed by light cold settling for the Gringet and Altesse. For the Mondeuse, Vincent pays tribute to his northern Rhône roots, whole clusters fermentations, long macerations, and gentle extractions. Fermentation takes place over ambient yeasts in concrete or ceramic vessels, and the wines age on fine lees for nine months in concrete eggs and tanks without any racking until bottling. The wines are bottled, unfined and unfiltered, without oxygen exposure and aged for an additional few months before release. The wine sees only minimal (less than 16 mg/L) of sulfur to protect these gentle wines.