Prieure Saint Christophe
Prieure Saint Christophe Savoie Mondeuse 2020
It’s all about who you know, and when you know, you know.
Why This Wine?
Making wine is hard. At least, making great wine is hard. It’s hard enough to pick the grapes at the right time before the birds eat them all. It’s harder to get the fermentation right, to wait patiently while the yeast makes the wine. It’s very hard to age it properly so you don’t interfere with the flavors, to keep the wine safe while it develops, and then bottle it without breaking either the glass or your wrist. Doing all that is even harder when you’re looking for something in the wine no one else can see. Michel Grisard was a lone voice in the wilderness in 1978 when he said he wanted to “make Mondeuse into a great wine”. It was certainly a surprise to his neighbors and his family when he succeeded.
About the Winery
Michel Grisard is one of a very small number of people who has been called a pope. He was called the ‘Pope of Mondeuse’, which doesn’t come with quite as much fanfare, but there’s at least a little smoke in the spring when smudge pots in the vineyards keep the frost away. In 1982, he left his family domaine to work only with a tiny property that would eventually become the Prieure Saint Christophe. High above the village of Frétérive, he worked alone with Mondeuse and a small amount of Roussette de Savoie, in an era when Gamay and Jacquerre were the only grapes people wanted from Savoie. The wines Michel made quickly proved his point that this ancestor of Syrah deserved more time and attention. In 2006, Michel met Pierre Overnoy, the legend of Jura, and quickly became convinced that Overnoy’s biodynamic methods were a good fit for his domaine as well. Having saved the Mondeuse grape from extinction, Michel retired in 2014, and handed over his title ‘pope of Mondeuse’ to the Giachino family, now headed by the son Clément, whose own work with this iconic Savoie grape is nearly as good a story.
A Meeting of Minds
Michel Grisard struck out on his own in 1978, leaving his family’s winery to focus on his passion for Mondeuse. Frédéric Giachino never had to make that difficult choice. He inherited his family’s own vineyards in the 1980s, but he arrived in his vineyards with a similar philosophy and interest in the obscure traditional grapes of Savoie. Michel Grisard may have been the first to put Mondeuse on famous restaurant wine lists, but Frédéric’s own work was nearly as important. The two domaines transitioned to organic viticulture in the same year, and when Michel Grisard retired, he hand-picked Frédéric’s son Clément Giachino to take over his vineyards, leaving his legacy – and the future of Mondeuse – in the most capable hands.
Wine Details
Appellation
Savoie’s proximity to Italy might have something to do with the local appellation laws. They’re confusing, not terribly specific, and do little so showcase the best crus of Savoie. This wine might be one of the most important properties in the whole region, but the village it’s in, Frétérive, can’t even appear on the label under the mostly generic vin de Savoie: village xyz formula that Arbin, Aprement, Chignin, and Saint-Jean-de-la-Port are underserved by.
The Wine
Wines from mountains often have a character that makes you think about hiking in the mountains. Blackberries and blueberries picked from low bushes growing in the cracks of granite. Wintergreen and alpine blossoms poking through snow. Cherrywood smoke from a campfire. Orange peels fished out of your gorp.
The food
If you pair this with meat it should be pink on the inside, or cured. If cheese is involved it should be lightly creamy, buttery in flavor. Shy away from too much spice. Like the wine itself, the meal should be simple to prepare but full of variety.