Domaine des Ardoisières ‘Argile’ Blanc 2022

Location: France, Savoie

Winemaker: Brice Omont

Grapes: Chardonnay, Jacquère, Mondeuse Blanc

Soil: Shale marl, hard black shale, and clay soil

Winemaking: The wine ferments in a mix of stainless steel tanks and used French oak barriques; aged in used barrels for about eight months before bottling.

From the Importer Ideal Wine: The setting couldn’t be more dramatic, with Mont Blanc dominating every vista. But it is the inherent quality of the wine that is truly breathtaking. Each cuvee seems to capture the spirit of the Alps: fresh, herbal, ethereal but grounded. There’s a degree of complexity that is rare in an area that can sell its refreshing wine at high prices to the tourists. The real cost for this quality is back-breaking labor in the steep vineyards, low yields, and no shortcuts anywhere. Brice Omont is the very talented man behind it all. He’s been rewarded with listings in France’s greatest restaurants.

The vineyards are ancient, with more than 2000 years of historical cultivation, but had almost disappeared in recent years. In the late 1990s a collective effort was made to reclaim them, at least in part. This led to the foundation of the estate, led by Michel Grisard. Since 2005 Brice Omont has taken the reins. The vineyard is on two distant slopes, Cevins and Saint Pierre de Soucy. The former’s soil is sandy silt over metamorphic rock, with micaschist and schist. The entire vineyard is terraced as the slopes are up to 60%. The latter is clay-limestone schistous marls over sedimentary rock. The grapes are trellised on medium to very steep slopes.