Adrien Vacher – Roussette de Savoie Cuvée Réservée 2014

For Christmas, I don’t usually ask for much but this year I said, “Okay, my tasting experience in French whites is flabby on some fronts. Get me a box of the following AOPs…” Said box did arrive and with a great wonder of different wines that I never encounter in Spain. It’s a surprise given that everything in there was very affordable with the Chablis being the “most” expensive at 12€ and the others far more wallet friendly.

One of the first that I opened was this Adrien Vacher wine from the AOP of Roussette de Savoie. This will most likely not clang a lot of bells for most people although it should. It’s in the Savoy (Savoie) region which for me will forever live in infamy as on my sommelier exam it asked what country that was in. I put France initially but then upon reviewing must have gotten swamp gas up my nose as I changed it to Italy… Undoubtedly the reviewers looked at that and thought, “How does this guy get that wrong but then know where the Thracian Lowlands are?” What can I say, I’m complicated and terrible at taking tests.

Needless to say, I’m crazy about getting everything about Savoy fixed up correctly in my head. It shouldn’t be hard as wines like this are very, very pleasing and for 4€, make for a pure “holy shit!” moment. This white is so crisp and fresh with acidity that when I first tasted it, I thought for certain they had acidified it. While that may or may not be the case, it’s a trait of the Altesse grape from which this is made. It has loads of character and blows away similarly-priced wines from Penedès. It begs to be had with many meals, even more so than my dog.

Naturally, this is not a wine to age and this bottle will probably check out in two years tops. Does that really matter thought when it’s a wine to go pick up a box of and drown yourself in when August turns sordid? No, no it does not. This Roussette de Savoie warrants more exploration especially as it holds four Grand Crus. If you like Muscadet, this is definitely another wine to put on your Yum Yum list, or whatever more appropriate name you have for it.