Description
Domaine des Ardoisieres is a 17-acre wine estate overlooking the town of Freterive in the shadow of Mont Blanc in the French Alps near the Swiss border. Years of painstaking work went into re-planting two main vineyard sites planted to the local Savoie varietals of Altesse, Roussanne, Mondeuse Blanche, Malvoisie and Jacquere. The vines overlook the villages of Cevins and St Pierre de Soucy on steep, rocky slopes that have been farmed biodynamically from the beginning.
The soil of Cevins is mainly mica schist metamorphic rock, sericite schist and sandy loam with very little clay, while the soil of St. Pierre de Soucy is mainly made up of sedimentary rocks, schistose marls of the Jurassic and clay-limestone.
Thanks to the efforts of Brice Omont, a native of Champagne, who has been the winemaker since 2005, the domaine is considered one of the most exciting in all of France these days. They produce a tiny amount of wine (only 500 cases total) that has to be parceled out to thirsty customers in France and the US.
This Silice Blanc is a wine that Brice makes exclusively for Martine to import only to California because she wanted to offer a wine from him at a lower price point. It is 100% Jacquère and does not come from the Ardoisières estate vineyards but rather another nearby vineyard in the village of St. Pierre d’Albigny which Brice also farms and is Ecocert certified organic.
Like the other wines of the domaine, this is a beautifully made white wine with excellent balance and minerality with perhaps a bit more easy going, generous fruit. It's an excellent wine at a great price!
