Producer: Domaine Dupasquier
Region: Savoie, France
Grape Varieties: Mondeuse
Viticulture: Low Intervention
Category: Red
Size: 750ml
David Dupasquier is a fifth generation winemaker at this ultra-traditional domaine. He and his sister Veronique run the domaine, but their Father Noel is still very much involved in the vineyards and in the cellar.
The Dupasquier vineyards are located in a southwestern lobe of the Savoie, close to the Rhône Valley. One drives through a large mountain called “Le Dent du Chat” to arrive at the domaine, and the terroir seems almost instantly to become more Rhône-ish on the western side of this tunnel. The town is called Aimavigne, and its most prestigious vineyard in the incredibly steep “Marestel” Cru (pronounced “mah-reh-tehl” no “s”). The vines benefit from steep, sun-drenched slopes, primarily limestone soil, and the cooling effects of Lake Bourget. David works these vineyards with a tractor and by hand – the Marestel vines entirely by hand, as a good percentage of the best sites are too steep to work with a tractor. Plowing is done once per year for every other row and David believes that the biodiversity this leaves in the vineyard is critical for the quality of wines. Harvest is by hand and clusters are hand selected.
From Selection Massale: "In our opinion, the Dupasquier’s top red wine is their Mondeuse. Like other great medium bodied, tannic varieties such as Syrah and Cabernet Franc, Mondeuse benefits from long aging in neutral barrel, which softens the tannins, integrating them with the rest of the wine’s deep, spicy aromas and flavors."
