Remembering someone I never knew, being where I’ve never been

Domaine Belluard

Fortepan / Bauer Sándor

I never met Dominique Belluard. And I never will. The winemaker from the French town of Ayze died by his own hand on June 17, 2021, at the age of 55.

People who knew him remember a serious person:

„He was someone who questioned everything; indeed, he was a pioneer of so much, not just in Ayze, but far beyond. Anything he did was thoroughly considered.“

—Wink Lorch

„He was always stoic, calm, and exceptionally warm, but at the same time distant in some way, as if half of his being was in the hills of Ayse.“

—Eben Lillie

I never met him, but I had the privilege of drinking some wines he made. With these wines, Dominique Belluard wanted to tell of the landscape where he lived, the French Alps.

The French Alps

I never visited Haute-Savoie, the region where he cultivated his wines. This area, Noble Rot’s Dan Keeling writes, „might be the most spectacular wine region on the planet,“ a landscape that is „mountainous, full of gargantuan peaks and high altitude pastures.“ Savoie lies between Geneva and Thonon-les-Bains in the north and Chambéry and Albertville in the south. It covers around 2100 hectares of vineyards and is characterized by a range of rare grape varieties, including Altesse, Gringet, Jacquère, and Mondeuse. Viticulture in this region dates back to the Cistercians in the 13th century.

Domaine Belluard

Domaine Belluard, renamed Domaine du Gringet after Dominique Belluard’s passing, is located within the village of Ayze, home to approximately 2% of the total vineyard area of Savoie. While established in 1947, the Domaine focused solely on wine production only after Dominique, who had studied oenology in Beaune, took over the estate in 1988. Located at an average altitude of 450 meters, the vineyards are in an alpine climate and wholly oriented to the south. The soils are influenced by sediments from ancient glacial waterfalls and dominated by weathered limestone. In 2001, the Domaine converted to biodynamic farming.

Gringet

The focus of cultivation is the autochthonous grape variety Gringet, which was already widespread in the region before Roman times. Today, only about 20 hectares of this variety are grown worldwide; half of this is in the hands of the Domaine named after it. Wink Lorch remembers:

„It was Dominique Belluard who showed that fine still wine could be made from Gringet as well as traditional method sparkling. It was he who questioned the conventional wisdom that Gringet was part of the Savagnin family and asked the ampelographer José Vouillamoz to investigate. The results proved that Gringet was unique and indigenous to the Alps.“

I have never been to Haute-Savoie, but when I drink one of Dominique Belluard's Gringet wines, it feels like I did. The wine conveys the character of its origin.

Monsieur Gringet

On the bottle of the 2020 "Monsieur Gringet" it says: „cultivé et vinifié par Dominique Belluard, mis en bouteille par Vincenz Ruiz.“ It is Dominique Belluard’s last wine, but the bottling took place after his death. Parts of this wine’s grapes come from the top vineyard Le Feu, which is located at an altitude of 450 meters and has an extreme slope with over 40% incline. The vines grow on red iron-rich slate soils on a limestone base and include some of the oldest Gringet vines. Eben Lillie describes the wine like this:

„Obviously age-worthy from it's acidity and mineral length, it's also a very present wine, firing on all cylinders, and making you wonder if maybe Gringet is the most exciting grape in the Savoie.“

The wine initially shows a slight reduction, which, together with the acidity, creates the impression of biting into stone. It is fresh and pure; in the mouth, it feels like one is drinking mountain water. Dan Keeling captures it well when he attests that this wine is "full of unique, stony-citrus-herbal Alpine flavours.“ I associate pear, wild herbs, alpine meadows, salt. The wine has a certain creaminess, a great length, and an incredible individuality. Unlike a Chardonnay from Burgundy, something rough and untamed mixes with the calm it radiates. „Monsieur Gringet“ is a wine that invites you to slow down and listen; it quietly touches me.

I know, that sounds uncritical. Jubilatory. You may think I’m just drunk. Or want to believe in a story. Or want to impress. Well, feel free to think so. This is just an imperfect attempt to share the unlikely experience that tasting a particular wine makes you feel as if you’re in a place you have never visited and remember someone you’ve never met.

Here’s to Dominique Belluard!