Jean-Yves Peron | Vino della Savoia

Jean-Yves Péron is a natural winemaker from Savoie, in the French Alps. He studied biochemistry first, then switched to wine and trained in oenology in Bordeaux at the end of the 1990s. He learned the craft with Thierry Allemand in Cornas and Bruno Schueller in Alsace, worked harvests in Oregon and New Zealand, and came home to start his own estate in 2004.

He lives in Chevaline, near Lake Annecy, but the vines are on the slopes of Conflans, the medieval old town above Albertville, and at Fréterive, further down the Isère valley. For years the cellar was in the basement of the family house, more than 30 km from the vines. In 2017 he moved into a new cellar close to the vineyards, partly dug into the rock.

The vineyard is a patchwork of small, steep terraces on mica schist, roughly 400 to 600 metres up. Everything is worked by hand, and harvest here is closer to climbing than picking. He farms around 4.5 hectares and buys in grapes from like-minded growers nearby, the equivalent of roughly another hectare and a half depending on the year. In the vineyard he uses horsetail and nettle preparations instead of synthetic sprays.

The Savoie wines are mostly Mondeuse for the reds, like La Cote Pelée and Les Champ Levat, and skin-macerated whites like La Grande Journée, 100% Altesse from his terraced schist plot. His cuvées and vintages change from year to year, so check the list below for what we have right now.

In 2017 Péron started a second project on the other side of the Alps. I Vicini means "the neighbours" in Italian, and that is the idea: he buys grapes from chemical-free growers in Piedmont, brings them back over the mountains and makes the wines in his Savoie cellar. That is why you will find them listed under France on our site, even though every grape is Italian.

He started with Barbera, Dolcetto, Grignolino, Cortese, Moscato and Favorita, and has since added Nebbiolo. In some vintages a little Freisa ends up in the Grignolino. Today I Vicini makes up between a quarter and a third of everything he produces, so this is not a side project any more.

What makes these wines unusual is that he treats Piedmont grapes exactly the way he treats his Savoie ones. In Piedmont almost everyone destems. Péron never destems and never adds sulphur, and the few Piedmontese growers who work without sulphur tend to destem anyway. Whole-bunch Barbera or carbonic Nebbiolo from Piedmont grapes is close to unheard of. The wine writer Aaron Ayscough rates I Vicini as the most interesting cross-border exchange in natural wine today.

The I Vicini 'Grignolino' comes from Casale Monferrato. Grignolino usually makes pale, light reds, but when we tasted the 2018 it was quiet on the nose at first and then huge on the palate, like a big Barolo. Decant it, or save some for the next day. The Barbera is made from Piedmont fruit the same way. Other I Vicini bottles include Casa Rossa, a deep, almost red rosé of Grignolino, Freisa and Barbera, and a Réserve that blends Pinot Noir and Barbera from Casale Monferrato. Which I Vicini wines we have changes with every shipment.

Péron is arguably the first vigneron in France to make skin-macerated whites almost his whole white range. He began macerating his Jacquère in 2006, first for four days, and has stretched it over the years to anything from a few weeks to 24 months in the most extreme cases. If you like skin contact wines, this is one of the reference points.

Grapes go in as whole bunches, red and white, and he foot-treads the vats a day or two before pressing. Macerations happen in wooden vats, steel, fibreglass and several kinds of amphora, and every wine then ages in something porous, usually old barrels and sometimes clay.

No sulphur goes in, and neither does anything else. In rare cases, macerated wines aged in big foudres get a filtration so he does not have to rack them over and over. Yields on his own vines usually sit between 20 and 50 hectolitres per hectare, depending on the year.

His grapes are the Savoie classics: Mondeuse for the reds, and Jacquère, Altesse, Roussanne (called Bergeron locally), Muscat and more recently Gringet for the whites, plus some Gamay and Persan. All of it grows on mica schist.

Who is Jean-Yves Péron?

A natural winemaker from Savoie in the French Alps. He trained in Bordeaux, worked with Thierry Allemand and Bruno Schueller, and started his own estate in 2004. He is best known for his long skin-macerated whites, his Mondeuse reds and his I Vicini wines from Piedmont grapes.

Where is Jean-Yves Péron based?

He lives in Chevaline, near Lake Annecy. His vines are on the steep slopes of Conflans above Albertville and at Fréterive in the Isère valley, and since 2017 his cellar has been close to the vineyards.

Does Jean-Yves Péron add sulphur to his wines?

No, never. In rare cases he filters macerated wines that were aged in large foudres, so he does not have to rack them repeatedly.

What is I Vicini?

I Vicini ("the neighbours") is Péron's Piedmont label, started in 2017. He buys Barbera, Grignolino, Dolcetto, Cortese, Moscato, Favorita and Nebbiolo from growers in Piedmont and makes the wines in Savoie, whole bunch and without sulphur.

Why are Jean-Yves Péron's Piedmont wines listed under France?

The grapes are Italian, but the wine is made in his cellar in Savoie, so the wine itself is French.

What grapes does Jean-Yves Péron use?

From Savoie: Mondeuse, Jacquère, Altesse, Roussanne (Bergeron), Muscat, Gringet, Gamay and Persan. From Piedmont: Barbera, Grignolino, Dolcetto, Cortese, Moscato, Favorita, Nebbiolo and some Freisa.

Are Jean-Yves Péron's white wines orange wines?

Mostly, yes. Almost all his whites are skin macerated, from a few weeks up to two years in extreme cases. La Grande Journée, from Altesse, is a good example.

How much wine does Jean-Yves Péron make?

Not much. He farms around 4.5 hectares and buys grapes equivalent to roughly 1.5 more, with I Vicini making up a quarter to a third of the total. Bottles sell out fast.