Grape Variety: Mondeuse

Colour: Red

Mondeuse wine was originally enjoyed by the monks in the Cluny abbey, who settled on the banks of the Bourget Lake in the middle of the 11th century. Vine growing spread over the centuries from Monterminod to Seyssel and from Chapareillan to Fréterive. It is one of Savoie’s oldest and most distinctive varieties, and had a long list of synonyms: Mondeuse, Mollette, Morve, Savoyen, Savoyarde, Savoyant, Savoete, Savoyanche, Grand Chétuan, Maximieux, Persagne, Persaigne, Pessagne, Tournerin, Maldoux, Marginien and Plant Noir. Today, Mondeuse is the basis of the most well-known crus in the Combe de Savoie: Arbin, Chignin, Montmélian, Cruet, Saint Jean de la Porte and Fréterive. According to Doctor Guyot, the best Savoyarde Mondeuse wines, are “essentially digestive, never go to your head and do not perturb the nervous system; they therefore combine all the great qualities of the Médoc wines, though to a less perfect degree.”

The wines are deeply coloured, and keep well, with a peppery, violet nose. Characteristically, they are initially supple, lively in the middle of the mouth with fragrances of pepper, violet, cherry, blackberry and bilberry. There is a pleasant tannic impression with lingering spicy tones.  It has some Italianate characters with slight bitterness, and sour cherry notes; but DNA tests in Alto Adige have shown it is not, as some thought, identical to Friuli’s Refosco.

Domaine Genoux, based in Arbin, is a specialist in fine authentic Mondeuse and his wines are highly rated by sommeliers in the Savoie. The vines are located on clay-limestone scree and loose stones at 350m altitude on the steep slopes of the Bauges massif, glacial morraines, marnes and schists. No chemicals, lutte raisonnée, severe thinning of bunches, integrated approach to pests and disease, green harvest, « travail du sol ».

The Mondeuse “L’Authentique” doesn’t shilly-shally; it has terrific colour and a lovely sour cherry twist in the mouth. The wine proceeds to reveal lively red fruit flavours with mineral and liquorice notes, not obvious or immediately forthcoming, but with food they come into their own.

Drink with cured ham, roast kid with morels, civet of game or wild mushroom gateau.