I Vicini Favorita White 2020

I Vicini Favorita Blanc 2020,

Jean-Yves Péron

Compared to the two previous vintages (2018 and 2019), this cuvée offers a much more pronounced tannic structure (without being too powerful or intrusive) and a semi-aromatic character. The fruit stands out more than in 2018 and 2019, which were produced from young vines. We therefore perceive saline notes, magnificent acidity, and fruit, fruit, and fruit. It is therefore the opulence of the grape variety that shines through, a result of choosing a different plot, planted with old vines and facing southeast. The skins of these grapes are much thicker, which influences the tannicity of the wine. We retain the characteristics of the grape variety: sapidity, a nice acidic base, tension, lots of perfume without excess exoticism.
In 2017, Jean-Yves Péron decided to expand his range by collecting organic grapes in the heart of the Italian Piedmont. This resulted in several vintages, including I Vicini Favorita, a white from a local variety so close to Vermentino (Rolle in France) that the two grape varieties are considered identical. We therefore have a sort of non-maritime Vermentino, with the signature of a more continental terroir and climate. The wine is the result of a two-week carbonic maceration, with a ten-day punch-down. The wine is aged in 300-liter barrels.

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Jean-Yves Péron embodies the natural renaissance of the beautiful Savoyard vineyard, which has long suffered from a somewhat flimsy image, not taken seriously enough. Yet, what treasures its varied soils and numerous ancient grape varieties produce!
Near Conflans, in Albertville (Savoie), Jean-Yves Péron skillfully combines committed viticulture and merchant winemaking, both under the banner of nature and high-altitude organic vines. Initially destined for a career in biochemistry, he quickly became drawn to the vine and trained as an oenologist in Bordeaux. He learned his trade as a winemaker with Thierry Allemand in Cornas, then with Bruno Schueller in Alsace, before spending some time in New Zealand and the United States. Jean-Yves's current vineyard, one and a half hectares of which have been biodynamic since the beginning, is divided between Conflans, near Albertville, and Fréterive, a little further down in the Isère Valley. Composed of micro-plots of vines, it is staggered between 350 m and 550 m above sea level and is worked entirely by hand. His trading activity, which he began in 2011, allows him to buy the harvest from organic winegrowers close to him (such as Raphaël Marin and Adrien Dacquin). Also, the construction of a new winery in 2017 allows him to increase production and collaborate with winegrowers from Northern Italy: Paolo Angelino in Casale Monferrato (Turin), Giorgio Barbero in Asti. This is a new dimension given to his work as a winemaker, allowing him to diversify the terroirs and deepen his experiences in winemaking and aging. Jean-Yves Péron's winemaking follows the principles of minimal intervention. On narrow and steep surfaces, his mountain vines receive no synthetic products, Jean-Yves preferring horsetail and nettle manure. The surrounding vegetation is very rich: it protects the vines and helps to strengthen them. The soils are grassed, mown and reworked with a pickaxe and winch. The harvest is entirely manual. Once vatted in whole bunches, the grapes, both red and white, undergo a semi-carbonic maceration which allows the extraction of fresh fruit aromas. This maceration time varies between five days and nine weeks depending on the vintage. The day before or two days before pressing, Jean-Yves performs foot-treading directly in the vat. After this fermentation, the musts are sent to barrels for aging on lees for twelve months in five hundred liter barrels of two or three wines (to limit the oaky sensation), followed by blending and resting in vats. No sulfites are added, or as little as possible, and the wines are not fined or filtered.