Jean-Yves Peron

Eloquent, educated, cultured, engaging and with wine that overwhelms you, Jean-Yves Péron stole our hearts back in 2012, and it's not just because of the superbe espresso.

HIROTAKE OOKA
After getting his degree in structural and functional Biochemistry, young Parisian student Jean-Yves Péron throws himself wholeheartedly into his work as a pharmaceutical researcher but soon finds that in this sector, doors remain closed. It is the domain of pharmacists. So what now?
He had learned that there might be more honour to be had at the faculty in Bordeaux and one sunny afternoon he set off for Bordeaux to take the National Diploma in Oenology. At home, only Mouton-Cadet was drunk and his father preferred Krug Champagne. He himself had occasionally heard of a Gewürztraminer. That was pretty much his baggage. And the prospect was not very pleasant because the first year had to be repeated. That crucial year he found himself sitting in the university school bench next to Hirotake Ooka, the son of a prominent Japanese family with an amazing knowledge and passion about wine that Hiro was happy to share with a small group of enthusiasts.

CHOC
Every week there were two tastings at the University, one with the student union and one or two with the enthusiast group. Always blind, of course. By the end of his third year, Jean-Yves was even starting to make some intelligent comments, and he recounts that one day during one of those sessions Hirotake arrived with a 1998 St Joseph from Dard & Ribo, a vin naturel and without sulphur.
‘It was a choc. Of the six tasters, two thought it was awful (that's not wine) two didn't understand it and Hiro and I loved it, and I said to myself that I would love to make wine like that.’

BORDEAUX AND PRIMEUR
But to achieve that is not easy. True, he did complete his studies well and has the
NDO Diploma in his pocket but if you are not the son of a winemaker there is nothing to do but start with an apprenticeship. In Oregon, the new Eldorado for Pinot Noir, he is introduced to the billion-dollar developments of immense wine estates like e.g. Silicon Valley and in Saint-Emilion he learns to make the slick wines for the ‘En Primeur’ tastings held every April for the whole world. With Jean-Louis Grippa and Thierry Allemand, he learns pruning and with Bruno Schueller in Alsace, he sticks around, if allowed the whole season. All the work from vineyard to cellar he went through there and says he learned many tricks but at the end of it all, I knew I wanted to make my own wine.

METTEZ DU GAMAY
And the search for a few hectares of vineyard with good soil and the right location begins.
With his heart's desire being a piece of land in the hills of Conflans not far from Albertville in Haute-Savoie. Because his mother left a large family manor there in Chevaline just above Lac d'Annecy. The vineyards 25 km away are easily accessible by car. Luck smiles on him and he is lucky if he also manages to get hold of 70 acre Mondeuse from an average of 70-year-old vines, the oldest of which date back to 1893 and face due south in a lush flora of wild absinthe, St John's Wort and bindweed on a soil of Mica-Schists with veins of quartz and iron dioxide. The steep terraces make it impossible to work with machinery, which is why
Jean-Yves with a winch and the rest he does by hand.
‘Everyone used to have 10 or 20 hectares of Mondeuse for their own use or for on the tables in the Bistros. When I started in Albertville in 2004 there were 80 hectares of Mondeuse and now there are 3.5 of which
I own 2.5. Nobody is waiting for those barren, unripe wines with excessive yields anymore.
Whenever they wanted to sell it my father used to shout: just throw in Gamay!

HALFZUSSEN
The vines clinging to the slopes of Conflans are grown in pots just like Thierry Allemand's Syrah in the rocks of Cornas. Despite being a historical grape from Savoy, the Mondeuse is most similar to the Syrah. According to a DNA test by a specialist in vine genetics, by crossing the white Mondeuse with the red Dureza from the Ardèche, the Syrah was created and by crossing it with another variety - probably the Allobrogian, the black Mondeuse, the Mondeuse Noire, was created. So Cornas Syrah and Albertville Mondeuse are half-sisters.
‘When Thierry Allemand saw my plot for the first time, he really poofed and exclaimed that my Mondeuse had so much more in common with his Syrah than with those from Hermitage or Côte Rôtie.’

WITH MY HAND ON MY HEART
Mondeuse Noire is a rustic variety with good resistance to mildew and rot and quite easy to grow but much harder to ripen, and to make a wine without sulphur, ripeness is an absolute prerequisite. But despite Jean-Yves paying a lot of attention to his biodynamic vineyards and experimenting with plant density, his passion remains first and foremost making wine. ‘I think in flavour. There are flavours I like and others I don't like again. When I moved to Chevaline and had my first vines, I knew before harvesting how I was going to make my wine. That sounds very convincing some will say!
‘I know:’ says Jean-Yves, ’what my wine is made of and I know what I need to do to make my wine to my taste. Simply by soaking ripe grapes, treading on their feet, pressing gently, not clarifying and not filtering, leaving without sulphurisation until spring in old barrels and ignoring fermentation completely. With my hand on my heart (and without flinching a muscle) I dare say, that even without tasting, I can make my wine the way I want it.’

I CAN'T POSSIBLY MAKE WINE THAT WAY
Almost angry but very serious, he continued, ‘I know that fermentation (fermentation) in the cellar is the reign of great fear. The oenologist is the belt and braces. He analyses the must and throws in all sorts of things to let the selected yeasts do their work right to the end and then adds lactic acid bacteria to speed up malolactic fermentation even more, because the faster you do everything the faster you can add sulphur and then hopla everything is also quiet quickly.

That way I can't possibly make wine’.

I VICINI
His white wines taste more than sophisticated. Lush as a field bouquet and fragrant with the very finest cinnamon aroma. Oriental scents and essences but always nimble, fresh and delicate. The red wines are mostly carbonated and some white wines undergo longer maceration times, influenced by Jean-Yves' love of northern Italian “orange” wines.
These I Vicini wines consist of grapes collected mainly in Piedmont from friendly biodynamic winemakers, offering a unique interpretation of grape varieties such as Barbera and Grignolino. All little gems to enjoy again and again.

NEW CELLAR
Jean Yves recently moved to a new cellar, a wonderful working tool, on the heights of Albertville and as close as possible to his vines. The barrels there are meticulously stacked, allowing the wines to develop in peace. Jean-Yves Péron's philosophy, combined with eco-friendly winemaking practices, is reflected in his exceptional wines, making his mark on the Savoy wine scene.