Adrien Berlioz La Pepie

Adrien Berlioz / Domaine du Cellier des Crays

Adrien Berlioz is a young and upcoming producer in Chignin whose wines have become very rare and sought after. This passionate but humble vigneron is the cousin and neighbour of the more well-known Gilles Berlioz. Together they are partly responsible for putting low-yield organically farmed Savoie wines in the crosshairs of sommeliers and cavistes around the world.

Having started in 2006 with a tiny family estate, Adrien now produces a mind-bending array of different cuvées from about 6 hectares. The vineyards are located on the south-eastern outskirts of the French Alps near Chambéry. His holdings are in steep lieu-dits with slopes of 50%. His grapes – a cross-section of indigenous white and red Savoie varieties. His grapes are lovingly tended biodynamically, harvested by hand, and rigidly sorted before vinification.

Born from vines over 45 years old, lieu dit “Sous Tormery and Les Bugnons”, on terroir of limestone scree and moraine on marl. These vines are planted at a high density (8900 vines per hectares), harvested by hand when the time comes, with the grapes transported in small boxes. In the winery, the grapes are then directly pressed, and vinified by gravity before natural fermentation and winemaking techniques, including a very small amount of sulphur, are used to complete the wine. Ageing is then carried out in stainless steel tanks. La Pepie means “the thirst” in Savoie local dialect.