JEAN PERRIER
St. André les Marches, France
The Perrier estate can be traced seven generations back to Catherin Perrier, who purchased the family's first cellar in St André les Marches in the shadow of Mont Granier in 1853. Phylloxera wiped out the family's first plantings, so the second generation, Claude Emile, was forced to replant - in his efforts to revitalize the family business, he rode a cart of barrels pulled by his donkey from café to café to deliver wine.
The second try was the charm, and when the estate's namesake, Jean, took over in 1920, they had trended far enough in the right direction to begin bottling their wine. Now, a century later, they hold 62 hectares worth of plantings, mainly of native varieties such as Jacquere, Altesse, and Mondeuse in eight Savoie villages including Apremont and Chignin. Gilbert Perrier is the current president of the company, but his son Gilles has worked with him for many years, and his own son has recently joined the fold as well.
Their vines are certified sustainable, HVE, and all grapes are hand-harvested. The wines are all fermented and held in stainless steel in order to preserve purity of fruit and varietal expression. Most of all, however, it is the altitude here in the French Alps that imparts incredible freshness and minerality.
Wines