Seyssel

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The geographical zone is dominated to the west by the Grand Colombier massif, a Jurassian ridge culminating at 1,534 metres, and to the east by the Gros Foug, exceeding 1,000 metres in altitude.
• Soils developed over Quaternary glacial deposits are brown, clayey and sometimes heavy, while those formed on Tertiary sandy molasse are skeletal, lighter and free-draining.
• The climate has an oceanic tendency with southern and continental influences, receiving 1,100 to 1,300 millimetres of rainfall spread over approximately 150 days per year.
• The Grand Colombier blocks Atlantic weather systems and channels airflows that are alternately cold, arriving from the Swiss plain, or mild, rising up from the Bas-Dauphiné.
• The delimited plots lie between 200 and 400 metres in altitude on landforms carved into the molasse and their moraine cover, overlooking the Rhône.
• The geographical zone extends across three communes divided between two departments, the Ain and the Haute-Savoie, with the commune of Seyssel straddling both banks of the Rhône.

• The vine and the wines of Seyssel are officially mentioned for the first time in 1145, and the vineyard area expanded in the early fourteenth century with the monks of Arvières.
• Producers have matched the planting of the two principal grape varieties to the nature of the substrates, with Altesse preferentially planted on the moraines and Molette on the sandy molasse soils.
• In 1927, the producers of Seyssel and Corbonod joined together to obtain a judicial and legal delimitation of their vineyard area, culminating in the recognition of the appellations in 1942.

• Still wines made from the Altesse variety frequently show a nose marked by white flower notes, complemented on the palate by hints of honey and acacia, underpinned by an impression of freshness.
• Wines made from the Molette variety are characterised by a lively attack on the palate, supported by exotic fruit notes, with a slight bitterness on the finish that reinforces their refreshing character.
• Sparkling wines, produced by secondary fermentation in bottle from a blend in which Molette predominates and Altesse is a mandatory component, generally show a floral nose with notes of cooked fruit, gingerbread and roasted character.

• The Rhône below and the forested massifs upstream act as a thermal regulator, the Seyssel area benefiting from a mesoclimate that moderates temperature extremes and makes spring frosts rare.
• According to producers, gravel gives the wine its finesse, limestone its alcoholic strength, and clay its unctuous texture.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in France

Sources

• Product specification (BO Agri, PDF), JORF 9 juillet 2015
• Official INAO text (show_texte)
• INAO product entry
• Official trade body site — CIVS — Comité Interprofessionnel des Vins de Savoie