The feeling is familiar; you’re at a backyard barbecue, or a picnic in the park, or a house party in the open space wedged between two apartment buildings, affectionately known in New York City as a “terrace.” The sun is high in the sky and temperatures are peaking in the upper 80s, so securing a cool beverage feels paramount. You reach for the bottle of rosé or white wine floating in a plastic bucket of melting ice, and the first few sips feel nothing short of miraculous. Not long after, however, the forces of dehydration, heat fatigue and alcohol combine in ways that feel far from sporting—getting up from one’s choice of seat is inconceivable, and an early night seems as inevitable as an air conditioner’s drip. You’ve overdone it.
We’ve mentioned how Alpine wines are great candidates for summer drinking, not just for their refreshing high acidity, but also for their moderate levels of alcohol. Higher elevation translates to cooler temperatures, which means less sugar created in the grapes during maturation, which in turn results in smaller quantities of sugar converted to alcohol during fermentation. That said, as with many other aspects of Alpine wines, the nuances are very localized, and some high-elevation wines compensate for the lower temperatures with unobstructed sun exposure for extra ripeness. While it’s not a given that all Alpine wines are low in alcohol, I have yet to encounter the serious amounts of booze that are springing up in wines from formerly temperate climates.
For a selection of Alpine “warm-up wines,” i.e. wines that won’t derail a big night ahead, I focused on wines on the lower end of the alcohol by volume range (11.5% - 14.5% encompasses most wines). The individual bottles are also very particular to the regions where they were made, highlighting the specificity of terroir and wine-making approaches in the Alpine region. One size hardly fits all.
2020 Dominique Lucas Pays d'Allobrogie, Terroir du Leman, Un Matin Face au Lac – 11.5% abv
In much of France, the Chasselas grape is known as Chasselas de Moissac and produces a cheap, neutral table wine. For years the apotheosis of its perceived mediocrity was found around the Loire Valley appellation of Pouilly-Fumé, better known for high-quality Sauvignon Blanc, where Chasselas blends were produced under the uninspiring name of Pouilly-sur-Loire. But this naturally low-alcohol grape takes on new heights in the Savoie region, in particular near the southern shores of Lac Léman, the French section of Lake Geneva. So successful is Chasselas in this Alpine border that it is the only grape permitted to grow under the cru designations of Ripaille, Marin, Marigan and Crépy.
So what is it about the Savoie that is so beneficial for Chasselas? For one, while Chasselas is an early-ripening variety, the growing season can be prolonged by cooler climates, allowing for more time on the vine and more complexity to develop. It is also said that neutral Chasselas is excellent at taking on the particularities of its terroir, so by this logic the dramatic Savoyard landscape—think glaciers, boulders, and a mosaic of soil types—should produce some pretty unique expressions of the grape.
Considering that Dominique Lucas hails from Burgundy, a terroir-centric wine seems like a clear fit. His Un Matin Face Au Lac (“a morning across from the lake”) has a subtle energy, derived from mineral freshness in flavor and an undulating mouthfeel. Lower alcohol can translate to thin body, but this wine is lightweight without being watery. Clocking in at 11.5% abv, it was the ideal starter to a summer night that began before sunset and ended not long before sunrise.
Purchased at Crush Wine NYC.
2019 Domaine La Colombe Féchy La Colombe – 12% alcohol
Chasselas may be considered an inferior grape in much of France, but leave it to the Swiss to do things their own way. Here, Chasselas is commonly known as Fendant and reigns as the country’s most-planted variety, prized for its elegance and restraint. It produces some seriously sophisticated wines that are widely enjoyed domestically, to the point where winemakers rarely find an incentive to export them.
The two main areas for growing Chasselas comprise two distinct approaches to viticulture. The Valais region is home to some of the highest-elevation vineyards in Europe, while also forming the driest wine climate in Switzerland, thanks to the protective barrier of the Alps against rainy weather patterns. These factors, combined with the Foehn, a warm regional wind, accelerate grape maturation and typically result in riper flavors. But for the purposes of warm-up wines, I selected a Chasselas wine from the Vaud region, which hugs Lake Geneva and stretches north towards Neuchâtel. The Féchy La Colombe Chasselas from the father-daughter team of Domaine La Colombe comes from the village of Féchy, facing out towards Lake Geneva about halfway between Lausanne and Geneva, and receives a gentler ripening thanks to the more moderate influence of the lake climate. Still, I found this wine to have a rounder profile than the Savoie Chasselas, with notes of melon, honeysuckle and nuts. It’s a worthy option for a Chasselas that’s slightly fuller-bodied while remaining in the 12% abv range.
Purchased at Sherry Lehmann NYC.
2019 Manni Nössing Müller-Thurgau Sass Rigais – 12.5% abv
Müller-Thurgau wines as found in Germany have historically been maligned by wine critics. A cross between Riesling and the table grape Madeleine Royale, Müller-Thurgau was created in theory to combine the flavors of Riesling with the workhorse qualities of early-ripening, high-yielding Madeleine Royale. In practice, many Müller-Thurgau wines suffer from diluted flavors and low acidity, earning them the unenviable status of cheap table wine. Yet once again, the Alps create the exception. In German-influenced Alto Adige, Italy’s northernmost wine region, Müller-Thurgau benefits from the high-altitude vineyards to gain reliably higher levels of acidity. The result is a wine sought after for its flowery aromas and mountain purity.
I had selected the Manni Nössing Müller-Thurgau Sass Rigais advertised for 12% abv, but this particular vintage ended up being 12.5%. I will mention that it’s still 1% less abv than the Tiefenbrunner family’s “Feldmarschall,” one of the flagship Müller-Thurgau wines from the region. Notes of pineapple, elderberry, salinity and zest give Manni Nössing’s Müller-Thurgau an energetic profile, the perfect foil to a bout of summer afternoon sluggishness.
Purchased at Eataly Vino NYC.
We hope you’ll think of these surprising and distinctive Alpine wines for your next summer fête. At the very least, just the mention of the Alps while passing around a chilled bottle can provide momentary heat-wave relief.