Famille Peillot Montagnieu Altesse, 2016

100% Altesse. Local parlance can get confusing: the appellation “Roussette de Bugey” can also contain Chardonnay, so Peillot adds “Altesse” to the label to emphasize its purity. His vines average 30 years old but get up to 60 to 100 years old and are tended and harvested by hand. Fermentation is with native yeasts and aging only in steel tank and enamelled cement tanks—there is no wood  used in this cellar. Bottling is generally in March after the vintage. Franck feels that Altesse, naturally on the more neutral side aromatically but high in acidity, is a perfect and elegant vehicle for terroir expression—much more so than the ubiquitous Chardonnay—if and when its natural high ripeness and pulpy fleshiness are reined in.

PAIRS WITH: LOBSTER, TUNA, CURRY