A Perfect Reset After the Heat: 2025 Les Rocailles ‘Apremont’
One of the pleasures of this business is getting to work with importers whose portfolios feel deeply personal rather than assembled by committee. One of my favorites in that regard is Hand Picked Selections, run by Jacques who is an extremely easygoing fellow who quietly represents some of the best value wines we sell. He does have many value-driven wines such as what we are looking at this week, though he also carries benchmark producers like Domaine Pegau and Domaine Bargemone, and everything in the portfolio feels chosen with genuine conviction.
Jacques’ business is small, hyper-focused, and refreshingly unconcerned with trends or flashy salesmanship. In fact, he may be the least “salesman-like” salesperson I work with. He simply lets the wines speak for themselves, fully confident that he has already done the hard work of selecting well. At pretty much every price point, he’s right.
As we ease into the week after last week’s heat wave, I found myself craving something that reminded me of cooler weather, mountain air, cold streams, and crisp evenings. Nothing struck me as more appropriate than Apremont from Savoie.
The 2025 Les Rocailles “Apremont” is made entirely from Jacquère, the signature grape of the region, grown high in the French Alps near the Swiss border. This is one of those wines that feels almost impossibly refreshing. Light-bodied and bone dry, it carries notes of green apple, crushed stone, citrus peel, and fresh mountain herbs, all wrapped around a distinctly mineral spine that practically crackles on the palate.
There’s an honesty to wines like this that I love. No makeup, no excess weight, no attempt to be anything other than delicious and thirst-quenching. At barely 11% alcohol, it’s the sort of bottle that disappears very quickly. Jacques describes it as “Delicate and Feather-light, just like Muscadet…from a glacier”
If you’ve never explored Savoie before, Apremont is one of the great entry points. It’s fantastic alongside oysters, trout, fondue, simple roast chicken, or really anything involving fresh herbs and bright flavors. But honestly, it’s just as satisfying on its own after a long day.
Highly recommended for anyone looking to reset their palate this week. Also, to do Jacques sales job for him, I think this is an obvious case buy at this price. You’ll see a few more of those this week as well. Jacques’ selections are fun to drink.
