Saint-Péray () is a

French wine French wine is produced throughout all of France in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world. French wine traces its history to th ...

Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée In France, the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (, ; abbr. AOC ) is a label that identifies an agricultural product whose stages of production and processing are carried out in a defined geographical area – the ''terroir'' – and using ...

'' (AOC) in the northern Rhône wine region of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Located in the southernmost part of Northern Rhône, the appellation is very small and not widely known. The production is mainly white sparkling wine, somewhat like

Champagne Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

. However, some still wine is also made. All Saint-Péray wine is

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

.Niels Lillelund: ''Rhône-Vinene'' JP Bøger - JP/Politikens Forlagshus A/S, 2004. , p. 113

History

Pliny mentions the wine of Saint-Péray in his ''

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

'', and

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

is to have said that he, when he was a young cadet in Valence, had his first experience of wine, drinking Saint-Péray. In the wine's prime in the 19th century, its sparkling wine was held in higher regard than

itself, but since then it's been down hill for the appellation. It was established as an official appellation in 1936 by which time it had shrunk to the meager 55

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

Grapes and wine

There are two allowed grapes in Saint-Péray, Marsanne and

Roussanne Roussanne () is a white wine grape grown originally in the Rhône wine region in French wine, France, where it is often blended with Marsanne. It is the only other white variety, besides Marsanne, allowed in the northern Rhône appellation d'Orig ...

, with the former covering 90% of the planted area. A third grape "Roussette" is alleged to also be grown, but apparently only the wine growers themselves distinguish this from Roussanne.

Winemaking

Saint-Péray wines are meant to be drunk young, with 4/5 of the production being sparkling wine after the ''

Methode Champenoise Sparkling wine production is the method of winemaking used to produce sparkling wine. The oldest known production of sparkling wine took place in 1531 with the ''ancestral method''. Pressure and terminology In popular parlance and also in the ...

''. However, advances are being made with still wine.André Dominé (ed) ''"Wein"'' p. 288 Tandem Verlag GmbH, Königswinter 2004

Saint-Péray Mousseux AOC

Saint-Péray Mousseaux is a wine-growing AOC in the northern Rhône wine region of France. The wines are exclusively white sparkling wines, made from the Marsanne and Roussanne grapes. Still wines from the same region and grapes are made under the appellation Saint-Péray AOC.

References

External links

*
Cotes du Rhone Wines Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Peray AOC Rhône wine AOCs 1930s establishments in France