Domaine Jean Vullien & Fils -- A Model of Savoie

Including grapes grown nowhere else...

Savoie is a rural region in southeastern France, lying in the foothills of the French Alps, that once exerted political and military power far beyond its present size. The launching point for the Duchy of Savoy, it traces its origin to Umberto I, Count of Sabaudia — hence the eventual name Savoy — who lived from about 972 to 1047 or ‘48. Umberto’s descendants, through marriage, negotiation, diplomacy, treaty, trickery and war, expanded their might to rule over most of what we think of today as the unified Italian peninsula, as well as Sardinia, Sicily and other, nearby parts of France. The more than thousand-year history of the House of Savoy is intricate, convoluted, sinister, a bit incomprehensible — people, you need a scorecard to keep track — and ultimately futile. You think, though, that in our democratic age when most signs of nobility are ignored if not downright illegal that the House of Savoy has been laid to rest? Think again. Only as recently as 2002 was the Italian constitution scrubbed of a proviso that male members of the Savoy tribe were forbidden to set foot within the borders of Italy. Deposed aristocracy! Always causing trouble!