In short: Apremont is a cru of the AOC Vin de Savoie based on Jacquère (at least 80% of the estate’s plantings). Crisp, floral, mineral and often lightly spritzy when young, it’s the ideal mountain white for a Savoie-style raclette. Drink it young, within two years of the harvest: grab the most recent vintage, 2025 or 2024, and a 2023 (very successful in Savoie) if you can still find one.
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Why Apremont goes with raclette
Savoie raclette and Jacquère are next-door neighbors. Same mountains, same winters, same fondness for evenings that run late around a smoking grill. And Jacquère has exactly the profile you want in a melted-cheese wine: freshness, low alcohol and a hint of bitterness that resets your palate.
The official specification of the AOC Vin de Savoie describes Jacquère whites like this: a floral nose (white flowers, acacia), notes of grapefruit and peach, a fresh palate with a slight bitterness reminiscent of grapefruit, and a wine that is “often spritzy” when young. For Apremont in particular, the same text mentions honeysuckle, hawthorn, lemony notes and a mineral finish linked to the limestone terroir.
Translation for the dinner table: that little spritz and citrusy bitterness clean up the fat of the cheese, and the minerality answers well-aged rinds. Apremont is perfect with a classic Savoie raclette, very good with an herb raclette, and it can handle a peppercorn raclette. Wine retailer Vinatis actually recommends it with raclette, Savoie fondue and tartiflette. With a smoked raclette it’s still pleasant, but a fuller wine like Chignin-Bergeron may take the smoke better.
Apremont and the other Jacquère crus
Apremont: the cru born from a landslide
Apremont is an additional geographical name within the AOC Vin de Savoie: on the label, you’ll see “Vin de Savoie Apremont” or “Savoie Apremont.” According to the specification, the area covers Chapareillan (Isère) and, in Savoie, part of the villages of Apremont, Saint-Baldoph and the former village of Les Marches (now Porte-de-Savoie). The vineyard grows on the jumble of rocks left by the collapse of Mont Granier in 1248, at the northern edge of the Chartreuse range: a cool, limestone terroir that Jacquère loves. Vinatis puts its size at about 400 hectares.
The grape rule is clear: Jacquère must make up at least 80% of the estate’s plantings to claim Apremont, with the rest allowed to come from a few authorized secondary grapes. The text also caps the fermentable sugars of the whites (at most 8 grams per liter, and no more than total acidity plus two): these stay dry wines.
Les Abymes, Chignin, Cruet, Jongieux: the cousins
If your wine shop has no Apremont, other Savoie crus are also based on Jacquère (at least 80% according to the specification): Les Abymes, its next-door neighbor on the same Granier landslide, but also Chignin, Cruet, Jongieux, Chautagne, Montmélian and Saint-Jeoire-Prieuré. The official text describes Les Abymes and Apremont as mineral, fresh, lemony and floral, and the Jacquère of the Combe de Savoie as floral, with citrus and flint. They all make very good raclette wines. Be careful not to mix up Chignin (Jacquère) and Chignin-Bergeron (Roussanne): they’re not the same wines at all.
The best Apremont vintages
Let’s be honest: Apremont isn’t a wine for the cellar. Vinatis advises drinking it within two years of the harvest, and it’s when young that it has the spritz and freshness that make it so charming with raclette. So the table is mostly there to help you choose between the last two or three vintages. The assessments for 2018 to 2023 come from iDealwine’s vintage scores for Jura and Savoie (scores out of 20 for the whites, with both regions rated together); those for 2024 and 2025 come from the press.
| Vintage | Quality / profile | When to drink |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | No reliable tasting assessment found for Savoie, so no opinion from us. The only pointer: in August 2025, well-formed bunches and good vine health (Pleinchamp). | The vintage to go for as soon as it’s released |
| 2024 | A harvest of just over 100,000 hectoliters, below the ten-year average (April frost, rain). According to the specialists cited by La Radio Plus, good-quality wines, lighter in alcohol. | Now |
| 2023 | Jura and Savoie whites rated 17-18/20; according to iDealwine, the 2023 vintage in Savoie “is shaping up to be one of the most successful in recent years.” | Beyond the recommended two-year window: open without waiting |
| 2022 | Whites 17/20: “sunny and balanced” white wines. | Beyond the recommended two-year window |
| 2021 | Whites 15/20. The Savoie harvest was down about 30%, but the year had little disease pressure; mineral, smoky Jacquères. | Beyond the recommended two-year window |
| 2020 | Whites 17/20. A hot year, but less extreme than recent heat waves; Jacquères with good ripeness. | Beyond the recommended two-year window |
| 2019 | Whites 17/20. A fairly classic vintage in Savoie, with appealing whites (Jacquère, Roussette, Roussanne). | Beyond the recommended two-year window |
| 2018 | Whites 16/20. Some whites a little heavy and lacking acidity, but Jacquère did particularly well at the best producers. | Beyond the recommended two-year window |
In other words: if you stumble on a 2019 Apremont at the back of a cupboard, it’s not buried treasure, it’s a sign that your last raclette night was way too long ago. For the party, go with the youngest.
How to serve Apremont
- Temperature: 8 to 10 °C (about 46 to 50 °F) according to Vinatis, which suggests 10 to 13 °C (about 50 to 55 °F) for richer cuvées. Keep the bottle cold during the meal, as the room warms up fast.
- Glass: a classic, medium-sized white wine glass, filled a third of the way.
- Decanter: no, there’s no point. It would make the spritz disappear, and that’s precisely Jacquère’s secret weapon against cheese.
- How much: half a bottle per wine-drinking adult for a two-to-three-hour evening, and always a pitcher of water on the table. Since Apremont is light, it’s a good wine to open the evening before a fuller white.
To keep the bottle at the right temperature next to the raclette grill, a wine bucket works wonders:
The other raclette wines
Back to the complete guide to wines for raclette. To stay in Savoie, check out our page on Chignin-Bergeron and, for a light red, on Savoie Gamay. And to compare with the great Swiss classic, read our page on Fendant du Valais.
Frequently asked questions
What grape is Apremont made from?
Jacquère. The AOC Vin de Savoie specification requires at least 80% Jacquère in the plantings for the Apremont cru.
Which Apremont vintage should I buy for a raclette?
The most recent one. Apremont is drunk within two years of the harvest, to enjoy its freshness and slight spritz. In 2026, aim for 2025 or 2024.
Why is Apremont slightly fizzy?
Jacquère whites are often spritzy when young, according to the official text of the appellation. It’s not a flaw: it’s actually what refreshes your palate so well with melted cheese.
Apremont or Fendant with raclette?
Both are light, dry, fresh whites. Fendant is the pairing for Valais raclette, Apremont the one for Savoie raclette. Choose according to your cheese, or serve both and let the table vote.
Sources
- AOC Vin de Savoie specification, approved by the decree of June 14, 2023 (French Ministry of Agriculture official bulletin)
- iDealwine: 2023 vintage scores (in French)
- iDealwine: 2022 vintage scores (in French)
- iDealwine: 2021 vintage scores (in French)
- iDealwine: 2020 vintage scores (in French)
- iDealwine: 2019 vintage scores (in French)
- iDealwine: 2018 vintage scores, North-eastern France
- Vinatis: Savoie Apremont AOP (in French)
- La Radio Plus: Savoie wines, lower yields but good quality for 2024 (October 2024)
- Pleinchamp: vine pull-outs make themselves felt in the 2025 harvest (August 2025)
