Jean-Yves Péron Reinvents Piemonte
The Savoie maestro's transalpine négociant work is the most important cross-cultural exchange happening in wine today.
Long renowned for his delicate macerated estate whites, Savoie vigneron Jean-Yves Péron quietly began producing négociant wines from a panoply of purchased Piemontese grapes back in 2017, under the “I Vicini” label. He began with barbera, dolcetto, grignolino, cortese, moscato, and favorita; the range has since expanded to include nebbiolo. (A bit of freisa went into the grignolino in certain vintages, too.)
Péron never practices de-stemming (a habit endemic to Italy, and most wine regions surrounding the mediterranean, for that matter) and never adds sulfites to his wines. These factors alone - to say nothing of Péron’s long experience in natural vinification - make his wines from native Piemontese grapes almost unprecedented. (The few Piemontese vignaioli working without added sulfites tend to de-stem.) Whole-cluster barbera; saline, svelte favorita; carbonic-macerated nebbiolo - Jean-Yves Péron has all these styles and more up his sleeve. The wines suggest that today’s glut of soupy barbera and boozy nebbiolo is as much a problem of style and ideology as it is one of global warming.
I visited Péron several times in 2021, during my researches for The World of Natural Wine, and found the occasion to return last month on the way back from Piemonte. In the meantime, I’ve been opening his transalpine négociant wines with Italian vignerons and sommeliers at every occasion. In a wine world where real expertise remains regionally siloed, I’m convinced that Péron’s engagement with Piemontese grape varieties comprises the most fascinating cross-cultural exchange occurring in natural winemaking today.
Quick Facts
Savoie native Jean-Yves Péron established his wine estate in 2004, after winemaking studies in Bordeaux, and work experiences with Thierry Allemand and Bruno Schueller, among others.
Péron moved to his present cellar in 2017. He farms 4.5 hectares, which he supplements with grape purchases that amount to the equivalent of about 1.5ha, depending on the vintage. Grapes include jacquère, altesse, roussanne, mondeuse, muscat, and, more recently, gringet.
Arguably France’s first vigneron to emphasize skin-macerated whites to the near exclusion of direct-press whites, Péron began macerating his jaccquère in 2006, gradually increasing maceration times from four days to present levels, anywhere from a few weeks to twenty-four months in certain extreme cases.
Péron employs a pneumatic press, and practices little to no débourbage. Macerations occur in a variety of containers, including wood vat, stainless steel, fiberglass, and a variety of amphorae. All wines see aging in porous containers: usually used barrel, occasionally clay amphora.
Péron’s wines never see sulfite addition; in specific, infrequent cases (macerated wines aged in large foudre), Péron will resort to filtration as a way of avoiding excessive racking post-fermentation.
Péron’s “I Vicini” project began in 2017. Today it amounts to between a quarter and a third of his total production in a given year.
Yields for his own vineyards typically vary between 20HL/ha and 50HL/ha, according to the vintage.
JEAN-YVES PERON ON PIEMONTESE GRAPE VARIETIES
The following interviews were conducted in October 2025, July 2021, and October 2021. They have been condensed and edited for clarity.
On nebbiolo: