Food & bev
Life's too short not to eat and drink well. Debs and Sal have received several marriage proposals from guests who can't get enough of their grub (plus a few other less respectable propositions). While Sam can bang on about wine 'til the cows come home.
Hearty nosh
We don't do poncy flashy food. We do great wholesome stuff instead - the sort of thing your mum makes and that hits the spot when you've been on the mountain all day.
Brekkie: fresh bread and jams, marmalade, Marmite (great with French bread...); choice of eggs; choice of cereals; yoghurts; tea/coffee and juices.
Afternoon tea: fresh pots of English tea (French tea is much weaker); cakes like Sally's lemon drizzle cake, her choc chip and Mars Bar cake, coffee and walnut cake, chocolate brownies...
Dinner: starters include home-made cauliflower soup, salade nicoise, tomato/mozz/basil, chevre and beetroot salad, garlic 'shrooms; mains include tartiflette, shepherd's pie, bangeurs + mustard mash, salmon steaks en cocotte, chicken in cream/brandy sauce with almonds; puds include summer fruit tartlets, blackberry/apple crumble, caramel crème, choice of sorbets; the cheeseboard always has at least 5 or 6 cheeses on it - local ones like Tomme, Reblochon and Beaufort, plus beauties from elsewhere in France like Vacherin, Munster, Bleu d'Auvergne and various goaty things...
We can also knock you up a cracking packed lunch (for a small extra charge).
Top vino
Sam loves his wine and in 2005 set up a little wine company, selling initially to other folk in/around Chamonix (including quite a few of the other chalets!). Good wine is not something you will go short of here. We serve a range of great house wines, all sourced directly from producers in France and sometimes Italy.
White:
- Chignin Vielles Vignes - produced by Michel Quenard near Chambery, absolutely the no. 1 producer in Savoie; a minerally wine that undeniably reflects its roots in the mountains, but is beautifully balanced with citrus fruit - not dissimilar to some New World Sauvignon Blanc.
- Chabrier Vin de Pays d'Oc Blanc - 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Chardonnay - a right charmer. Coming from a producer near Sam's place down south, it smells and tastes of pineapples and peaches.
- Gringet - a lovely wine made by little producer Domaine Belluard from a super-spurious grape grown on a hill half-way between Chamonix and Geneva - and found nowhere else in the world...
- Chignin-Bergeron Les Terrasses - in Sam's view, the absolute daddy of all Savoyard wines; M. Quenard's piece de resistance, made from the Rhone grape Roussanne (known here as Bergeron); a phenomenal wine, packed with tropical fruits, rich and long, guaranteed to make you sing with the pixies...
Red:
- Domaine Rouge Garance Feuille - a beautiful modern-style Cotes du Rhone made by a forward-thinking producer down south near Avignon in the Rhone Valley. Red fruits is the name of the game - but still great with all manner of meaty or cheesy food.
- Domaine de Verchant V1582 - fab merlot-based wine from the outskirts of Montpellier. Made by charismatic winemaker Arnaud Warnery, this is chocolate in a glass. Glorious stuff.
- Domaine de l'Ocelle - classic southern wine from between Montpellier and Nimes, also made by Arnaud Warnery, who really is a great bloke and one heck of a winemaker. Blended from traditional southern varieties including Grenache and Syrah, it's southern sun and warmth in a glass.
- Chateau d'Or et de Gueules - produced by a superb producer in the Costieres de Nimes region at the southern end of the Rhone valley; rich, spicy and warming, it's perfect for winter drinking.
- Domaine du Daurion Les Poetes - a juicier, fruitier red from an estate between Montpellier and Narbonne - it really tastes of blackberries.
- Gamay - one of the local red grapes of Savoie (and Beaujolais), produced by - yep, that man again - Michel Quenard; a light, fruity wine that is best served slightly chilled.
- Petit Rouge & Torrette - 2 wines from the nearby Aosta Valley in Italy produced by the Co-operative des 11 Communes at Aymavilles; medium-bodied wines, with healthy lashings of fruit (and we promise the Torrette doesn't make you swear...)
Sparkling:
- Ayze Petillant - also made by Domaine Belluard above Bonneville between Chamonix and Geneva; a lovely light sparkling wine that we serve as a welcome tipple when you arrive...