Chez O'gust

Would you rather down a bottle of pinot noir than ski down a piste noire? If so, unclip your skis and head to Frédéric Marchadier’s wine shop just a stone’s throw from Les Arcs 1800 ski resort. In his wood-paneled refuge with low lighting from lamps by Charlotte Perriand (who designed the ski resort fifty-something years ago), this former audio visual specialist and avid snowboarder has reinvented himself as a self-taught sommelier, winter and summer alike. The result of this transformation? A tiny watering hole for natural wine lovers in the Alps, where you can gather between vacationers in puffer jackets and tables full of regulars, all admiring the wall of bottles at the back of the shop: a sharp Savoie Jacquère from Camille and Mathieu Apffel, a highly drinkable Roussillon blend from the Matassa winery, a juicy local skin-contact blend by Corentin Houillon, a rare Auvergne gamay from the talented Bouju… And to sponge up this avalanche of quality bottles, dig into the regional cheese boards, the homemade rillons pork cracklings or the dried diot sausages. // Folayemi Abimbola

THE BULLET-PROOF BOTTLE: Into The White, an Hérault blend of mauzac, rolle and chardonnay by the winery Le Mas Foulaquier – an elevated wine, just like the surrounding mountains!