The white counterpart to its red neighbour Cornas, just to the south on the granite right bank in the Ardèche, Saint-Péray is a blend of Marsanne and Roussanne made in two guises. Most is a full, rounded still wine of white peach, pear and quiet nuttiness; but the appellation's fame rests on its traditional-method sparkling wine, made by the same second fermentation in bottle as Champagne.
That sparkling Saint-Péray was celebrated across the nineteenth century — a fashionable fizz said to have been poured at grand tables of the day — before phylloxera and changing tastes reduced it to a rarity. Still and sparkling alike lean on Marsanne for weight and Roussanne for lift, a granite-grown white that has quietly regained its footing among the northern Rhône's small appellations.