The Champagne Society – June 2018 Selection: Louis Picamelot

$27 Louis Picamelot “Les Reipes” Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut (Crémant de Bourgogne 2014)

$28 Louis Picamelot “En Chazot” Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut (Crémant de Bourgogne 2014)

Price for both bottles to The Champagne Society members: $55 (regular price $65)

We decided to change up our latest offering from The Champagne Society. The June 2018 selection features two bottles from Maison Louis Picamelot, one of the leading producers of Crémant de Bourgogne.

As a French appellation for the regulation of sparkling wines Crémant de Bourgogne came into being only relatively recently but the practice goes back at least a century and a half. Today, Crémant de Bourgogne is a merger of long traditions with some of the strictest rules for sparkling wines in France – including hand-harvesting in whole bunches, the use of small boxes with perforated bottoms, and the same pressing protocols as Champagne.

Maison Louis Picamelot is a small crémant house based in Rully in the Côte Chalonnaise subregion of Burgundy. It is directed by third-generation vigneron Philippe Chautard, who tends his 34 acres of vines with the purpose of creating sparkling wines that show character of place. He views Crémant de Bourgogne as a sparkling wine that should emphasize the diversity of Burgundian terroir rather than play little brother to Champagne. His newly constructed cellar built between the walls of an old quarry harnesses the earth’s natural coolness to age his single vineyard sparkling wines of distinction.

The idea behind this round of The Champagne Society is for you to have fun with these two Crémant de Bourgogne. Invite a few friends over on a warm evening to taste these side-by-side. With the wines being 100% Chardonnay and 100% Pinot Noir respectively, not only will you get a sense of the importance of grape variety and place, you’ll be drinking some great wines.

Louis Picamelot “Les Reipes” Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut (Crémant de Bourgogne 2014)

100% Chardonnay from a well-tended single vineyard site above Saint-Aubin in the Hautes Côtes de Beaune, “Les Reipes” is Phillipe Chautard’s interpretation of a Blanc de Blancs. Strictly hand-picked the fruit is transported in small crates in order to keep whole bunches intact to prevent any risk of oxidation. Grapes are pneumatically pressed and only the first press juice (Coeur de Cuvée) is fermented. The wine was bottled in June of 2015 and aged for over two years before being disgorged on October 2017.

Louis Picamelot “En Chazot” Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut (Crémant de Bourgogne 2014)

100% Pinot Noir from a single vineyard site located on the upper hillsides of Saint-Aubin in Côte de Beaune, “En Chazot” is Phillipe Chautard’s interpretation of a Blanc de Noirs. Strictly hand-picked the fruit is transported in small crates in order to keep whole bunches intact to prevent any risk of oxidation. Grapes are pneumatically pressed and only the first press juice (Coeur de Cuvée) is fermented in stainless steel vats. The wine was bottled in June of 2015 and aged for over two years before being disgorged on November 2017.

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Posted on 2018.06.01 in France, Burgundy, The Champagne Society