The Champagne Society June 2021 Selection: Champagne André Clouet

Champagne André Clouet ‘Dream Vintage 2008’ Grand Crus Ambonnay/Bouzy

Price for members of The Champagne Society: $83 (Regular $97)

“Bouzy and Ambonnay are the epicenter of Pinot Noir in Champagne, and the Clouet family is the privileged custodian of eight hectares of estate vines in the best middle slopes of both villages. These are rich and concentrated expressions of Pinot Noir, wines of deep complexity, multifaceted interest and engaging character, yet with remarkable restraint and sense of control. Tasting after tasting confirm my impression that this small and relatively unknown grower ranks high among Champagne’s finest practitioners of Pinot Noir—and represents one of the best value of all.” Tyson Stelzer, The Champagne Guide 2016-2017: The Definitive Guide to Champagne.

Young Chef de cave Jean-François Clouet is deeply passionate about the remarkable sweep of history that has played out in this place over two millennia, and every time I visit he speaks more of this than he does of vines, winery, cellar or tastings. He shows me original documents of his village of Bouzy in his archive and takes me to another part of town to recount another branch of history: Attila the Hun, the Catalonic Field Battle, the birth of the monarchy, the crusades, the Templars, Marie Antoinette. ‘To understand Champagne you need to understand its political history,’ he says.

For Clouet’s family, that history began here in 1492, and his family still resides in the house his ancestors built in Bouzy in 1741. ‘My family was making wine in Champagne at the same time Dom Pérignon was starring!’ he exclaims. This history lives on, not only in the spectacular labels designed by Jean-François’ great grandfather in 1911 (harking back to the family’s printer heritage, making books for the kings since 1491), but in a traditional approach in the vineyards. ‘I like the idea of the work of human hands in pruning. Performing the same actions as my grandfather and even the Romans, who planted vines here 2000 years ago.’

The flamboyant Jean-François is one of the upcoming rockstars of Champagne. He is inherently talented as a winemaker, keenly insightful, at once deeply rooted in his family’s history and yet daringly creative, with a distinctly modern twist to his approach. It is his goal that some day none of his Champagnes will have any dosage at all, an ideal that he rightly describes as a revolutionary. ‘Not to be snobby or arrogant, but I have a real sense that a zero-dosage wine from a single village can really showcase the pedigree of the village,’ he suggests. ‘You have to be an extremely good winemaker to make zero-dosage champagne.’ And if anyone can do it anywhere, Jean-François can in Bouzy and Ambonnay.

To this end, for some years he has experimented with using Sauternes barriques from Château Doisy Daëne for alcoholic fermentation. ‘It gives the illusion of the wine being sweet, when it is not sweet at all!’ he claims. The result is quite magnificent. When Clouet began working on the estate 10 years ago, he took note of those embarking on organic and biodynamic regimes. ‘Biodynamics and organics look good on paper,’ he says, ‘but my idea is that it is simply important to take care of the ground by hand without the use of herbicides.’ Stringent sorting during harvest maintains freshness and purity in his cuvées.

Clouet’s focus remains resolutely on Pinot Noir, which comprises 100% of every cuvée except his Millésime, a 50/50 blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. ‘I am frustrated with the idea of blending from everywhere!’ he exclaims. ‘I love pure Pinot Noir! No make-up and no compromise!’ Clouet is fascinated by the geological history of his soils, and makes it his goal to express the minerality of pure chalk in his wines. ‘Fantastic minerality and low dosage are important for good Pinot Noir,’ he claims. His cuvées receive low dosage of 6g/L. In 2011 Clouet embarked on a significant project he dubs ‘Clouet world’, a substantial logistics facility for disgorgement, remuage and bottling on land he inherited just outside the village.

As seriously as he takes his responsibilities, Clouet doesn’t take himself too seriously. ‘Champagne is always for flirting!’ he grins. And likens his wines to independent films. ‘I love Hollywood movies, but sometimes I want to watch something independent. Winemaking in Champagne is the same,’ he says. ‘One is not better than the other. Dom Pérignon and Pol Roger are fantastic, with all the action of James Bond in Skyfall, but sometimes I have a taste of something else.’ His Champagnes offer that something else, without the Hollywood budget, yet with the pyrotechnics all of their own.

Champagne André Clouet

Champagne André Clouet ‘Dream Vintage 2008’
Grand Crus Ambonnay/Bouzy

“96 points. (A little more than 50% Chardonnay, the remainder Pinot Noir from Bouzy and Ambonnay; 6g/L dosage.)

“On its release two years ago, I adored this expression of exceptional vintage from this top grower, and its freeze-frame slow-motion evolution since has only exemplified its potential. Its impeccable, backward, primary focus on Bouzy’s red cherry and strawberry fruits is breathtaking, charged with the tension and precision of a back of electric 2008 acidity. Finesse and poise are framed in deep-set concentration, the signature of its villages, painted in the vivid colors of 2008. Subtle mixed spice complexity is beginning to peek out, but it remains very fresh and impeccably pure, carrying with unrelenting fruit depth, persistence and an ever-present undercurrent that froths with well-defined, finely chalky minerality. Wow.” Tyson Stelzer, The Champagne Guide 2016-2017: The Definitive Guide to Champagne.

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Posted on 2021.06.10 in France, The Champagne Society, Champagne