Wine Offerings

Champagne by Any Other Name: Two-Dozen Rose-Tinted Champagne by Two-Dozen Producers Show Different Styles and Unlock the Full Depth and Diversity of the Region’s Terroir.

Sugar and spice are nice, but you prefer a bit more ‘brut’ with your Valentine’s Day sparkle, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn that Champagne Rosé is often drier than its golden counterpart. Sweeter rosé styles exist, of course, but they are the minority, and for the most part, the candy-pink hue is a saccharin illusion.

Not only that, but creating a rosé is more labor intensive than a standard blend, and given that méthode champenoise is already an arduous and exacting process, this explains the prestige, rarity and associated price tags of the top cuvées.

This year, we are rolling out the pink carpet for our entire ‘dry suite’ of Rosé Champagnes. Many are from our favorite smaller Houses—grower Champagnes made by Chefs de Cave who do not seek to compete with the window-dressers (Taittinger, Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, et al) on any level but quality. Where terroir cooperates, an obscure but dedicated cellar master can often match (and even outdo) a famous one, and without the notoriety, the final tariff on the bottle may be more in line with baseline sanity.

These Champagnes are year-round gems, but are particularly appropriate for Valentine’s Day. Our list is arranged geographically, east to west, to offer a palatable overview of the entire growing region, especially as it relates to the cultivation of rosé’s workhorse duo, Pinot Noir and Munier. Tracking this path across Champagne’s diverse landscape is an educational journey; we’d say that sampling the wares is a little sugar to help the medicine go down, but since these wines are exquisitely dry, we can’t.

The Champagne Grape Palette: Showtime For The Two Red Varieties, Pinot Noir and Meunier

99% of the vineyard space in Champagne is given over to a trio of grape varieties, and of these acres, 72% are planted to red-skinned grapes. Folks less familiar with the styles and methodology behind Champagne produced entirely from Pinot Noir and/or Meunier, may find it incongruous that even in the absence of Chardonnay, the resulting wines are white.

But like most red-skinned grapes, both Pinot and Munier produce clear juice, and with minimal skin contact to leech out color, the end wine is also white. This holds true in regions outside of Champagne as well, but the relatively cool northern climate tends to produce less anthocyanins—red pigment—which exaggerates the effect.

As a result, Champagne produces much ‘Blanc de Noirs’ and no ‘Noir de Noirs.’

Though cool, Champagne’s climate is not homogenous, and certain areas are much better suited for its red-skinned stars. Pinot Noir is the dominant grape in Montagne de Reims and Côte des Bar, thriving so well in the cool, chalky soil that it is nick-named ‘Précoce’ for its ability to ripen early. Munier, on the other hand, prefers a different habitat, doing well in soils that contain more clay, such as in the Marne Valley, and being less susceptible to frost, may cope well under harsher climatic conditions.

The Different Shades Of Rosé

Not all pink is created equal and the color palette of Champagne Rosé is a varied as there are producers. Much is the result of the mode of production—easily broken down into two approaches: The more common method is to simply add a bit of still red wine to the blend, generally between 7% and 15%; this is referred to as ‘assemblage.’ ‘Saignée’ is a technique that involves bleeding a bit of color from the skins of the red grapes when they are pressed.

Both styles serve their purpose well and one does not necessarily yield a fuller-bodied style than the other, although saignée Champagnes may show brighter colors in the glass and taste more ‘vinous’ on the palate.

Not only can Champagne Rosé be made in infinite shades, even these are subject to change. After a couple of days in the tank, color starts to fade as anthocyanins bind to other molecules, generally tannins or sulfites. Acidity may affects this balance as an acidic wine tends to be brighter, while a less acidic wine tends to showcase darker shades. And then, of course, since a well-made rosé may have notable aging potential, there is the inevitable color mutations that cellaring brings as youthful pink tones move into the orange spectrum.

The Bigger Picture: Champagne’s Landscape

Having been defined and delimited by laws passed in 1927, the geography of Champagne is easily explained in a paragraph, but it takes a lifetime to understand it.

Ninety-three miles east of Paris, Champagne’s production zone spreads across 319 villages and encompasses roughly 85,000 acres. 17 of those villages have a legal entitlement to Grand Cru ranking, while 42 may label their bottles ‘Premier Cru.’ Four main growing areas (Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, the Côte des Blancs and the Côte des Bar) encompass nearly 280,000 individual plots of vines, each measuring a little over one thousand square feet.

Beyond the overview lies a permutation of particulars; there are nearly as many micro-terroirs in Champagne as there are vineyard plots. Climate, subsoil and elevation are immutable; the talent, philosophies and techniques of the growers and producers are not. Ideally, every plot is worked according to its individual profile to establish a stamp of origin, creating unique wines that compliment or contrast when final cuvées are created.

Champagne is predominantly made up of relatively flat countryside where cereal grain is the agricultural mainstay. Gently undulating hills are higher and more pronounced in the north, near the Ardennes, and in the south, an area known as the Plateau de Langres, and the most renowned vineyards lie on the chalky hills to the southwest of Reims and around the town of Épernay. Moderately steep terrain creates ideal vineyard sites by combining the superb drainage characteristic of chalky soils with excellent sun exposure, especially on south and east facing slopes.


The Villages of
The Côte des Bar

Reims lies at Latitude 49°5, and Épernay at 49°; in the northern hemisphere, it is generally considered difficult to obtain quality grapes above the 50th parallel. The ninety mile cushion enjoyed by Côte des Bar has a pronounced effect on the grower’s ability to ripen Pinot Noir; as a result, 86% of the vineyards are planted to this varietal. Despite this, the soils of the Côte des Bar is closer to that of Chablis—Kimmeridgian marl topped by Portlandian limestone, whereas the vines near Épernay and Reims tend to be planted in Cretaceous chalk. Chablis, of course, is ground zero for Chardonnay, and it is humidity coming from the Atlantic in the west as well as continental influences with higher temperatures that make the Côte des Bar Pinot Noir country through and through. That said, local climate conditions, slope and orientation are extremely varied throughout region, and produces many individual micro-climates, so each vigneron needs to be fully attentive to his own terroir in order to make the most of it. Côte des Bar features a host of small producers whose output varies almost as much as the local landscape.

Champagne Dosnon (Village Avirey-Lingey)

* Avirey-Lingey is a small village (population 217) in the Barséquenais, located at the Sarce river which empties into Seine to the north at Virey-sous-Bar and Courtenot. With slightly under four hundred acres planted to vines, it is solidly Pinot Noir country, with about 90% of the crop belonging to this variety.

Davy Dosnon of Champagne Dosnon tends five acres in Avirey-Lingey and purchases grapes from around 12 more. Having been born and raised among these rolling hills—a patchwork of vines intermixed with forest and fields of grain—he is descended from growers who spent centuries identifying the rockiest and most suitable places to grow vines. In fact, he preserves many of their tools and records in his cellar.

Davy studied viticulture in Dijon and worked in top Burgundy wine houses before moving back to the village of Lingey, intending to reassemble his family’s vineyards. Here the terroir is starkly different from northern Champagne and its famed chalky soils; in the Aube the terroir is closer to that of Chablis—clay over Kimmeridgian and Portlandian limestone, soils produce wines of great delineation, power and purity.

Central to Dosnon’s modus operandi is fermenting entirely in former Puligny-Montrachet barrels. Dosages are very low (if any) and the wines benefit from the restraint. None are fined or filtered.

Oak in Champagne remains controversial; when done at all, it must be done gently, without drawing attention to itself. In Dosnan’s cellar, it is meant to add creaminess, complexity and weight, not tannins.

Champagne Dosnon ‘Récolte Rosé’, Côte-des-Bar Rosé Brut ($87)
95% Pinot Noir and 5% Meunier. Meunier is not common in the Côte-des-Bar, but Dosnon feels that it adds spice and fruit to the party. The base wine fermented and aged in used Puligny-Montrachet barrels and a minimum of 2 years aging in bottle with a dosage of 7 gram/liter. The wine bears all the hallmarks of the Donson style—a pure, focused, intensely mineral backbone with a clear, spicy, red-fruit and orange peel lift to the flavors. Disgorged September, 2021.

 

 

 


Champagne Fleury (Village Courteron)

If any estate is anchored to the Côte des Bar it is Champagne Fleury, whose Courteron vineyards span 38 acres on a clay-limestone hillside along a tributary of the Seine. But, as the first Champagne house to convert to biodynamics (1989), Jean-Pierre Fleury proved that a producer could have roots in the earth while raising the mainsail to innovation.

Today, his son Jean-Sébastien Fleury has taken the winemaking rudder, and is tacking toward the future with respect for the unique situation of the Côte des Bar, which is closer to Chablis than to Reims: “The key is soil health,” he says. “We must keep the earth healthy. The structure of the soil gives back the essence of the terroir.”

In this endeavor, he is joined by his younger brother Benoît, who came on board in 2010 to manage the vineyards, intent not only on maintaining biodynamics, but also researching soil biology, biodiversity and experimenting with agro-forestry. A third sibling, Morgane, initially studied to be an actress and a sommelier in Suze-la-Rousse, runs ‘My Cave Fleury’ in Les Halles (made famous by Émile Zola’s famous novel of the same name) where she specializes in biodynamic wines.

The estate encompasses ten plots planted primarily to Pinot Noir, the oldest planted in 1970, and new cuttings are established every year to maintain the vitality that younger vines bring to Champagne. The ultimate goal, according to Jean-Sébastien is a wish “to let the nature and its rhythms express themselves.”

Champagne Fleury ‘Rosé de Saignée’, Côte-des-Bar Rosé Extra-Brut ($76)
The grapes see a short period of maceration before pressing, the saignée, or bleeding, method. Fleury style leans toward a light, lyrical sparkling wine whose dosage has been gradually reduced over the years. The wine is 100% Pinot Noir from the 2019 harvest, from vines with an average age of 30 years.

The wine is redolent of strawberry compote and vanilla, with a rich palate that maintains both elegance and delicacy.

Bottled July, 2020; disgorged October, 2023; dosage 3.4 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Jean Josselin (Village Gyé-sur-Seine)

Gyé-sur-Seine is a small village in the Aube department with a population under 500 and about the same number of acres planted to Pinot Noir. The commune is as picturesque as its name, as are the hillsides where Jean Josselin worked the soil—Beauregard, Davasgné, Cosvigne—before founding the house in 1957.

Today, the estate is run by his son Jean-Pierre, grandson Jean-Félix and granddaughter Lucile, who have maintained the rigid standards of their forebears. At times, admittedly, they have struggled to remain independent producers rather than succumb to the temptations dangled in front of them by the grand marques; financial incentives that saw one producer in the village recently sold to Moët & Chandon. Remaining independent has involved extensive upgrades, including the new production facilities—a modern building about a mile away from the old domain. The family also takes pride in its commitment to sustainable viticulture, and is proud to be certified to ‘Terra Vitis’, a label that subjects the estate to regular audits scalable to the size of the property—in the case of Champagne Josselin,18 parcels scattered over 30 acres.

Says Jean-Pierre: “In the past, Josselin Champagnes were mostly made from Pinot Noir, but we have expanded our range with a blend of the three traditional varietals as our Blanc de Blancs, thus exploring the other varietals that grow well in specific locations. We are a small producer—no more than 100,000 bottles a year—but we are always looking to improve. For instance, my son Jean-Félix, who joined the family operation in 2010, has created a new cuvée, as yet unnamed. It’s a secret waiting to be uncovered, as many ideas arise and provoke discussion between father and son! The adventure is far from over!”

Champagne Jean Josselin ‘Audace R.19’, Harvest 2019 Côte-des-Bar Rosé Brut ($62)
An audaciously dark rosé made with 100% Pinot Noir from the Gyé-sur-Seine lieu-dit ‘Beauregard’ using the 2019 vintage. The color is the result of a two-and-a-half day maceration period prior to pressing followed by complete malolactic fermentation, three extractions and one filtration carried out before bottling. The wine is textured with layers of red currants and raspberries and touch of licorice offset by puckery Pinot tannin and shivery acidity.

Bottled July, 2020; disgorged September, 2021.

 

 


Champagne Vincent Couche (Village Buxeuil)

With three generations of Champagne-makers behind him, Vincent Couche has plenty of laurels on which to rest—if he was so inclined. He’s not; when he took over the family estate in 1999, he began immediately to restructure the 32 acres and reassess the cellar work, first by replanting his vineyard under the direction of terroir specialist Claude Bourguignon. The overarching philosophy that drove all the improvements is biodynamics.

Vincent explains, “Embracing biodynamics has been the name of the game since 1999, but certification takes time, and it wasn’t until 2008 that we were certified biodynamic—the first cellar and fields to receive Demeter certification in Champagne. Healthy soils and healthy vines is an obsession of mine, as is making wine without additives. At harvest, I pick by taste and touch, generally a week or more than my neighbors; I refuse to chaptalize and look for need sugar levels than is the norm. in the cool deep cellar wines are fermented and aged in oak and stainless steel without added yeast or nutrients and the wines don’t see any additions.”

Champagne Vincent Couche ‘Rosé Désir’, Côte-des-Bar Rosé Extra-Brut ($62)
A rosé d’assemblage, 95% Pinot Noir with 5% Chardonnay grown in the villages Montgueux and Buxeuil—the Pinot is vinified via carbonic maceration and the wine was disgorged 07/2022; dosage at level of Extra Brut and bottled without sulfite. A bright, full-bodied rosé showing ripe pie cherries, pomegranate and pink grapefruit.

Disgorged July, 2022.

 

 

 


Champagne Drappier (Village Urville)

“Our vineyards are like family archives that perpetuate our history,” says Michel Drappier. “We grow heirloom grape varieties that deserve to be remembered: Fromenteau, Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Blanc Vrai.”

His son Hugo, who is responsible for viticulture and oenology at the estate, adds, “But since we planted our vineyard in Urville with Pinot Noir, this has become the variety that now runs in our veins and we manage it according to organic and natural practices.”

The vineyards, which the family considers ‘the heart of the Drappier identity’, spans 150 acres (with more under contractual arrangements with other growers) and reflects this passion for Pinot: 70% of the estate is planted to Pinot Noir, supplemented by Pinot Meunier at 15%, Chardonnay at 9% and old grape varieties at 6%.

Hugo says, “Proximity to the vines is necessary to keep a close eye on how they evolve and interact with their environment. Because our vineyards are all local, we have stepped up our sustainable approach to viticulture. In the cellar, we work with Chef de Cave Elysé Brigandat; the blending process is the meticulous, respecting the style of each grape variety, the spirit of each terroir and sometimes even the whisper of each individual climat. Unlike many houses, we do not focus on keeping the wine the same each vintage; instead we seek to bring out the maximum of each wine as it is produced. A portion of the yeasts used in the fermentation stage are selected and cultivated at the estate and have been baptized ‘Drappier Fermentum Meum.’”

Champagne Drappier ‘Rosé de Saignée’, Côte-des-Bar Rosé Brut ($69)
100% Pinot Noir is used for this saignée rosé in which two days of maceration are followed by low-pressure pressing, then natural settling and malolactic fermentation. 5% of the wine is aged in foudre. On the nose, the wine reveals notes of brioche, sweet pastry and vanilla alongside aromas of ripe berries and raspberry coulis. A crisp, rounded palate leading into a mineral-tinged finish.

Dosage 6 gram/liter.

 

 

 


The Villages of
The Côte des Blancs

One of the 17 areas that parcel out the Champagne region into terroirs (at least according to the scheme used by the Union de Maisons de Champagne), the Côte des Blancs derives its name from the white chalk that makes up its hillsides. It is perhaps poetic that the predominant grape variety here is Chardonnay in all but a small corner in the extreme south called Vertus, where Chardonnay’s supremacy is challenged by Pinot Noir. And even in Vertus, Pinot Noir makes up less than 10% of the vineyards.

There is a commercial reason for this, according to local vineyard owner Pascal Doquet: “A hundred years ago, 80% of the vineyards in Vertus were Pinot Noir. People replanted as fashion changed and they realized they could earn more money from Chardonnay. A hundred years from now, who knows?”


Champagne Pertois-Moriset (Grand Cru Le Mesnil-sur-Oger)

For some of us, a match made in Champagne is synonymous to one made in heaven, and for Champagne Pertois-Moriset, it is family history. The house was born in 1951 with the nuptials of Yves Pertois from Cramant and Janine Moriset from Mesnil, both third-generation growers, who soon began bottling under their own label.

Today, the couple’s granddaughter Cécile and her husband Vincent Bauchet manage 50 acres divided between Chardonnay grown on Grand Cru sites in the Côtes de Blancs, plus a 60/40 split of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Côte de Sézanne (including one parcel that borders Olivier Collin’s famed Les Maillons). Joined at the hip to organic and sustainable practices, Pertois-Moriset has become known for single-village expressions of renowned terroirs like Oger, Villeneuve, Cramant, and Chouilly, plus single-parcel bottlings from lieux-dits including Les Jeamprins, Les Jutées, and Les Hauts d’Aillerands. Vincent maintains that in every endeavor, the estate is attentive to the biodiversity that surrounds it: “If the years allow it,” he says,” no chemical inputs are applied on the vine. The vines are naturally grassed in winter, and in summer the soil is ploughed.”

Champagne Pertois-Moriset ‘Rosé Blanc Collection’, Côte-des-Blancs Grand Cru Rosé Brut ($72)
And interesting assemblage of 92% Chardonnay from Grand Cru vineyards in Le Mesnil sur Oger, Oger, Cramant and Chouilly, and 8% Pinot Noir from Grand Cru vineyards in Bouzy. Aging is done in the cellar for 36 months and dosage is 3 grams/liter. A fine bead and an elegant color, the wine has a bouquet of creamy strawberries and Morello cherries and is forthright on the palate slightly sharp with a beautiful combination of structure and freshness.

 

 


Champagne JL Vergnon (Grand Cru Les Mesnil-sur-Oger)

In this small 12-acre estate in the heart of the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Didier Vergnon and his son Clément have worked tirelessly to organic farming, harvesting only balanced and ripe grapes. They have eliminated both chaptalization and malolactic fermentation, and prefer a low or zero dosage. The brilliant winemaker Christophe Constant has been at their side, both as cellar master and now, as consultant.

Of the property, Didier says, “Our domain extends over several terroirs, the majority in le Mesnil sur Oger, classified Grand Cru, Blanc de Blancs. We also draw from vineyards in Oger and Avize, and also vines in surrounding Premier Cru villages Vertus and Villeneuve.”

Champagne JL Vergnon ‘Rosémotion’, Grand Cru Rosé Extra-Brut ($89)
A scant 2000 bottles of this Grand Cru rosé were produced; 90% Chardonnay from Mesnil s/ Oger, Oger and Avize and 10% Pinot Noir from Mailly Grand Cru. 20% of reserve wine was aged 3 months in oak barrels and 80% of single-year in steel tank. The wine is a delicate Creamsicle color and shows currants and pomelos on the nose, with notes of strawberries, saffron and biscuits reflecting the long aging on lees.

Disgorged June, 2019.

 

 


The Villages of
The Coteaux Sud d’Épernay

The Coteaux Sud d’Épernay is Meunier-rich, with 47% of its 3000 acres planted to this variety, which is sometimes imagined as an ‘also ran’ in Champagne. In fact, Meunier is suited for soils that contain more clay and in terroirs with harsher climatic conditions since it buds late and makes it more resistant to frost. Sandwiched between the powerhouse wine regions Côte des Blancs and Vallée de la Marne, the Coteaux has an identity removed from either one; its terroir is distinctly different from the clay-heavy soils of the Marne and lacks the chalk of that puts the ‘blanc’ in the Côte des Blancs.

Phrasing it succinctly is Laherte Frères proprietor Aurélien Laherte: “Our wines show more clay influence than those of the Côte des Blancs and they are chalkier than the wines of the Vallée de la Marne.”

In short, these Champagnes are uniquely situated to offer the best of both worlds. As a result, the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay has long fought for recognition as entity unto itself, not necessarily a sub-region of its big brothers on either side.


Champagne Leclerc Briant (Épernay)

Founded by Lucien Leclerc in 1872 in the village of Cumières (the western outpost of the Grande Vallée de la Marne), the business moved to its current home on the Chemin de la Chaude Ruelle in Epernay in 1955. Bertrand Leclerc (the great grandson of the founder) and of his wife Jacqueline Briant, that the estate-based business changed its status to from an estate-based business to that of a Maison de Négoce, or trading house. And so it remained until 2012, when Leclerc Briant was acquired by Mark Nunelly and Denise Dupré, an American couple who are great enthusiasts of the French ‘art de vivre’ and who fell in love with the nonconformist character of the House.

They are joined by Champagne native Frédéric Zeimett, who has led the House to the marches of Champagne codes, serving the expression of a unique style that is now internationally recognized. The vineyard estate houses a single plot, La Croisette, a 1.5-acre parcel in the heart of Épernay; it produces one of the most outstanding champagnes in the House’s ‘Sélections Parcellaires’ (single vineyard) range. Beyond, the House maintains 25 acres spread between the Premier Cru villages of Cumières, Hautvillers, Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Bisseuil in the Vallée de la Marne, Villers-Allerand, Rilly la Montagne in Montagne de Reims and in the Grand Cru village of Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the Côte des Blancs.

The House of Leclerc Briant was one of the pioneers of biodynamics in Champagne—as early as the ‘50s Bertrand Leclerc was spreading the word about biodynamics and practicing what he preached in his vineyards. His son Pascal, the fifth generation of The House of Leclerc Briant was one of the pioneers of biodynamics in Champagne.

Champagne Leclerc Briant, (Harvest 2014) Brut Rosé ($75)
This salmon-tinted, 100% Pinot Noir rosé saw three days maceration and is dosed at 4 gram/liter, the slight sweetness balanced by beautifully textured acidity. 2014 was a tricky vintage that acquitted itself well: The nose shows red spring berries with whisps of caramel, chalk, cotton candy and cherry blossom. The palate enters on bright white cherry notes and closes with red cherry and chalky soil tones. Disgorged July 2017.

 

 

 


Champagne Laherte Frères (Village Chavot-Courcourt)

That Champagne is, above all, a style of wine should be obvious, but a common misinterpretation (fueled in part by tradition and in part by marketing) removes it from viniculture and places it on a pedestal of the imagination.

Nothing wrong with this, of course, so long as the ground floor remains intact.

Aurélien Laherte, along with his high school friend Raphael Bérèche, would like to see these ideas put into context. A group of Champagne’s more progressive producers, including Agrapart, Marie-Courtin, Vincent Laval and Benoît Lahaye, gathers each spring to taste the ‘vins clairs’—wines meant to become Champagne, but having not yet undergone the bubble-creation process. These are not necessarily ‘still wines’ in that they are not meant to stand on their own merits, but have terroir-transparency profiles to make them suitable for top-shelf sparkling versions.

Situated largely in the Côteaux Sud D’Épernay, Laherte vineyards themselves total 26 acres subdivided into 75 separate parcels. Seven of these are farmed biodynamically and certified organic, with the rest farmed either ‘uncertified organic’ or sustainably. Each produces detailed wines that the estate seeks to showcase individually.

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Rosé de Meunier’, Rosé Extra-Brut ($61)
100% Meunier, the wine is sourced from vineyards in Chavot and Vallée de la Marne (lieux-dits Le Breuil and Boursault) with an average age of 25 years for the Meunier vinified white and more than 40 years for the parcels selected for the red wine. It is a blend of 30% macerated Meunier, 60% white wine from Meunier and 10% still red Meunier. As a result, it uses both methods of Champagne rosé creation, assemblage (blending) and saignée (bleeding).

Disgorged July, 2024; dosage 2.5 gram/liter.

 

 


Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Les Beaudiers’, Harvest 2020 Rosé de Saignée Extra-Brut ($91)
100% Meunier from the ‘Les Beaudiers’ lieu-dit, planted in 1953, 1958 and 1965 on shallow clay and silty soil with chalk beneath. As always, Laherte’s methods include organic maintenance, short pruning for a limited production and regular ploughing. Fermentation takes place in old Burgundy barrels and relies on old-school hand-disgorgement. The wine shows creamy red cherries, kirsch, buttered toast with strawberry jam and a bright, flinty spine.

Disgorged December, 2023; dosage at less than 5 gram/liter.

 

 


Champagne Pascal Lejeune (Village Moussy & Vinay, Premier Cru Pierry)

Beating swords into ploughshares is a Biblical injection that Pascal Lejeune takes literally—he left his career in the military and gave himself to the vine. It didn’t hurt that he fell in love with a Champagne grower’s daughter: Pascal’s wife Sandrine hails from a family that has been growing grapevines in Moussy (where more than half of the vineyard’s grapevines are located) on the south-facing slopes of Épernay since 1910. Originally a side operation, not an essential part of the family’s activities, Sandrine’s great grandfather Edmond played an active part in creating the Moussy cooperative.

In 1995, when Pascal and Sandrine took the reins, their aim was to usher in a new era by enlarging the vineyard area into nearby terroirs, and by enriching the range of offerings via new cuvées: As a brand, Champagne Pascal Lejeune was born. Says Pascal, “I believe I have a responsibility and commit myself collectively to our business and our terroir in order to perpetuate and monitor developments for our children and future generations. This requires a sincere respect for people, nature, our vines, our soils, and careful work in order to obtain quality grapes. To offer you the best that nature offers us, our vintages are very different, there is something for every occasion and taste… Nature does things well!”

Champagne Pascal Lejeune ‘N°6 – ANALOGIE’, Village Vinay ‘Les Longs Martins’ Rosé de Saignée Brut-Zéro ($74)
From the organic lieu-dit ‘Les Longs Martins’, this saignée is 100% Pinot Noir from vines that average 25 years old grown in clay, silt, sand and marne limestone. Maceration lasted ten hours, and no malolactic fermentation occurred, leaving the crisp acids intact along with notes of brioche, sweet pastry, vanilla, ripe forest berries and raspberry coulis.

Only 638 bottles made. Disgorged December, 2022.

 

 

 


The Villages of
The Grande Vallée

The Grande Vallée de la Marne is the eastern part of the Marne valley, but the appellation only covers the river’s right bank (the north side) where south-facing slopes create an ideal mise-en-scène for Pinot Noir. As a result, Champagne’s best Pinot Noir terroir is found here. Of the nine remarkable villages in the area, Aÿ (the crown jewel) is a Grand Cru while the other eight are Premier Cru villages. Champagnes from this area is typically powerful, and conditions are good enough to create respectable still red wines as well.

While Cellar Master Jean-Baptiste Lecaillon (of Roederer) acknowledges the strength of Pinot-based Champagnes from the Aÿ, he refers to its underlying elegance: “It’s reputation as the Wine of Kings is more about complexity and finesse. It is multifaceted wine with an infusing and persistent chalkiness, yet feels effortless in its harmony of components.


Champagne Gonet-Médeville (Premier Cru Bisseuil)

By the standards of the region, Gonet-Médeville is ‘new’ Champagne micro-house; it was formed in 2000 by Julie and Xavier Gonet-Médeville as Xavier’s family plots were being divided up. He opted for 30 acres of high quality Premier & Grand Cru vineyards located primarily in the three villages of Bisseuil, Ambonnay, & Mesnil-sur-Oger. The Gonet-Médevilles—sometimes referred to as ‘the first couple of French wines’—also have holdings in five other villages across Champagne.

Gonet-Médeville is part of the group Les Artisans du Champagne, which prides itself on uniting work in the vineyard with work in the cellar. “Being part of Champagne Artisans expresses our total involvement in all stages the production of our Champagnes,” says Xavier. “Growing practices, the choice of plant material—all phases from harvest to disgorging must reflect our knowledge and culture.

Champagne Gonet-Médeville, Premier Cru Rosé Extra Brut ($77)
The cuvée is 70% Chardonnay, 27% Pinot Noir and 3% still Ambonnay Rouge. The wine spends seven months in used barriques and 36 months in bottle without malolactic fermentation, dosed at 3 g/l. The minerality of the Bisseuil and le Mesnil terroirs are at the forefront of this dry, succulent, crisp, peach-toned Champagne; the mousse is delicate, elegant and refreshing. Only 650 cases produced.

Disgorged, May 2021.

 

 


Champagne Philipponnat  (Premier Cru Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, Grand Cru Aÿ)

Considered one of the best bargains in Champagne, Philipponnat is not only a venerable name in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ, it is one of the last houses to be run by a member of its founding family; Charles Philipponnat is a true Champenois, descended from winemakers, cellarmasters and growers dating back nearly 600 years. His family grew grapes here as early as 1522, and his father René was Chef de Caves at Moët from 1949 to 1977, responsible for 1961 Dom Pérignon among other legends. And the house itself is legendary for having produced the iconic Clos des Goisses, which in the 1930s became the region’s first important single-vineyard Champagne.

Under Charles, Philipponnat has created a portfolio of great wines ranging from two of Champagne’s finest non-vintage Bruts to an expanding number of exceptional Champagnes de terroir. He is responsible for three site-specific cuvées of pure Pinot Noir and, of course, Clos des Goisses remains the heart of the family holdings.

Champagne Philipponnat ‘1522’, 2007 Premier Cru Rosé Brut ($162)
70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay, with the Pinot Noir coming from the Léon vineyard in Aÿ and the Chardonnay from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. A silky-textured gem loaded with dried herbs, fresh mint, almond butter and smoky black tea as savory notes and the fruit notes that include white peach, apple, grapefruit and lime.

Bottled June, 2008; disgorged June, 2016; dosage 4.5 grams/liter.

 

 

 


The Villages of
The Vallée de la Marne

Its name is a tip-off: This huge and vital Champagne sub-region follows the Marne River from Tours-sur-Marne to Château-Thierry, stretching over sixty miles and bisecting and two French départements (the Marne and the Aisne) all the way to the limits of Seine-et-Marne. Along the way it penetrates picturesque landscapes of rolling hills, small villages with narrow winding streets and colorful vineyards growing on limestone topsoil overlaying layers of Belemnite and Micraster chalk. More than a hundred villages dot the valley, two of which have been designated ‘Grand Cru’ (Aÿ and Tours-sur-Marne) and many more boast Premier Cru status.

This is Munier country. As with many river valleys, frost is a pronounced a hazard as cold air sinks and follows the flow of water. Temperature drops during bud break can devastate a vintage before it begins (it happened in 2012). Pinot Noir, which buds early, is at particular risk, followed by Chardonnay. Since Munier follows up to a week later, it frequently misses the worst of the frost and is also marginally more resistant to the mildews that thrive in the damp of river fogs.


Champagne Bourgeois-Diaz (Village Crouttes-sur-Marne)

For Jérôme Bourgeois, the easy life is not a life worth living. Born in 1977, Jérôme is the fourth generation of a champagne-growing family on his father’s side but it may well be his Spanish ancestry on his mother’s side that flavors the poetic passion of his approach: “Our wines have a different blood—no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, no violence; the vines are not just tended, they are loved, and over the years, they have recovered their essential nature. And how we work the land is how we work the cellar. We use a traditional press because, instead of extracting the juice of the grapes, it draws it out. More effort, more reward.”

Of Champagne Bourgeois-Diaz’s 17 acres vineyard southwest of Reims in the hills around the town of Crouttes-sur-Marne, old vine Munier and Pinot Noir make up the lion’s share of cultivars.

Champagne Bourgeois-Diaz ‘BD’RS’, Rosé de Saignée Brut-Nature ($108)
100% Meunier harvested from two old loamy plots, one planted in 1960 and the other in 1925. Maceration lasted 22 hours with subsequent vinification, 80% in steel and 20% in fût de chêne. No final dosage at bottling, making it a Brut Nature. Wild red currant shows on the nose with peach, brioche and rose petals; the finish is crushed stones and grapefruit peel offering a twinge of bitterness.

Disgorged June, 2022; dosage 0 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Vincent Charlot (Village Mardeuil)

Vincent Charlot, who took over his family business in 2001, describes his style as ‘a full concession to my terroirs.’ Spanning six communes, he farms 33 parcels inside the Coteaux d’Epernay, focusing on Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay planted within a complex microcosm rich in biodiversity; soils are ‘craie’ (chalk) with variations of clay and silex/chert.

Says Vincent: “All 33 parcels are hand-harvested and vinified separately, resulting in a multitude of cuvées each unique based on the alchemy of fermentation and yeast autolysis. Natural fermentations occur in amphoras and used French oak barrels, and most are free of malolactic fermentation. Secondary bottle fermentation is triggered by concentrated grape must, followed by long lees aging, minimal sulfites levels and low dosage.”

Vincent is one of the very few growers in the area to rely on his own biodynamic preparations; he is a strong advocate that any malady in the vineyard can be managed homeopathically. Adding to the organic approach, his vineyard hosts a rich biodiversity of specie, including wild strawberries and mushrooms that sprout between the vines. “Walking these vineyards is not only a visual experience,” he maintains, “but a spiritual one as well.”

Champagne Vincent Charlot ‘Rubis de la Dune’, 2014 Mardeuil Rosé Extra-Brut ($72)
20% Pinot Noir and 80% Meunier; Vincent Charlot refers to this style of Champagne as ‘en dentelle’—‘lacy’. The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed and macerated for 14 hours prior to being pressed and spontaneously fermented in neutral barrels. No malolactic fermentation is allowed; the wine rests in barrels on fine lees for about 9 months before being bottled with liqueur de tirage and aged on lees for at least 36 months for the secondary, disgorged and topped up with a dosage of 4 grams/liter. Vivacious and bright, the wine shows lively strawberry, cherry and graham cracker with crushed stone on the finish.

Bottled May, 2015; disgorged September, 2021.

 

 


Champagne Vincent Charlot ‘L’Écorché de la Genette’, 2014 Mardeuil Rosé de Saignée Extra-Brut ($99)
90% Meunier, 10% Pinot Noir hand-harvested and destemmed and macerated for around 14 hours. Once pressed, the wine ferments spontaneously in neutral barrels and rests on fine lees for about 11 months. Bottled with liqueur de tirage and aged on lees for seven years for the secondary fermentation (prise de mousse), disgorged, and topped up using the same wine with a dosage of 4 grams/liter. Charlot describes the wine as “complex, vinous, structured, round, with a distinctive ‘foresty’ terroir character—spice, leather and underwood. The nose evokes a red from Burgundy with elegant, refined fruit and touch of ‘sauvage.’”

Bottled August, 2015; disgorged February, 2022

 

 


Champagne Tarlant (Premier Cru Oeuilly)

Benoît and Mélanie Tarlant are the 12th consecutive generation working the family land, comprised of 35 acres within 31 lieu-dits. Pinot Noir represents half their cultivars followed by 30% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Meunier along with lesser amounts of Champagne’s ‘forgotten’ grapes’, Pinot Blanc, Arbane and Petit Meslier.

The couple concedes that even their lieux-dits are not sufficiently specific to reflect their terroirs, and have singled out 63 parcels that they vinify individually each vintage, allowing laser-sharp precision in blending decisions for base and reserve wines. At the core of this is a commitment to organics. Says Benoît, “Our father fought to end city garbage being thrown down as a fertilizer, something that took five years. That was his fight. Organics seems to be the challenge of our generation.”

In the cellar, the grapes are gently pressed and racked by gravity to Burgundian barrels, where each parcel ferments and ages individually. Malolactic fermentation almost never occurs but is not blocked: Benoît feels that through careful pressing, attention to temperature and the correct viticultural practices, Champagne’s naturally cold climate gives them grapes with low PH and high acidity, a combo that does not incite malo. Sulfites are only added in microscopic doses at press and intermittently to casks of reserve wine. The wines are never filtered: “Disgorgement is sort of like filtration. If you’re going to take the time to do long élevages and letting the solids deposit themselves, you don’t need to filter. It requires a respect of the rhythm of the wine.”

Champagne Tarlant ‘Zéro’, Premier Cru Œuilly Rosé Brut-Nature ($63)
50% Chardonnay, 44% Pinot Noir, 6% Meunier with 14% still Pinot Noir and Meunier in the assemblage. Grapes originate in organically farmed, hand-harvested estate vines across 63 parcels in four villages near Œuilly in the Vallée de la Marne. The focus of Benoît Tarlant’s approach is ‘perfect’ Pinot Noir—the starting point of the wine rather than an addition to a white base. Impeccable in its balance, the wine shows red berries, orange peel, pastry and compelling acidity.

Base wine 2013 vintage; disgorged January, 2019.

 

 


Champagne Tarlant ‘l’Aérienne’, 2004 Premier Cru Œuilly Rosé ($126)
According to Tarlant, the name L’Aérienne evokes the airy, ethereal nature of the 2004 harvest: “It was a vintage that Chardonnay won,” he says.

70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir; the grapes originate from four parcels across the villages of Œuilly and Celles-lès-Condé on a mix of hard limestone, flint and Sparnacian clay soils with vines averaging 40 years old. The juice ferments spontaneously on native yeasts in Burgundy barrels; the wine does not go through malolactic fermentation and ages for a year in barrel. L’Aérienne was bottled in 2005, disgorged in 2018 and received zero dosage. It shows baked apple, honeycomb, mushroom and dried apricot with a bit of chalk on the finish.

Disgorged March, 2018.

 

 


The Villages of
The Montagne de Reims

Forming a broad and undulating headland that covers five thousand acres of thicket and vineyard, the Montagne de Reims stretches 30 miles east to west and, north to south, is about five miles wide. The vines hug the limestone slopes of the western and northern flanks and are planted in a huge semicircle that extends from Louvois to Villers-Allerand.

This is Pinot Noir country (except in Trépail and Villers-Marmery, where the Chardonnay can be found). The most northerly of Champagne’s four demarcated regions, the Montagne de Reims is also the most well-known, with more Grand Cru sites than anywhere else in the AOP. Tectonics gave the region mountains of chalk, and the Romans added their two cents by leaving behind huge limestone pits known as crayères. Within, the humidity remains at around 60% and temperatures at a steady 57°F; perfect cellaring conditions to soften the cold-climate acids of Champagne with time on lees. As a result, Louis Roederer, Ruinart, Veuve Clicquot, Krug, Taittinger and Mumm all store wine here.

 


Champagne Lacourte Godbillon (Premier Cru Écueil)

* Écueil is one of a string of Premier Cru villages that extend along the slopes of La Petite Montagne. The commune itself has a scant three hundred citizens and covers 1700 acres, of which slightly under four hundred are planted to grape vines. Unlike many of the surrounding villages, Écueil is a Pinot Noir stronghold; Pinot Noir represents 76% of the commune’s production, the remainder being split equally between Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.

The transition from simply growing grapes to becoming a winemaker who ferments their own crop is taking modern sensibilities by storm, but the family of Géraldine Lacourte took the leap in 1947. Géraldine says, “The Lacourtes on my father’s side and the Godbillons on my mother’s side once sold all their harvest to the major Champagne Houses. It was, perhaps, not a labor of love so much as a labor of survival—my grandmother talked about being in vineyards from five in the morning until eight at night, with the children joining them after school. Then in 1947, shortly after returning from the war, they began a new adventure: Producing and marketing champagne under the names Lacourte-Labasse and Godbillon-Marie. So popular was their wine that they were soon filling their customers’ car boots with bulk orders!”

Géraldine’s parents took the reins in 1968 and established the Champagne Lacourte-Godbillon label. “At first it was no more than a few thousand bottles. Bottling and disgorgement would be done at the back of a courtyard. But the most important thing was my father’s understanding that the best Champagne was made only from top quality work in the vineyard. His whole career was dedicated to this ethos.”

In 2006, she and her husband Richard Desvignes left urban jobs and returned to their ancestral roots: “Our 21 acres of vineyards is planted 85% to Pinot Noir and 15% to Chardonnay, all of it in Écueil except for just 1.2 acres in the neighboring village of Les Mesneux. Our vines have an average age of 30 years.”

The terroir is characterized by an incredibly diverse sub-soil. Some parts are predominantly sandy over the deep chalk, others composed of ‘sparnacian’ clay and shallow chalk at the bottom of the hillsides, similar to the soils of Les Mesneux.

Richard explains, “Winemakers from all over the Montagne district have long bought Pinot Noir vine plants from Écueil. There was even a school here where they could learn how to graft these stocks. Up until a few years ago we bought our Pinot Noir plants from the local nursery, but going forward, we will be implementing our own ‘massale selection’ of the best plants for cuttings in our own parcels of vines, in order to preserve this heritage.”

Champagne Lacourte Godbillon ‘R’, Petite Montagne-de-Reims Rosé Extra-Brut ($64)
‘R’ for rosé; 100% Pinot Noir with 6% vin rouge. 55% from the 2020 vintage, which spent nine months sur-lie—40% in large oak barrels—blended with 45% 2019 reserve wine. It was bottled in July, 2021 and disgorged June 16, 2023 with 3.5 gram/liter dosage. The wine shows spicy notes of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger mingling with blood orange and raspberries.

Production: 4700 Bottles. Disgorged May 2024.

 

 


Champagne Marguet (Grand Cru Ambonnay)

Champagne Marguet has been a bellwether for innovation since 1883, the year that Émile Marguet began to graft his vines onto American rootstocks in the face of the impending invasion of phylloxera. Alas, so ridiculed was the notion throughout Champagne that Marguet wound up tearing out the grafted vines and promptly declared bankruptcy.

Ratchet forward a century and a half: In 2006, Émile Marguet’s distant scion Benoît Marguet joined forces with Hervé Jestin, the former chef de cave of Duval-Leroy, and began to produce a special homeopathic and biodynamic super-cuvée called ‘Sapience’, first released in 2013. Being on the cutting edge of trends has finally paid dividends. Today, Benoît farms 25 acres of vines, all using biodynamic practices. Most are owned by Marguet himself while the rest are leased from relatives. Among them are eight different lieux-dits with an average vine age of 42 years; each is bottled under the name of the plot and reflects the minute soil differences that exist throughout his holdings as well as the massal-select varieties he suits to his various terroirs—among them Les Crayères, Les Bermonts, Le Parc and Les Saints Rémys.

Champagne Marguet ‘Shaman 19’, Harvest 2019 Grand Cru Rosé Brut-Nature ($60)
23% Pinot Noir, 77% Chardonnay, bottled with no dosage and drawn entirely from Grand Cru parcels in Ambonnay in Bouzy. ‘Shaman’ is a suitably cosmic name for Biodynamic Benoît’s NV line-up, but it’s fairly recent: Formerly called ‘Elements’, there was a trademark conflict with California’s Artesa that drove the name change. The base wine comes from the abbreviated 2017 vintage, which saw rainfall in August that caused a hurry-up harvest to prevent botrytis. The nose is ripe with notes of cherry blossom, white peach and spice while the palate is broad and expansive with rich stone fruit and a firm, concentrated mineral core.

Bottled July, 2020; disgorged October, 2022; dosage 0 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Pierre Paillard (Grand Cru Bouzy)

Paillard is a familiar name to fans of Champagne; Maison Bruno Paillard, the Reims-based producer, was founded in 1981 by Bruno Paillard and financed by the sale of Bruno’s Mark II Jaguar. The Bouzy branch of the family (they are cousins) have been at it a bit longer; Antoine Paillard first bought Bouzy vineyards in 1768. Antoine and Quentin Paillard represent the eighth generation in the family and the fourth generation to produce and bottle Champagne under the family name.

Bouzy is renowned for producing some of the finest Pinot Noir in Champagne, due in the main to its situation on the south-facing side of the Montagne de Reims, ideal for the difficult to ripen Pinot Noir grape. Nevertheless, unlike most other growers in the appellation, the 25 Paillard acres are planted with 40% Chardonnay, giving their wines both finesse and elegance.

Interestingly, the Paillards exclusively cultivate their own selection of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, without a single clone on the estate, a diverse Selection Massale. Each plot is harvested and vinified separately in stainless steel vats and fermentation is carried out at lower temperatures to retain the aromatics. Each spring, a long process of tasting and blending is undertaken by Antoine and Quentin; the still wine is tasted, marked and discussed until there is consensus on the profile of the vintage. Blind tastings continue until the creation of each final cuvée. In June they are put into bottle for the second fermentation and cellared for a minimum of 3 years and as much as 10 years before being disgorged.

Champagne Pierre Paillard ‘Les Terres Roses XVII’, Grand Cru Bouzy Rosé Extra-Brut ($66)
64% Chardonnay and 36% Pinot Noir harvested from separate plots, each vinified separately. Fermentations are kept cool and wines age on fine lees in combo of steel and neutral barrel until the early summer to maximize the influence of the oak and to allow natural malolactic fermentation. Secondary fermentation takes place over three years. Elegant rose petal appears on the floral nose, and the palate is ripe with strawberry and watermelon; a fine, creamy mousse showing hints of marzipan.

Base wine, 2017 vintage; disgorged April, 2020; dosage 2 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne André Clouet (Grand Cru Bouzy)

Long known for its sublime Pinot Noir-based Champagnes, the Clouets are a family of winemakers whose origins are lost in the mists of time. What we can say for certain is that it was founded by a printer in the Versailles court of Louis XV and that the phrase that graces the winery’s labels (‘Ancien Regime’) is a tribute to this legacy. It took more than two centuries and several generations of Clouets to find and purchase land in the exquisite terroir of Bouzy in the southern part of the Mountain of Reims.

Under the mastery of Jean-François Clouet, André Clouet has modernized, but the team is inspired to preserve the personality of its Champagne as expressed through the personality of its terroir. Says Jean-François, “During Creation, when God grew weary of sculpting the mountains, razing the deserts and firing up the volcanoes, he treated himself to a few moments of pleasure and designed a little earthly paradise called Bouzy.”

Champagne André Clouet ‘No 3’, Grand Cru Bouzy Rosé Brut ($58)
92% Pinot Noir, 8% vin rouge from Bouzy; the ‘3’ represents the style of the wine on an odd Clouet scale (inspired by Coco Chanel) where 1 is the lightest wine and 10, the richest. Driven by the chalky minerality of the terroir, the wine offers seductive notes of wild strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate, cherry blossoms, fresh red and pink flowers, crushed chalk, and orange zest.

 

 

 

 


Champagne André Clouet ‘No 3’, Grand Cru Bouzy Rosé Brut ($119) Magnum
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Champagne Lelarge-Pugeot (Premier Cru Vrigny)

The Lelarge family became vineyard owners in 1799, after Pierre-Henri Lelarge married Madeleine Dravigny, the daughter of a winegrower family in Vrigny. They have been producing Champagne since 1930 and today the estate is headed up by seventh-generation Dominique Lelarge along with his wife Dominique Pugeot (no typo; same first name) and their children, who have joined the business.

The family believes in letting the grapes thrive as naturally as possible in order to express the pure essence of terroir. Biodynamic principles are practiced in the vineyard and they were certified organic in 2013. Dominique says, “Soil is alive. The quality of the wine starts in the vineyard. To produce wines of quality and with character, it is vital to respect the life in the soil! This is why, over the last 20 years, step by step, we moved towards organic and biodynamic farming and producing Champagne which respect nature and humans.”

Champagne Lelarge-Pugeot ‘Lùna Volume III’, 2018 Premier Cru Vrigny Rosé Brut-Nature ($144)
Third in a trio of sparkling wines based on the lunar cycles; the Lelarge-Pugeot family claim that it represents their work at its deepest level, being the culmination of biodynamics viticulture and highlighting their continued experiments in natural vinification using only indigenous yeast and natural sugar and no added sulfur. Vol. 3 is a blend of 85% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Noir from a sunny vintage. A short maceration and nine months of barrel-aging are followed by six years on the lees, resulting in a complex Champagne with aromas of candied strawberry and a long, rich mineral-driven finish.

Disgorged April, 2022; dosage 0 grams/liter.

 


Champagne Roger Coulon (Premier Cru Vrigny)

Éric and Isabelle Coulon represent the eighth generation of the Coulon family to be engaged as Récoltant-Manipulants, producing Champagne from Vrigny and surrounding villages in the northwest corner of the Montagne de Reims. Says Eric, “Cultivating our vines is a beautiful and proud tradition. The source of our family’s inspiration is here in our vineyards cultivated with organic and agroforestry techniques. This is the place where we Coulons—myself, Éric, Isabelle and our children, Edgar and Louise, all have our roots.”

Using entirely estate fruit, the Coulons draw from the 26 acres they currently have under vine, nearly all located within the Premier Cru rated villages of Vrigny, Coulommes and Pargny, where soils are soft limestone, Sparnacian clay and Thanetian sand. This is only the start of the journey for these grapes: “Fashionable style does not impede the relationship between the terroir, the vines and the wine,” Éric points out. “The ingredients of our success include natural yeasts used for all 109 plots, slow and spontaneous fermentation; seasons reflected in our wines, measured effervescence with dosage only in the Extra-Brut and otherwise un-dosed vintages.”

“Most importantly,” Isabelle adds, “our wine has kept its identity over time, revealing both the unique character of our natural environment and its own particular style.”

Champagne Roger Coulon ‘Rosélie’, Premier Cru Vrigny Rosé de Saignée Brut ($108)
80% Pinot Munier and 20% Pinot Noir from two parcels of old vines, ‘Les Limons’ and ‘Les Linguets’ located in Vrigny and Gueux. The wine ages on fine lees for eight to 10 months in vats and small barrels and the bottles spend up to 5 years on laths. The wine is dry and slightly piquant, with rich tones of ripe strawberry and blackberry followed by warmer aromas of baked bread and a clear, fresh and salty finish.

Disgorged January, 2021; dosage 3 grams/liter.

 

 


Champagne Palmer & Co (Montagne-de-Reims)

The Palmer and Co backstory is a bit different than the family-legacy histories of many of our other featured houses; it was established in 1947 by seven grower-families with prized Premier Cru and Grand Cru vineyards in the Montagne de Reims including Mailly, Verzenay, Chigny, Trépail and Villers-Marmery The seven shared a desire for perfection and a vision to create a Champagne known for its passion for harmony, balance, and the pursuit of excellence. Today, over seventy years later, Palmer & Co maintains that these qualities still define the Palmer house style.

In total, Palmer & Co holds almost 500 acres classified as Grand and Premier Crus; grapes from the Côte de Sézanne, Côte des Bars and Vallée de la Marne complete their blends, all contributing the specific sought-after characteristics of the individual cuvées.

Champagne Palmer & Co ‘Solera’, Rosé Brut ($87)
46% Chardonnay, 37% Pinot Noir, 17% Meunier; 8% Solera red, 33% Reserve, dosed at 6 grams/liter.

The heart of this cuvée is the winery’s unique Pinot Noir ‘solera’—a perpetual reserve of wine going back several decades. The solera represents 8% of the blend while reserve wines account for another third, leading to an intense nose dominated by wild berries overlayed with delicate notes of vanilla and cinnamon. Fresh and full-bodied on the palate, it extends itself though a finely tannic and succulent finish.

 

 

 

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Posted on 2025.02.06 in France, Champagne, Wine-Aid Packages  |  Read more...

 

Beaujolais’s Pleasure of Now: Cru Moulin-à-Vent Wine Finds a Balance Between the Cerebral and the Carnal. Eight Producers in a Dozen Wines.

Saturday Sips: A Taste of Moulin-à-Vent

Come as you are; come any time that’s convenient for you during our business hours to sample selection from this week’s selections. Our staff will be on hand to discuss nuances of the wines, the terroirs reflected, and the producers.

Elie


The word ‘truism’ is rarely used with wine, a wondrous world where there as many exceptions as there are rules. One such example is price points: Whereas a ten dollar bottle of well-made wine is a better bargain than a hundred dollar bottle of flawed wine, in general, less expensive wines tend to be linear, intended to showcase a vineyard’s fruit and are meant to be consumed young. Pricier wines are constructed for the long haul and will improve markedly if allowed to mature under ideal conditions—for a year, two years, ten years and so on, depending  on the label. They are complex wines that I have always considered to be ‘liquid memories.’ Intended to be consumed on special occasions—or in some case, being so special of themselves that consuming them becomes the occasion.

And now, the exception: Cru Beaujolais villages, which has in recent years striven to provide both modes of expression with equal intensity—wines that can be enjoyed in their heady, sensuous youth and will also mature with marked dignity.

Gamay, when grown in granitic soils and handled with expertise in the cellar, is the rare grape that can fulfill either destiny. Syrah-like in warm seasons and more like Pinot Noir when the vintage is cooler, Beaujolais’s workhorse monarch displays a chameleon-like versatility that shines in this region brighter than anywhere else in the world.

This week, we’ll focus a lens on Moulin-à-Vent, one of ten Cru-level appellations. Iconic both in terms of image and durability, the ‘windmill’ appellation is known for terroirs containing streaks of manganese winding through the granitic soils, and this mineral is said to augment the tannins naturally produced by Gamay.

Beaujolais’s Gamay: Wines of Contemplation and Complexity, Yet Provide Immediate Gratification.

‘The pleasure of now’ seems to be a 21st century operative, and when lighting delivery is the mandatory expectation, Gamay’s ability to deliver the goods within a year or so of bottling have it well-positioned to fill this need. Long appreciated for its hedonistic burst of fresh, grapey quaffability, Gamay’s more brooding face was kept as a guarded secret by the Cru cult, who often turned their noses up at plebian versions and relished in the meatier versions grown in hallowed vineyards.

But these noses should have been placed in the glass. Much of Beaujolais’ signature aromatics come from carbonic maceration, a method embraced (at least in part) by most Beaujolaisien winemakers in all appellations. In this style, intact grape bunches ferment inside their own skins with carbon dioxide used as a catalyst, either introduced or occurring naturally as a byproduct of fermentation. Once the alcohol reaches 2%, the grapes burst and release their juice naturally, whereupon a normal yeast fermentation finishes the job.

Even wines only partially fermented via carbonic maceration show bright fruit with aromas that bounce from the glass. A hybridization of these two faces of Gamay, which some call ‘street carbo,’ has as many varieties as there are experimentative winemakers. The complexity in the top-shelf Beaujolais are the result of superior fruit and—especially among practitioners of ‘Burgundy-style’ Beaujolais—from the oak-aging that is becoming more common.

Either way, the 21st century movement in Beaujolais is a step away from wines that could, even in the most cynical interpretation, be called ‘standardized.’

The Beaujolais Underground: A Veritable Mosaic of Soil

The biggest error a Beaujolais neophyte makes is an expectation one-dimensional predictability. To be fair, the mistake easy to make based on the region’s reliance on Gamay, a grape that elsewhere may produce simple and often mediocre wine.

In Beaujolais’ wondrous terroir, however, it thrives.

In fact, this terroir is so complex that it nearly defies description. But Inter-Beaujolais certainly tried: Between 2009 and 2018, they commissioned a colossal field study to establish a detailed cartography of the vineyards and to create a geological snapshot of the exceptional richness found throughout Beaujolais’ 12 appellations.

Beaujolais may not be geographically extensive, but geologically, it’s a different story. The region bears witness to 500 million years of complex interaction between the eastern edge of the Massif Central and the Alpine phenomenon of the Tertiary period, leaving one of the richest and most complex geologies in France. Over 300 distinct soil types have been identified. Fortunately, Gamay—the mainstay grape, accounting for 97% of plantings—flourishes throughout these myriad terroirs. In the south, the soil may be laden with clay, and sometimes chalk; the landscape is characterized by rolling hills. The north hosts sandy soils that are often granitic in origin. This is the starting point wherein each appellation, and indeed, each lieu-dit draws its individual character.

There are ten Crus, the top red wine regions of Beaujolais, all of them located in the hillier areas to the north, which offer freer-draining soils and better exposure, thereby helping the grapes to mature more fully.

Courtesy of Wine Scholar Guild

A Palette of Ten Crus

Beaujolais is a painter’s dream, a patchwork of undulating hills and bucolic villages. It is also unique in that relatively inexpensive land has allowed a number of dynamic new wine producers to enter the business. In the flatter south, easy-drinking wines are generally made using technique known as carbonic maceration, an anaerobic form of closed-tank fermentation that imparts specific, recognizable flavors (notably, bubblegum and Concord grape). Often sold under the Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages appellations, such wines tend to be simple, high in acid and low in tannin, and are ideal for the local bistro fare. Beaujolais’ suppler wines generally come from the north, where the granite hills are filled with rich clay and limestone. These wines are age-worthy, and show much more complexity and depth. The top of Beaujolais’ classification pyramid is found in the north, especially in the appellations known as ‘Cru Beaujolais’: Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côte de Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié and Saint-Amour.

Each are distinct wines with definable characteristics and individual histories; what they have in common beyond Beaujolais real estate is that they are the pinnacle of Gamay’s glory in the world of wine.

Cru Moulin-à-Vent: Syrah-like in warm vintages, Pinot Noir-like in Cooler vintages

To the ten crus of Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent is what Moulin Rouge is to Parisian cabarets: First among equals. Of course, that equality is a matter of taste—some consumers prefer floral Fleurie and charming Chiroubles to the full-bodied, tannic-structured Moulin-à-Vent and it’s no secret that Georges Duboeuf manages to sell a hundred thousand cases of Beaujolais Nouveau a year.

Forgetting the forgettable and concentrating on the myriad styles of Cru Beaujolais, nowhere is the evidence of terroir—the site-specific contributions of geology, sun-exposure and rainfall—more obvious than in Moulin-à-Vent. Although each appellation works with a single grape variety, Gamay, the results range from light, glorified rosé to densely layered, richly concentrated reds that rival Burgundian Pinot Noir cousins from the most storied estates.

Moulin-à-Vent is unusual for a number of reasons, and among them is the fact that there is no commune or village from which it takes its name. Like the Moulin Rouge, the appellation is named for the ‘moulin’—windmill—that sits atop the hill that overlooks the south- and southeast-facing vineyards. The most outrageous reality of the Cru, however, is that the wine owes its structure and quality to poison: Manganese, which runs in veins throughout the pink granite subsoil, is toxic to grapevines and results in sickly vines that struggle to leaf out and produce small clusters of tiny grapes. It is the concentration of the juice in these grapes that gives Moulin-à-Vent a characteristic intensity unknown in the other crus of Beaujolais, where manganese is not present. It also gives the wine the foundation of phenolic compounds required for age-worthiness; Moulin-à-Ventis among a very select few of Beaujolais wines that can improve for ten, and even twenty years in the bottle.


Domaine de Vernus

After thirty years in the prosaic world of insurance brokerage, Frédéric Jametton decided to do a rakehell turn on his career trajectory. Having been born in Dijon and lived in Burgundy for most of his life, he had become an enlightened wine lover. Not only that, but his former profession brought him in contact with numerous members of the wine community. At the end of 2017, he realized that the time had come to invest in a winery.

Initially looking in the south, he became convinced that the heat spikes brought on by climate change made it unsuitable for the long haul, and after discussions with his friend Guillaume Rouget of Flagey-Echézeaux (who agreed to come on board as a consultant) Jametton settled on Beaujolais, piecing together 30 acres of vineyards acquired from 12 different proprietors, and is gradually restructuring parcels with a view to more sustainable farming.

Among his more valuable pieces of real estate is Les Vérillats in Moulin-à-Vent, where the sandy granitic soils are rich in iron oxide, copper and manganese.

Winemaker Guillaume Rouget, left, with Frédéric Jametton, Domaine de Vernus

Thanks in part to Rouget’s influence, vinification is conducted along Burgundian lines, with around 70% of the grapes destemmed and fermented in stainless steel with élevage in recently-used, high-quality Burgundy barrels for some 10–11 months. Jametton’s ultimate goal, echoed by Rouget, is to offer a range of wines that brings out the best of the different terroirs while respecting the character and personality of each Cru and each plot. With Rouget in charge of the vineyards and winemaking process, Frédéric remains at the management helm and spearheads marketing.

Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Les Vérillats’ ($64)
Les Vérillats lieu-dit is considered one of the top terroirs in Moulin and is known for producing small, concentrated grapes, even from vines of the relatively young age of 27. The harvest is by hand; destemming is 100% and cold maceration is followed by three weeks of natural fermentation and then, aging in oak barrels, of which 11% new. The wine shows translucent purples with a fine balance of bright red fruit and lightly glinting acidity.

 

 

 


Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Les Vérillats’ ($162) en magnum
The above wine in magnum, which will allow a fuller and more carefully controlled maturation process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Château du Moulin-à-Vent

Château du Moulin-à-Vent has a history as unique and fascinating as the wine. In the late 1700s, Philiberte Pommier discovered that certain plots on her estate yielded better wines than others, and set out to understand the geology that underscored a self-evident truth. She began to tailor her winemaking to individual lieux-dits in her property (then called Château des Thorins), and in 1862, Pommier’s wines were deemed the best in the Mâcon region at the Universal Exhibition of London. At the time, Philiberte Pommier was 99 years old.

Édouard Parinet & Brice Laffond

Today, the estate encompasses nearly a hundred acres and covers some of the appellation’s finest climats—Les Vérillats, Le Champ de Cour, La Rochelle—with an average vine age of over forty years. The pink granite soil is rich in iron oxide, copper and manganese, and since 2009, under the new ownership of the Parinet family, investment in the winemaking facilities and the vineyards has resulted in plot-specific signature wines.

Château du Moulin-à-Vent, 2019 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Les Vérillats’ ($57)
Lieu-dit Vérillats is a high-altitude, east-facing site with only a thin layer of granite sands at the top of a granite mount—poor and porous soil that yields around 25 hectoliter/hectare. These conditions lend themselves to a serious, nearly tense wine with iron notes and graphite. These harsher notes are leavened by bright savory fruit and finely-textured tannins with some dark chocolate on the finish.

 

 

 

 


Château du Moulin-à-Vent, 2019 Moulin-à-Vent ‘La Rochelle’ ($72)
Lieu-dit La Rochelle sits on a côte, and hosts a thin layer of granite sands over very fine clays. Average yield here are 15hl/ha. with southerly exposures and an altitude of 920 ft. The wine is perfumed with summer strawberries and lifted notes of white pepper with fine and supple tannins. The finish excels; it is sharp and focused and showcases the site’s minerality.

 

 

 

 

 


Château du Moulin-à-Vent, 2019 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Champ de Cour’ ($58)
Lieu-dit Champ de Cour sit at the bottom of the hill overlooked by the iconic windmill; its soils are varied forms of eroded granite and white alluvial clays. The lower elevation tends to mean deeper soil, so water retention is better. The wine is spicy and opulent with Moulin-à-Vent’s muscular typicity.

 

 

 

 

 


Thibault Liger-Belair
Domaine des Pierres Roses 

Winemaking has been the legacy of Liger-Belair family for a quarter of a millennium. Prior to establishing his own domain, Thibault Liger-Belair studied oenology, worked for a communications firm in Paris and started an internet company to discover and sell high quality wines. Still, the vines beckoned, and in 2001, at the age of 26, he returned to them. The following year saw his first harvest of Nuits-Saint-Georges, and in 2003, he expanded into Richebourg Grand Cru, Clos Vougeot Grand Cru and Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Petits Monts. In 2009, he ranged farther afield, into Beaujolais, and now produces Beaujolais-Villages and several Moulin-à-Vent wines.

Thibault Liger-Belair

Although his Moulin wines are labeled as Liger-Belair, he speaks of his journey to Beaujolais under the name ‘Domaine des Pierres Rose’:

“Having completed a part of my studies in Beaujolais region, I have always been very attracted by the beauty of this region, its landscapes but also the quality and diversity of its soils. I then asked myself the question: why not create a Burgundian model by isolating each terroir within the same appellation in order to try to understand it and then make the most of its identity? My ever-growing curiosity has always made me want to understand other soils and other grape varieties, so that I can start again what I had built in Nuits-Saint-Georges in 2001, in Moulin-à-Vent in 2009.

To create the estate and buy the vines I have already tried to understand the different types of soil by asking the winemakers, by tasting the wines, but above all by walking through the vineyard. What surprised me first of all was to see so many differences in such a small area, it reminded me of the Burgundian terroirs. However, almost none of the producers were making differences between each of their vintages. Indeed, if they have vines in Moulin à Vent, they make a Moulin à Vent cuvée without isolating the different types of soil by different vintages. It’s hard to understand when you have a Burgundian approach that is based on the principle of isolating each of the plots.

So, I had the idea to acquire the best plots of land in the area, all located on the historical hillside of the appellation overhung by the Moulin à Vent, with the objective: to understand and to produce wines that stick to their climat as well as their grape variety: Gamay. The first plots were bought in 2008, in order to produce the first vintage in 2009. We have reproduced the same working methods as the ones as in Nuits-Saint-Georges by reintroducing ploughing while removing all weedkillers. We converted all the plots of land from the first year to organic and Biodynamic cultivation.”

The soil in his Moulin-à-Vent property is shallow (less than 20 inches deep) and composed primarily of granitic sand and quartz, and about half the vines of the 35 acres were planted between 1910 and 1955. His signature wine, for this reason, is ‘Les Vieilles Vignes’—the ‘old vines.’

Thibault Liger-Belair, 2020 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Champs de Cour’ ($54)Champs de Cour is a tiny, south-facing parcel of 80 year old vines and produces a wine that typically shows its quality even when young. Harvesting is done by hand with between 40-50% left in whole bunches, following which the must is left to ferment in open vats for three weeks. Extraction is gentle and ageing is carried out in oak barrels that have seen between one and three wines for 18 months or more. The wine shows a well-balanced palate with black cherries, tar and blueberry through a chewy finish.

 

 


Thibault Liger-Belair ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2020 Moulin-à-Vent ($48)
A cuvée blending nine old vine parcels of old vines located in a belt around the Moulin à Vent hill. The wine offers exotic aromas of spiced candied cherries with a rustic undertow of damp earth; bright, acidic with a firm tannic structure and long, sweet finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Thibault Liger-Belair ‘Centenaire’, 2015 Moulin-à-Vent ($250) en magnum
This wine originates in three distinct terroirs planted to Gamay between 1872 and 1880, pre-dating the scourge of phylloxera. One plot is the south of La Teppe, one in Les Bois Maréchaux in the north and one in Caves, to the west of the hill. Bottled only in magnums, it shows a distinctly mineral-driven nose and opens in the glass to reveal brooding dark fruit evolving into tertiary notes of forest floor and leather.

 

 

 

 


Thibault Liger-Belair ‘Centenaire’, 2014 Moulin-à-Vent ($160) en magnum
As rare as it is precise in focus, this ‘unicorn’ wine is made from vines that predate phylloxera; three distinct terroirs planted to Gamay between 1872 and 1880. One plot is the south of La Teppe, one in Les Bois Maréchaux in the north and one in Caves, to the west of the hill. 2014, as the practice, is bottled only in magnums.

 

 

 

 

 


Domaine de Rochegrès

Albert Bichot owns six domains in the heart of five great vinicultural regions; each estate cultivates its own land using with sustainable practices and employs a dedicated winemaking team devoted to that domain alone.

Albert Bichot, Domaine de Rochegrès

Bichot’s 13 acres within the 1631 acre Moulin-à-Vent appellation are located at the heart of one of the 18 recognized single vineyards, Rochegrès, meaning ‘grey rock’ As the name suggests, the granitic parent rock is visible at the surface of the soil in the vineyards. These vines benefit from mainly south-eastern exposure and thrive in very pure, lean pink granitic soil, forcing them to plunge their roots deep in search of the nutrients they need.

Domaine de Rochegrès, 2020 Moulin-à-Vent ‘Rochegrès’ ($48)
The wine, taken from the oldest vines in the Rochegrès lieu-dit, is 50% fermented in 350-liter barrels (20% new) and 50% in stainless steel vats; then 100% aged in stainless steel vats. It displays upfront notes of ripe cherry evolving toward forest bracken and dried flowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Domaine de Rochegrès, 2020 Moulin-à-Vent ($23)
The wine shows a classic bouquet of smoky black cherry and blackberry followed by clove, floral notes and earth. Some weight on the palate with a pleasant, but still firm, tannic structure and fresh acidity and a long, spicy finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Domaine des Terres Dorées
Jean-Paul Brun

With a name from a fairy tale (‘House in the Land of the Golden Stones’), Domaine des Terres Dorées is a 150-acre vineyard located in Charnay, just north of Lyon. Owner/winemaker Jean Paul Brun is a champion of ‘old-style Beaujolais’, and by ‘old’, he means an era before pesticides and herbicides, and especially, a time when native yeasts alone were used to ferment.

Jean-Paul Brun, Domaine des Terres Dorées

He says: “Virtually all Beaujolais is now made by adding a particular strain of industrial yeast known as 71B. It’s a laboratory product made in Holland from a tomato base, and when you taste Beaujolais with banana and candy aromas, 71B is the culprit. 71B produces a beverage, but without authenticity or charm.”

Brun also insists that Beaujolais drinks best at a lower degree of alcohol and that there is no need to systematically add sugar to the must (chaptalize) to reach alcohol levels of 12 to 13%.

“My Beaujolais is made to be pleasurable,” he maintains. “Light, fruity and delicious, not an artificially inflated wine that is only meant to shine at tasting competitions.”

“The emphasis is not on weight, but on fruit,” he adds. “Beaujolais as it once was and as it should be.”

Domaine des Terres Dorées, 2020 Moulin-à-Vent ($27)
This wine is exemplary of ‘old school’ Moulin; allowed the longest maceration of any Jean Paul Brun cuvées, it ages in oak for ten months. It comes from Brun’s younger vines, which are still on the order of forty years old. The wine opens with scents of berry compote, licorice, sweet soil tones and spices while offering layered and compact mid-palate with fine depth and plenty of sweet, powdery tannin.

 

 

 

 


Famille Chermette
Domaine du Vissoux

When a winemaker tries to bottle something for everyone, he/she is not always successful. The father, daughter and son team of Martine, Pierre-Marie and Jean-Etienne Chermette of Domaine du Vissoux are the exception to prove the rule, producing high quality white, red and Beaujolais rosé from crus such as Brouilly, Fleurie, Moulin-à-Vent, Saint-Amour, Crémants de Bourgogne as well as hand crafted fruit liqueurs, cassis and vine peach with ginger.

Jean-Étienne, Pierre-Marie and Martine Chermette

In 2002, Martine and Pierre-Marie Chermette acquired the La Rochelle plot in Moulin-à-Vent, a high-altitude lieu-dit with pink granitic soils and ideal south/southeast exposure. From this beautifully situated vineyard, the family wrests wines that live up to their reputation as a beacon of Beaujolais excellence, able to broadcast the region’s terroirs with authority: Old vines, diligent but traditional vinification and élevage in foudre are the rudiments of their approach.

Pierre-Marie Chermette Vissoux ‘Les Trois Roches’, 2021 Moulin-à-Vent ($33)
Famille Chermette considers ‘The Three Rocks’ to be the ideal alliance between finesse and power. “The three different plots of vines we use for this cuvée give a wine that is full and balanced: Rochegrès give finesse, Roche Noire liveliness and fruit while La Rochelle contributes power.” The wine’s aromatic palate ranges from ripe red currants through soft pie spice and finishes with a nice mineral snap.

 

 

 


Domaine de la Sionnière
Estelle & Thomas Patenôtre

* Diochon is a branded Moulin-à-Vent cuvée from Domaine de la Sionnière; these wines were previously released under the Domaine Diochon label.

Along with his wife Estele, Thomas Patenôtre created the Domaine de la Sionnière in 1996, beginning with 15 vineyard acres in Romanèche-Thorins. Today, it covers more than thirty acres, with plots in some of the top Beaujolais lieux-dits, including Champ de Cour, Le Petits Morier, Les Greneriers and  Les Perelles.

Estelle & Thomas Patenôtre

Moulin-à-Vent holds a place close to the Patenôtres’ heart. Says Thomas “Moulin-à-Vent stands out from other Beaujolais appellations, and the reason that some refer to it the ‘Lord of Beaujolais’ are to be sought in a glass. These are fine, complex and powerful wines with has superb aging potential, owing its intensity of exposure on the best hillsides, where the granite subsoil is rich in trace elements. Our role is to ensure that we create a harmonious balance between flavors, aromatics and tannic composition in order to obtain an authentic product. To achieve this end we pick at maximum, between the end of August and the end of September depending on the year. The grapes are then placed in vats without prior destemming in order to undergo the initial phase of carbonic maceration, characteristic of Beaujolais wines. Following this first stage, which lasts around ten days, the grapes are pressed and vatted to undergo alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation. We’ll hold the wine in air-tight tanks for six to eight months before bottling.”

Domaine de la Sionnière ‘Diochon – Cuvée Vieilles Vignes’, 2021 Moulin-à-Vent ($31)
Crafted from vines planted in 1920, 1950 and the 1960s, it remains a benchmark of the old Diochon style, defined by well-integrated tannins without heaviness and lifted by fragrant fruit and floral aromas. The 2021 is true to this mission statement, over-performing for the vintage, filled with lush aromatics of sweet berries and plums mingled with peonies and potpourri.

 

 

 

 


Domaine de Roche-Guillon
Bruno and Valérie Copéret

With five generations working the same hillside, a certain metaphysical pas de deux takes place between terroir and wine grower. Add a third party (Bruno Copéret’s wife Valérie) and Domaine de Roche-Guillon is ready for the challenges of marketing and climate change that lie ahead. The Copéret vineyards spread over 22 rolling acres of granite-based soil; they enjoy a south facing exposure, which—combined with altitude of over 1100 feet—ensure the vines yield grapes with considerable ripeness.

Bruno and Valérie Copéret, Domaine de Roche-Guillon

Domaine de Roche-Guillon, 2021 Moulin-à-Vent ($23)
The plots to elaborate this wine are located between the Vauxrenard commune and Émeringes, expressing the granitic soils of Vauxrenard and the sandy-clay of Émeringes. Half the selected grapes were fermented in whole bunches and half were destemmed before spending twelve days macerating at 84° F. With a floral potpourri on the nose and maraschino cherry and wild blackberry on the palate, the wine demonstrates typical muscularity of Moulin-à-Vent with gripping tannins, concentration and energy.

 

 

 


Beaujolais Vintage Journal

The 2021 Vintage: Chaotic Weather Allow for a Sugar/Acidity/Tannin Balance Different from Previous Sunny Years

A warm, humid winter prompted an early budbreak in Beaujolais—and that always puts growers at risk. In fact, April produced a vicious bout of frost followed by a snow-dump that affected new growth. A slight reprieve ensued in June, which allowed for a successful flowering, but heavy rain settled back in throughout July and August. The grapes did not dry out until late August, and the alert against rot and disease was a feature of the entire season.

Harvest came later than usual but was a success; the fruit remained fresh and aromatic with good acidity, although overall, 2021 wines are lighter in both body and alcohol compared to other years.

The 2020 Vintage: ‘Solar’ Vintages Continue, Round and Concentrated Wines

If you can invent a way to leave Covid out of the equation, 2020 was a wonderful vintage throughout Beaujolais. The growing season was warm, beginning with a mild and frost-free spring, which developed into a hot and sunny summer without hail or disease. Drought—a persistent worry in the region—was not as severe as it might have been, and by harvest-time the majority of grapes were in fine health with rich, ripe, almost Rhône-like flavors—raspberries, sour cherry and even garrigue; the local scrub comprised of bay, lavender, rosemary and juniper.

2020 yields were low due to the dry conditions, leading to concentrated juice and wines able to benefit from time in the cellar.

But, of course, you can’t leave Covid out of the equation: Normally the release of Beaujolais Nouveau occurs on the third Thursday of every November, but in pandemic-dominated 2020, the normal celebrations could not take place and producers instead chose to release the wines a week earlier than usual in order to allow for international shipping times.

The 2019  Vintage: The Hotter Rhône Weather Drifts North

As 2021, unexpectedly sharp April frosts cut yields throughout the region. The summer then heated up, with reports of temperature highs exceeding 104F. The ensuing drought further cut into yields, and adding insult to injury, hailstorms struck in mid-August. These storm clouds had a silver lining, however—they concentrated the juice within the fruit that remained on the vines. Although a heartbreaking loss to farmers who rely on quantity, the resulting wine is very intense with nicely balanced acids. The top estates produced cellar-worthy gems—a marvelous representation of what the appellation can offer.


Notebook …

Spoiled For Choice: More Than One Way To Make Beaujolais

The truism about the Germans and Riesling holds equal validity in Beaujolais with Gamay: They each have but a single grape, but build better wines from it than anyone else on earth. This is not to suggest that Beaujolais and its ten fascinating Grand Crus are homogenous—the opposite is true. Each region, each climat and each winemaker provides slight variations in terroir and technique.

Nowhere does the dual nature of Beaujolais appear more profoundly than in the choice faced by winemakers to vinify in the traditional ‘Burgundian’ way, or to rely on the semi-carbonic macerations that produce the fruity, ridiculously early-drinking Nouveau-style wines. Both techniques have their place in Beaujolais, and both produce strikingly different flavor profiles.

Traditional Burgundian-style production relies on destalking and crushing the grapes prior to fermentation, a mean of opening up the fruit up and bringing out the tannins. Only then does fermentation start, either through natural yeasts on the grape skins or from a commercial additive. In most cases, wines made this way in Beaujolais will also have wood aging. Alternately, semi-carbonic maceration involves fermentation that starts in closed containers. The wine is then transferred to traditional fermentation vats and yeast is added to continue the process. While some of the wines will go into wood, many will continue to age in tanks, which highlight the fruit and lower the tannins.


Moulin-à-Vent is Capable of Long-Aging, Pleasurable While Young

‘Decanter Magazine’ recently staged a vertical tasting of Château du Moulin-à-Vent, vintages 2010-2019 (and published in the July 2022 issue), believing that the revitalization of the estate by the father-and-son team of Jean-Jacques and Édouard Parinet (and their brilliant winemaker Brice Laffond) has been so successful that they were willing to give Master of Wine Andy Howard a crack at determining if all the hype around the ageability of Moulin-à-Vent is warranted. Wines from 1996 and 1976 were also tasted.

No cliffhangers here: Howard MW’s opinion was a resounding ‘yes’.

As most Beaujolais fans know, the wines of the ten Crus of Beaujolais can be among the world’s most terroir-expressive. Subtle shifts in sun exposure and soil structure from commune to commune can be detected in the glass, even among those with untrained palates. The wines from Château du Moulin-à-Vent are traditional standouts for their robust texture, deep flavor and age-worthiness made possible by Jacques and Édouard Parinet’s adherence to Burgundian winemaking methods and their steadfast refusal to employ semi-carbonic maceration. Because of that, their wines reveal the best of Beaujolais’ most powerful Cru, the wind-funnel slopes of Moulin-à-Vent.

According to Howard MW: “The tasting certainly demonstrated a distinct shift in style with the change in oak management. Whereas the older vintages (although with undoubted aging potential) demonstrated a firmer tannic structure, the more recent vintages were much more expressive, floral, delicate and refined. However, there is every reason to suspect that these wines will deliver the same ageing capacity as the more ‘traditional’ style.”

 

 

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Posted on 2025.02.01 in France, Wine-Aid Packages  |  Read more...

 

The Future of Burgundy Lies in Lesser-Known Areas: Boris Champy Is Convinced Higher Elevation, Vineyard Orientation and Clonal Selection Hold Some of the Answers to Adapt to Climate Change. 5-Bottle (3-Red, 2-White) Pack $367

“The best fertilizer is the winemaker’s shadow.”

Nowhere does this aphorism hold truer than in Nantoux, Burgundy, where Boris Champy carries on an endless quest to reveal the soul of each vineyard plot, the spirit of each grape variety and the essence of place inherent in every glass of wine. Having purchased the estate from Didier Montchovet—one of the biodynamic pioneers in France who were practicing eco-friendly, solidarity-driven viticulture before the word became fashionable—Champy took over with the intention of using global warming as an advantage in lesser-known mountainside vineyards.

This week’s 5-bottle sampler package ($367) reflects both the philosophy and the product: Stellar examples of Burgundy’s new visage. Boris Champy has awoken long overlooked terroirs to produce wines with cellar-aging potential as well as immediate enjoyment—a work-in-progress that Champy describes as being ‘the result of patience and foresight; a path that respects man in his environment.”

Burgundy’s Climate Change Challenge

April, 2021 has been called the worst month ever for French vineyards: Severe spring frosts created crop losses estimated at 80 to 90% in some areas. These chilly announcements from the planet at large are but a single symptom among the host of challenges that climate change is bringing to the region.

Burgundy’s reputation for elegant wines is inextricably linked to its cool northerly climate. When summer temperatures remain consistently above normal, grapes ripen more rapidly and are at risk of losing the delicacy that translates into finesse when vinified, and although there is certainly a place for bigger, fatter, bolder Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, this market has been saturated in the past few decades with wine from warmer, flatter regions in the New World, and, in fact, bucks current consumer trends.

Burgundy’s winemakers are not without options, of course, having at their fingertips an array of viticultural and winemaking tools to mitigate the damage. But as 2021’s frost proves, such methods are not fool-proof and more drastic action will likely follow, from restructuring the Cru system to exploring the potential of other grape varieties. Burgundy has placed nearly all of its varietal eggs in two baskets, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and upsetting this particular apple cart is not an easy decision for an area tied to tradition. But along with finding new terroirs in regions previously unsuited for viticulture—higher elevations, for example—they may represent not merely the best routes, but the only ones.

The 2020 Vintage: The Earliest Harvest Since 1556

The term ‘ban des vendanges’ may not be familiar outside Beaune, but it represents the earliest date on which harvests have been allowed to start. Pick earlier and you might forfeit your entire crop—‘ban des vendanges’ was a form of quality control that ensured the grapes were not harvested unripe. After 2006, following the ‘ban’ was no longer mandatory became a symbolic date, set much earlier than is practical for harvesting. Historically, this date has been a consensus between vine-growers and local town administrators and also considers the availability of harvest labor coming from outside of the town and even the potential for military threats or outbreaks of plague.

And with Covid in full swing, that sounds like 2020, when the harvest began on August 14, fully two days earlier than the record set in 1556, August 16.

The 2021 Vintage: Endless Challenges Yield Tiny Crop

2021 began as a dream vintage. The previous winter was relatively mild and copious amounts of rain replenished the water tables, so to winemakers, a season of extreme heat (as has become the norm) could be faced with confidence. March began with a cooling trend, but then warmed up and became almost summery, allowing the vegetative state of the vines to progress well.  Then came April 5 and a devastating frost with temperatures below 20°F, effectively decimating the Chardonnay crop and putting the skids on Pinot Noir. The rest of the season progressed somewhat normally, but the vines were not able to recover entirely from the frost damage and yields were much lower than was initially hoped for.

The wines, however, made up for in quality what they lacked in volume, presenting a classic maturity index with correct sugar content and a nice acid balance. In many cases, success was measured by the skill of the viticulturist, who needed to monitor the health of each plot, treat for mildew and harvest at aromatic maturity.


Domaine Boris Champy

An Eco-conscious Producer on Higher Grounds

Boris Champy is to the Hautes-Côtes what ‘imagineers’ are to Disney—seers of the future. With the steady march of global warming, Champy recognizes that mountain vineyards will become more temperate in the decades ahead, and his vineyards are well suited to raise the reputation of the entire appellation. With more consistent ripening, Champy’s objective is simple: To show the subtle differences between the climats and terroirs to which he has access via soil types, sun exposures and slope inclinations.

To this cornucopia of promise, Champy brings an organic mindset: “We practice a viticulture respecting nature. Our single plot vineyards are large biodiversity islets where a holistic approach is required; a global ecosystem with regenerative farming and utter respect for the environment.”

Boris Champy – Domaine Boris Champy

Champy began his oenology career on near-hallowed Napa ground, remaining with the Dominus Estate for a decade. He later became technical director for a well-known négociant in Beaune, and then estate manager for the famous Clos des Lambrays in Morey-Saint-Denis. He was also president of the Corton ODG and responsible for the creation of an environmental protection association.

“My goal from the beginning has been to showcase the lieux-dits of the high-lying hills and valleys of the Hautes-Côtes, and to highlight the different microclimates, exposures and other fascinating subtleties,” Champy says. “As a means to this end we practice viticulture that is still somewhat alien to the great winegrowing Côte. Our vineyard plots are small islands of biodiversity with numerous quickset hedges, meurgers (thick stone walls) and fruit trees. This is a philosophy of regenerative agriculture.”

Regenerative Agriculture: Broader View of Viticulture and Sustainability

In recent years, the term ‘regenerative agriculture’ has replaced ‘sustainable’ in the lexicon of ecology, at least as a consummation more devoutly to be wished. Sustainable farming is a harm-reduction approach—a crucial first step on the path toward creating an overall system that actually adds to nature’s richness. A farmer can begin by reducing external inputs like pesticides, for example, and eventually enhance the health of the land so much that chemicals aren’t needed at all. When measures to enrich the land—such as planting shade trees to protect and nourish soils—are applied on all fronts, you may lay claim to being a regenerative farm.

Boris Champy is a cheerleader for this method: “At the domain we believe entirely in this concept of agriculture: Our hedges are a habitat and a source of food for wildlife. Birds will feed on the seeds of plants growing amid the vines. Birds of prey will feed on small birds and mammals. Hazel trees, brambles and hawthorns have a positive impact on the soil. Mycorrhizae, fungus networks and other microorganisms will help build the strength of the vines that in turn will be transmitted to our grapes.”

Animals and non-vine flora are his partners in the approach, and he points to hedges and thickets with thick dry-stone walls that provide a perfect habitat for birds, lizards and fertile ground for orchids. “We showcase the domain’s history in the plants we encourage; black pines, Scots pines, sorb trees. Each of these trees bears witness to our domain’s past: wood from the sorb tree was used to make the screw of the wine presses; the black pine was planted after Phylloxera. We also allow dead trees to decompose to encourage biodiversity.”

Biodiversity: Garden with Sheep, Chicken… and a Dog

The age-old farming paradigm, still prevalent, is changing: Time was, agricultural wisdom called for one or two species of forages and grazed by a single species. In France, as in the Midwest of the United States, this is generally what you still see: Closely grazed pasture with leggy tufts of mature stalks from less-palatable plants bringing selection pressure to bear in causing the eventual demise of the best forages.

Boris Champy and Napa – Domaine Boris Champy

Boris is a trendsetter: “We like to use the green manuring technique: in summer we sow vetch, rye, fava beans, mustard, Chinese radish and peas between the rows. These plants offer many benefits: they improve soil fertility, provide nitrogen and support microbial life. They are also bee-friendly, to the delight of the local beekeeper! We are bringing grazing back into fashion with a flock of sheep that gives our vineyards a thorough natural mowing. Our flock is made up of Thone and Marthod sheep, a breed from the Alps, which is very docile and accustomed to our Border collie, named ‘Napa’. Napa is very useful on the farm, especially for rounding up the sheep and moving them from one plot to another during the grazing periods. Thanks to our friend Fred Ménager from the Ferme de la Ruchotte, we have also adopted some specimens of old breeds of hen: Gauloises Dorées, Gauloises Grises, Faverolles, Le Mans and Marans.”

The Awakening of Terroir Through Natural Viticulture and Winemaking

Boris Champy thinks about the past nearly as much he considers the future. He says, “Over my career, I have had the opportunity to participate in exceptional vertical tastings of Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits wines. Each time, I have come to the same conclusion, that authentic wines from the years 1910 to 1950 have stood the test of time. They are excellent wines with fruit and complexity which are still a pleasure to drink. From the 1960s onwards, the quality becomes inconsistent, the wines are often dull, boring or sometimes dead due to intensive viticulture (chemical fertilizers, weed killers, synthetic chemistry, clonal selection, etc.). From the 1990s onwards, the quality of the wines returns. Some have called this the ‘awakening of the terroirs.’ Our decision to use natural viticulture and winemaking has the single but ambitious objective of producing wines with cellar-aging potential that have taste and are enjoyable to drink.”

The Pinot Fin and The Use of Whole Bunches

In another nod to history, Boris Champy explains his passion for using a high proportion of whole bunches  of grapes by reminding us how recently the destemmer machine came to the wine cellar. “Like every invention,” he says, “it has both positives and negatives. Destemming has led to higher yields (with grapes that are not necessarily very ripe), and the planting of certain clones that produce large bunches of grapes whose stalks are unable to ripen. The return to the use of whole bunches is a rejection of these industrial techniques: viticulture with lower yields, the abandonment of high-production clones, the pursuit of perfect maturity and vinification by plot.”

This, he believes, is borne out by tasting and analyzing old vintages. “When we consider very old wines, and specifically, certain tannins derived from the stalks, we can conclude that, in the 1910s and 1920s, the very great Burgundy wines were made from whole bunches of grapes. We are still learning about these stalk tannins: They have a ‘sweet’ taste, a characteristic typicity that can be found in the very great wines produced today using whole bunches by the world’s greatest estates (DRC, Leroy, Dujac, Gonon, Chave, etc.).”


The Hautes-Côtes Area

Beaune’s Upper Coast for Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Aligoté

Before the phylloxera plague of the nineteenth century, vines grown on the sunny, limestone cliffs along a ribbon of valleys perpendicular to the Côte de Beaune from Les Maranges to Ladoix-Serrigny were a famous source for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; these were the wines that were ordered to celebrate the coronation of Philippe Auguste in 1180. Post-phylloxera, between 1910 and 1936, almost half of the Hautes-Côtes de Beaune vineyard disappeared.

The region’s renaissance began with reestablishment of the winegrowers union of the Hautes Côtes de Beaune in 1945, which led to the creation of the appellation on 4 August 1961. The terroir is largely built around formations laid down 80 million years ago during the Triassic (sandstone and clay) and the Jurassic (marl and limestone) eras. The favored sites are on south and southeast-facing slopes of valleys cut into the limestone plateaus at between 900 and 1500 feet; considerably higher than the Côte de Beaune, which results in later maturing grapes and harvesting, on average, around one week later.

Boris Champy labels his wines according to the elevation of the vineyards; hence, Cloud 377 indicates, in meters, how high up the slope this plot of grapes grows.

Domaine Boris Champy ‘Clou 377’, 2020 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Beaune ($63) Red
Au Clou is plot of Pinot Noir that sits at 377 meters altitude (1237 feet) where the soils are white and stony with a high marl content—similar to the terroir of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The vines are planted in traditional high-density style, with 10,000 vines/hactare using Guyot cane pruning. Grapes are hand-harvested at optimum ripeness and vinified using soft extraction with a large proportion of whole clusters used in wooden fermenters, followed by barrel aging for one year using an average of 30% new oak. The wine is perfumed with raspberries and violets, with silky black and red berries on the palate peppered with black tea and allspice.

 

 


Domaine Boris Champy ‘Montagne 388’, Bourgogne 2020 Hautes-Côtes de Beaune ($53) White
388 meters = 1273 feet; Montagne de Cras is a 10-acre lieu-dit made up of vines abutting natural areas of biodiversity; scree slopes, hedges, orchards, limestone grasslands with numerous orchids and even a few rare corm trees, whose wood was once used to make screws for grape presses. Vinification takes place in 228-liter oak barrels (15% new) and, in part, in small round stainless-steel vats. This 100% Chardonnay is the antithesis of fat, oaky Chardonnays, showcasing instead a racy and bright style with lovely aromas of lemon, almond, stone, spiced pear and apple.

 

 


Bourgogne Aligoté
Burgundy’s Other White Grape Aims High

“Aligoté!” sounds like a cry of triumph; something you’d shout after making a goal in the World Cup. In fact, perennially overshadowed by its sexier cousin Chardonnay and even its half-sister Pinot Gris (they share a father, Pinot Noir), there was a time when the opposite was true:

“Before phylloxera,” says Jérôme Castagnier, proprietor of Domaine Castagnier in Morey-Saint-Denis, “Aligoté was planted everywhere, literally. But after the outbreak abated, thanks primarily to American root stock, French growers took stock and realized that Chardonnay and Pinot Noir commanded higher market prices, so that’s what was re-planted. In fact, in some regions, Aligoté was banned altogether.”

Post-phylloxera Aligoté exists under the basic Bourgogne Aligoté appellation established in 1937 and, for the most part, produces inexpensive and simple wines, especially when planted in the less-valued soils of the Saône Valley flatlands. But true Aligoté fans, including Les Aligoteurs (a group of French producers and wine lovers who promote Burgundy’s all-but-forgotten white grape variety) believe that the grape better expresses the terroir of thinner, rockier, hillside soils. A cross between Pinot Noir and the ancient white varietal Gouais Blanc, Aligoté’s profile includes descriptors ranging from fruit-driven and floral to herbal and sharp with acidity. In either case, it is the essential base for the classic cocktail Kir when blended with Cassis.

2020 Domaine Boris Champy ‘Sélection Massale 429’, 2020 Bourgogne Aligoté Doré ($36) White
429 meters = 1060 feet. The fruit for Aligoté Doré—‘Golden Aligoté,’ an Aligoté clone Champy replanted with cuttings from his best vines—comes from a blend of plots grown above the 400 meter mark where the soil is marl, clay and limestone bedrock. The vines are very old, and not very productive, so the fruit displays mature concentration with complex aromas of citrus fruits, peach, and fresh bread. The palate is balanced and vibrant with a finish that is elegant, full, and nuanced. Neutral oak aging adds texture and depth.

 

 


The Côte Area

Beaune Premier Cru

on a Southwest-Facing Mountainside

‘Coucherias’ is a Premier Cru vineyard located on a steep southwest-facing section that has magnificent views of the sunset—‘Coucherias’ is a name that references the setting sun. These are old vines planted in 1964 and cultivated using biodynamics since 1985. The plot is situated on clay and limestone, divided into two sub-islets, the smallest being a former quarry. The soil is very clayey and red, which gives a dense texture to this wine’s tannins. The Clos itself is isolated by trees and broom, which is a rare plant in Burgundy.

Domaine Boris Champy ‘272’, 2020 Beaune Premier Cru Aux Coucherias  ($108) Red
100% Pinot Noir, the wine expresses nettles and tea-leaf spice behind bright raspberry and tomato leaf, a whisper of wood and airy red currant notes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Pommard Lieu-dit

Higher Up,  in a Well-Ventilated Valley

“Where’s the beef?” is a classic Madison Avenue tagline, but in Pommard, it may apply to ‘En Bœuf,’ a stamp-sized lieu-dit of very old Pinot Noir vines sitting an elevation of 800 feet. Smaller than half an acre, the site perches at the edge of Pommard and faces the Nantoux Quarry, where much of the pale pink limestone of which much of the nearby village of Nantoux is constructed. The exposure is southerly and the terroir is a shallow topsoil of clay and limestone with a limestone bedrock, leading to a nice minerality in the wines.

Domaine Boris Champy ‘312’, 2021 Pommard ‘En Bœuf’ ($108) Red
Champy relies on a traditional low-trained vineyard with 10,000 vines/hectare and Guyot cane pruning throughout. The ‘En Bœuf’ fruit is hand-harvested and extracted with a 70% whole cluster fermentation in wooden casks. The wine is then barrel aged for one year on 50% new oak. It is beautifully supple, showing aromas of red currant and soft spice leaning toward young leather, with a full mid-palate of fine-grained tannins, taut acidity and the vineyard’s characteristic wet-stone minerality.

 

 

 

 

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Posted on 2025.01.27 in Pommard, Beaune, Côte de Beaune, France, Burgundy, Wine-Aid Packages  |  Read more...

 

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Finds Its Balance: Neo-traditionalist Isabel Ferrando Makes the Case for Blending (or not Blending) Terroir & Varieties. Pack $499

In-Store Tasting with Guillemette Ferrando, Famille Isabel Ferrando
Saturday Sips, January 18 from 1 pm to 3 pm

This Saturday, January 18, from 1pm to 3pm, we are excited to welcome Guillemette Ferrando, daughter of iconic, iconoclastic winemaker Isabel Ferrando for an in-house tasting of the wines of Famille Isabel Ferrando. Guillemette will walk us through technique and philosophy, illustrating the evolution of Châteauneuf-du-Pape and her mother’s journey from a high-powered banker to a dynamic vigneron in beautiful Southern Rhône. Isabel’s expressions of Châteauneuf-du-Pape are as unique as they are profound, and Guillemette has inherited a pioneering spirit and adaptability in and out of the vineyard.

Elie

Isabel Ferrando and daughter Guillemette


Isabel Ferrando comes from a small town about a half an hour south of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. To the hidebound traditionalists in Southern Rhône’s most heralded appellation, that means she is an outsider. Perhaps if you want to bring something new to the party, it helps if you weren’t invited to the party in the first place.

In any case, since launching Domaine Saint-Préfert in the early years of this century, drawing from a 33 acre parcel she purchased from the Serre family, her wines have earned some of the highest praise in France. Critics have trumpeted her wines as being not only among the most profound in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, but in the world.

And to her everlasting credit, Ferrando has managed to wrest many of these gems from a parcel that is considered among the most heat-prone in the region.

Her reputation has grown in each year of the two decades since her first release in 2003, but this has not stopped her from constant innovation, introspection and improvement. She was certified biodynamic in 2022, the same year she opened a new winery (built from local Luberon stones) with an assortment of cement vats for primary fermentations and blending. In the cellar, Ferrando works primarily with neutral demi-muids, but she has also introduced glass demi-johns, Stockinger foudres, and amphora. Aging in the correct vessel for the style and variety has become a cornerstone of her technique.

She says, “Under the benevolent and demanding eye of Henri Bonneau, the maestro, I learned that work in a vineyard must be progressive, from the slow taming of the vines to the translation of the grapes into wine. Inspired by the tradition of Burgundy’s climats, I first produced three cuvées from the Saint Préfert terroirs from 2003 to 2019: Classique, Réserve Auguste Favier and Collection Charles Giraud. Then, the Grand vin du terroir de Saint Préfert was created in 2020, the ultimate result of 20 years of work.”

The Terroir of Châteauneuf-du-Pape: A Mosaic of Soils

Châteauneuf-du-Pape in France’s Rhône valley has traditionally been viewed as a rustic cousin to the elegant and long-lived persistence of great wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. Châteauneuf is age-worthy, certainly, but there is exuberance in the fresh fruit flavors that dominate the style that makes it decadently drinkable virtually from the day it is released. It was said to make up for in pleasure what it lacked in sophistication.

With more than 8,000 acres under vine, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the largest appellation in the Rhône, producing only two wines, red Châteauneuf-du-Pape, representing 94% of the appellation’s output, and white Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Of the eight red varietals planted, Grenache is the most dominant variety by far, taking up 80% of vineyard space, followed by Syrah, Mourvèdre and tiny quantities of Cinsault, Muscardin, Counoise, Vaccarèse and Terret Noir.

Terroir varies and can only be viewed as a generalization; limestone soil predominates in the western part of Châteauneuf-du-Pape; sand and clay soil covered with large stones on the plateaus. Mixed sand, red and grey clay, and limestone can be found in the northern part of the appellation, less stony soil alternating with marl in the east and shallow sand and clay soil on a well-drained layer of gravel in the south. The large pebbles contribute to the quality of the vines and grapes by storing heat during the day and holding water.

Like the soils, there is an enormous diversity of winemaking styles among CdP producers, creating both appealing, easy-to-understand fruit-filled wines as well as wines of greater intensity and sophistication.

Untrained Old Vines Grenache Bush in Galets Roulés

Grès Rouge, Sand and Safre

Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s New Old-Style

Throughout much of its history, CdP provided a leathery foil to the potent and somewhat austere elegance of Bordeaux and the heady sensuousness of Burgundy. CdP is ‘southern wine’, filled with rustic complexity—brawny, earthy and beautiful. But as a business, all wine finds itself beholden to trends, since moving product is necessary to remain afloat. During the Dark Ages (roughly1990 through 2010—in part influenced by the preferences of powerful critic Robert Parker Jr.) much of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s output became bandwagon wines, jammy and alcoholic, lacking structure and tannin, in the process becoming more polished than rustic and more lush than nuanced. For some, this was delightful; for others, it was a betrayal of heritage and terroir.

These days, a new generation of winemakers seem to have identified the problem and corrected it. Recent vintages have seen the re-emergence of the classic, balanced style Châteauneuf-du-Pape, albeit at slightly higher prices. A changing climate has also altered traditional blends, so that more Mourvèdre may be found in cuvées that were once nearly all Grenache. Mourvèdre tends to have less sugar and so, produces wine that is less alcoholic and jammy, adding back some of the herbal qualities once so highly prized in the appellation. But a return to old school technique has also helped; however, many of the wines in this offer were destemmed prior to crushing and were fermented on native yeast rather than cultured yeast.

The Primacy of Place: Blending Terroirs Changes its Role

Terroir has always been lauded as a reflection of place while blending is a means for a winemaker to reflect an interpretation of places. When a wine is released as a monovarietal from a labeled lieu-dit, the expectation is that its character will express primacy—all the specific complexities of a specific soil structure and exposure-driven weather conditions over a single season.

When a wine is released as a blend, both of grape varieties and vineyards, the paradigm shifts and the goal—born of practicality, tradition or artistic license—is to showcase a final product built from various ingredients, as a chef might conceive a course. Likewise, a choral group does not seek to drown out potential soloists, but to use each voice to its strength. An ensemble of terroirs is a search for harmony. It does not try to overpower individual terroirs, but the opposite: It attempts weave them together to create a tapestry that illustrates the totality of a concept.

Rare is the winemaker who not only appreciates, but excels under both philosophies. So it is fitting that Isabel Ferrando has situated herself in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, where blending wines is the foundation of tradition. In 2020, Ferrando—having studied her parcels for many years—decided to explore the idea of blends. She says, “18 years of experience and knowledge of the terroirs and grape varieties now allow me to return to the great tradition of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, so I have released single blended wine in Châteauneuf-du-Pape red and white. …because the history of this appellation is written in this great art.”


Famille Isabel Ferrando
The ‘Grand Vin du Terroir de Saint Préfert’

If a ‘Grenachiste’ is a loyalist who fights for Grenache, it would be hard to find a High Priestess more qualified than Isabel Ferrando. A former banker who learned winemaking at Domaine Raspail-Ay in Gigondas, she purchased the seventy-year old Domaine Saint-Préfert from the Serre family (one of the region’s first domains to estate bottle) in 2002. That year, the property stood at a little over thirty acres, all in the Les Serres lieu-dit south of the village of Châteauneuf.

Les Serres has a much longer history: In the 1920’s, a pharmacist from Avignon named Fernand Serre purchased a vineyard parcel south of Chateauneuf du Pape, drawn to the spot by coincidence of the name: Les Serres. When Ferrando purchased the lieu-dit, she found vines more than a hundred years old. Alas, many were unsalvageable, and some places needed to be replanted entirely.

Isabel Ferrando

Once a successful first vintage was in the cellar, Ferrando began to purchase more land in the appellation, expanding her holdings to its current 55 acres. Among her acquisitions was a small parcel of old-vine Grenache vines that became Domaine Ferrando ‘Colombis’. Meanwhile, in 2013, Domaine Saint Préfert earned its certification for using 100% biodynamic farming, an agricultural technique that is somewhat easier pull off in Châteauneuf thanks to the sporadic but predictable Mistral winds that naturally protect vines from pests and mildew.

Still, it is Ferrando’s ever-growing expertise and hands-on winemaking that produces her outstanding portfolio. Says ‘The Grenachiste’: “There is no secret formula to making great wines in Châteauneuf. I work with a young team who is always open to new ideas. We rely on tradition without being trapped by it, working with whole-cluster fermentations without added yeasts because we discovered that it increased freshness in the wines and lowered alcohol, giving the wines vibrancy. Aging occurs in a mix of concrete and used foudres for up to 18 months.”

Isabel maintains that her responsibility is to strive for constant innovation to propel the estate forward. She believes that ‘innovation today is the innovation of yesterday.’ It is what led her to embrace biodynamic farming and it is what led her to build her new winery with only materials from within or surrounding her vineyards: It is what led Isabel to re-embrace the DNA of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and focus on the singular blended wine to showcase the best of the vintage.

* It is noted that with the arrival of Isabel Ferrando’s daughter Guillemette to the winemaking team in 2020, Isabel Ferrando has bottled her wines under the name ‘Famille Isabel Ferrando’ and totally changed the range previously labelled as Domaine Saint-Préfert.

Instead of an extensive portfolio of single-vineyard bottlings, she has combined most of her fruit (formerly bottled as ‘Classique,’ ‘Reserve Auguste Favier’ and ‘Collection Charles Giraud’) into a new flagship cuvée.


Latest Release: Special Pre-Arrival 6-Bottle Sampler Pack $499

We are proud to offer our family of customers a specially priced Famille Isabel Ferrando pre-arrival pack that includes one bottle each of Ferrando’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape (red) 2022 and white (2023) with one bottle of the special ‘Colombis’ cuvée in addition to three bottles of Famille Isabel Ferrando’s Côtes du Rhône ‘Beatus Ille’ 2023.


Côtes du Rhône ‘Beatus Ille’: The Gateway to Châteauneuf-du-Pape

The storied River Rhône runs through southern France from its bed in the south of the Drôme, flowing between vineyards and ancient edifices all the way to the sea. Only a small portion of it wends through the vineyards that have become its most renowned, those of Châteauneuf-du-Pape—a village you can drive through faster than you can pronounce its name. Surrounding it are the other, less flashy, less famous and less pricy vines of the Côtes du Rhône.

‘Beatus Ille’ is a quote from an ancient poem by Horace in the second Epode; it translates to ‘happy is the man,’ and may well be the mood of those who first smell the sea and wild herbs of the Provence. Ferrando chose this name to reflect the spirit of the wine, which she refers to as, “A wine of great freedom, expressing the pleasure of living in the country surrounded by good food and true friends. Beatus Ille is a cup of fresh fruit that is greedy, complex and uninhibited.”

 2020  Domaine Saint Préfert ‘Clos Beatus Ille’, Côtes du Rhône ($31)
90% grenache, 5% Syrah, 5% Cinsault from a parcel named ‘La Lionne’ in the Sorgues district just at the southern border of Chateauneuf-du-Pape where the soil is a blend of red clay and pebbles. It’s 100% destemmed and fermented and aged in cement tanks. It shows loads of fresh summer fruit with a touch of Provençal herbs and a hint of peppery spice behind nicely integrated tannins.

 

 

 

 


 2023  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Beatus Ille’, Côtes du Rhône (PRE-ARRIVAL $33) Package $499
Ferrando’s 2023 release of ‘Beatus Ille’ takes advantage of the vintage’s aggressive warmth to produce a bottling full of explosive and opulent fruit peppered with the region’s classic garrigue.
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Châteauneuf-du-Pape ‘Classic’: Post Parcellar Exploration

Wine evolves and so do winemakers. When the two are in tandem, the results can be unparalleled. That is certainly the case with Isabel Ferrando’s re-interpretation of her mission in CdP.

Of course, the concept of evolution may apply to an entire appellation, and nowhere is the relatively rapid rise, fall, and rebirth of a style more evident than in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Throughout much of its history, CdP proved to be a leathery foil to the potent and somewhat austere elegance of Bordeaux and the heady sensuousness of Burgundy. They were considered ‘southern wines’ of rustic complexity—brawny, earthy and beautiful.

But as a business, wine finds itself beholden to trends, since moving product is necessary to remain afloat. Suring the Dark Ages (roughly1990 through 2010—in part influenced by the preferences of powerful critic Robert Parker Jr.) much of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s output became bandwagon wines, jammy and alcoholic, lacking structure and tannin, in the process becoming more polished than rustic, more lush than nuanced. For some, this was delightful; for others, it was a betrayal of heritage and terroir.

Isabel Ferrando seems to have identified the problem and corrected it. Her take on the classic, balanced style Châteauneuf-du-Pape is aided by a changing climate has also altered traditional blends, so that more Mourvèdre may be found in cuvées that were once nearly all Grenache. Mourvèdre tends to have less sugar, and so produces wine less alcoholic and jammy, adding back some of the herbal qualities once so highly prized in the appellation. But a return to old school technique has also helped.

If you survived the Fruit-Bomb era begrudgingly, you will no doubt welcome the return to the future that has begun to again take hold in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, in many ways, completing a cycle.


 2020  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Saint Préfert’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($114)
2020 was the year that Isabel Ferrando put her poetry in motion, creating a cuvée of 75% old-vine Grenache, 12% Cinsault, 11% Mourvèdre, and 2% Syrah drawn entirely from the Les Serres parcel, the oldest vines she owns. This was the fruit previously used to make up her Favier and Giraud wines. 100% whole cluster made in demi-muids; the wine shows polished oak spice and toasty cedar encasing warm blackberry compote, fig and red currant. The wine is incredibly concentrated with suave tannins on a long, mocha-dusted finish.

 

 


 2021  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Saint Préfert’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($114)
The 2021 vintage offered more problems than 2020, with late and devastating frosts. Old vines such as Ferrando farms did far better than younger vines.

* A more detailed analysis of Vintage 2021 is offered below.

 

 

 

 

 

 


 2022  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Saint Préfert’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (PRE-ARRIVAL $107) Package $499
“The 2022 vintage is an exceptional one for Châteauneuf-du-Pape in general and for us in particular. For me, it also marks a significant milestone in my work. I have rarely felt as accomplished and proud of a vintage in my career.”  – Isabel Ferrando

* A more detailed analysis of Vintage 2022 is offered below

 

 

 

 


White Châteauneuf-du-Pape: Two Parcels, Two Varieties.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc is one of the most consistently under-rated and under-celebrated wines in an occasionally over-rated pantheon of red CdPs. Always a sensuous mouthful, the warm weather tends to ripen white varietals (generally a measured blend of Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Clairette and/or Bourboulenc) to a tropical cornucopia. It’s this juicy explosion of exotic flavors that make the style delightful in its youth and increasingly complex with age, picking up meaty notes of leather and white truffles.

Isabel Ferrando focuses on old-vine Clairette and Roussanne from two plots in her Serres lieu-dit, using Clairette to bring minerality and the region’s characteristic salinity while the Roussanne provides honeysuckle, acacia flower and peach notes to a tannic backbone.

She began making this wine in 2009 after sharing a bottle of after 1947 Bonneau at a meal with her mentor, Henri Bonneau, the last of that vintage of old vine Clairette—grapes that still grew on her property.

 2021  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Saint Préfert’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc ($114) 
“This wine is vinified in glass globes and in foudres,” says Isabel Ferrando. “The purity and freshness conferred by fermentation in glass and the tension offered by the 12 HL oak foudres ensure a great capacity for ageing. The organic and biodynamic management allows us to achieve the right level of maturity without excessive alcohol and with remarkable natural acidity.”

60% Clairette and 40% Roussanne the wine shows acacia and lime blossom on the nose with jasmine, rosehip and pulpy mango and pineapple leading to a needle-sharp and focused finish.

 

 


 2022  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Saint Préfert’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc ($114)

* From Ferrando’s favorite vintage—more details are given below.
 

 

 

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 2023  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Saint Préfert’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc (PRE-ARRIVAL $107) Package $499

* Specifics of the 2023 vintage are offered below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


White Châteauneuf-du-Pape en Magnum: Rich, Rare and Age-Worthy Monovarietal

Why the magnum? Surface area plays a tremendous role in the changes that a wine undergoes during élevage and later, ‘en bouteille’, and these changes happen at a rate that is in proportion to the size of the container. In a magnum—roughly twice the size of a conventional wine bottle—the aging process is slowed down and the wine will keep fresher longer; a plus if the wine is white.

Back in 2009, Henri Bonneau assured Ferrando that she had the ability and grapes to make a wine to rival his own from the rare, old-vine, pink Clairette that is co-planted in her vineyards. The first year, Bonneau helped to do the vinification. It was Bonneau who told her, “You are who you are; embrace the wines that naturally come from your style. Go with what nature give you. Less is more.”

The wine is very gently pressed and aged for 18 months in one new large barrel. Bonneau recommended bottling it in magnum-size because there is not enough for everyone, so when it’s opened, it’s for a special occasion.

To this day, Ferrando’s tradition is to always give the first bottle each vintage to the Bonneau family. Normally, only one 600-liter barrel is made per year.

 2021  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Vieilles Clairettes, Saint Préfert’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($399) (1.5 Liter)
Only produced ‘en magnum’, this is a heavily allocated gem with less than a thousand bottles made and even fewer exported. 100% Clairette from 100-year-old vines in the dry-farmed lieu-dit ‘Quartier des Serre’ renowned for being one of the most sun-drenched plots in the appellation as well as nurturing vines in well-drained, river-rolled pebble soil. An exquisite, unctuous expression of an under-appreciated varietal, the wine reflects both sun and sand with warm notes of honey, quince jam, creamy lemon curd and pink grapefruit acidity as a backbone.

 

 


Châteauneuf-du-Pape ‘Colombis’: Grenache, Reconsidered.

Despite its potential for splendor in the glass, Grenache has never made the leap into the rarified atmosphere of the ‘noble’ grapes. But in the right hands, grown in the proper lieu-dit and farmed correctly, it can be as expressive of terroir as Pinot Noir and as complex and age-worthy as Cabernet Sauvignon. In Châteauneuf-du-Pape, it produces most favorably on sandy soils that provide delicacy and finesse, but where there is also limestone for structure, red clay for the development of rich (but not harsh) tannins and the small stones known as ‘galets’ for power.

For a grape that produces such bold and muscular wines, Grenache is thin-skinned and not overly acidic, so it must be picked at an optimum period of phenolic ripeness to avoid becoming flabby and aggressively alcoholic. Vine age is of extreme importance for Grenache, with younger cultivars making pale-colored and often mediocre wines—60-100 years appears to be an ideal age for producing wine of consistently good quality.

 2016  Domaine Isabel Ferrando ‘Colombis’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($172)
‘Colombis’ is 100% Grenache, but a blend from three parcels in the western part of the appellation: Colombis, featuring sandy soils, Les Roues, where clay lies just beneath the surface, and Le Cristia, where sand again predominates.
 

 


 2017  Domaine Isabel Ferrando ‘Colombis’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($172)
100% old-vine Grenache from Ferrando’s prized vineyards.

* An overview of the 2017 vintage is found below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 2019  Domaine Isabel Ferrando ‘Colombis’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($155)
The vines average 60 years and the concentrated juice from the small clusters produce a wine that critic Jeb Dunnuck referred to as “One of my favorite wines in the world.” Expansive in bouquet and again on the palate, the wine shows spice-accented currant preserves with incense and cola, crisp mineral undertones and an intensely long finish framed by velvety, well-integrated tannins.
 


2021  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Colombis’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($199)

* An overview of the 2021 vintage is found below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


2022  Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Colombis’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (PRE-ARRIVAL $186) Package $499
Isabel Ferrando affixed her own name to the mono-varietal wines she produced at Domaine Préfert before the change to ‘Famille Isabel Ferrando.’.

* An overview of the 2022 vintage is found below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Châteauneuf-du-Pape ‘F601’: Pure Cinsault, Pure Audacity

The roughly 51,000 acres of Cinsault in France make it the ninth-most-planted grape there, but that is just a fraction of the more than 120,000 acres that covered wine country during its peak years in the 1970s. Now, while much of the production is still used in red blends, an increasingly large share of this acreage goes into the region’s many rosés.

In Châteauneuf, it doesn’t even come in third, landing behind Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre in acres planted.  Still, it produces copious yields and thrives in drought conditions, ripening roughly one-third of the way through the harvest cycle. For Isabel Ferrando, who inherited supremely old Cinsault vines, it is a variety worth romancing, and she pushes it front and center in her unique and luscious ‘F601.’

2018  Domaine Isabel Ferrando ‘F601’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($786)
‘F601’ may sound like an unpoetic name for a lieu-dit, and in fact, it is an arid block in the southern part of the estate. It is also atypical of the terroirs of Châteauneuf-du-Pape; fifteen feet below the surface, sand made of degraded quartz can be found and a bit higher up, extra moisture is lodged in a fine layer of blue clay fed by the mica gravel and rolled pebbles already visible at ground level. Of this remarkable habitat for Cinsault, Isabel Ferrando writes, “I needed 16 years of observation and apprenticeship to find the audacity to throw away the rule book and forge a personal relationship with this terroir, guided by instinct and sensuality. With the 2018 vintage, I am launching ‘F601, and for the first time, the pure and absolute expression of the fusion between this block of land and the venerable Cinsault vines planted on it in 1928. At this defining moment in my life, I am happy to share with you my sense of wonder in this iconic Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Welcome to F601!”

 

 


2020  Domaine Isabel Ferrando ‘F601’, Châteauneuf-du-Pape ($786)

* Details of the 2020 vintage are offered below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Notebook …

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vintages

The 2023 Vintage

2023 followed many of the climate-change patterns that have come to dominate in European viticulture. Winter and spring were relatively mild with sporadic rainfall to help replenish dry soils. February, however, saw temperatures drastically plummet as a cold snap took hold. March did not entirely shake off the winter blues, although temperatures rose enough to allow for a successful budburst and May saw the beginning of flowering. Rain continued throughout both May and June and temperatures began to climb. By July, thermometers in the southern Rhône were registering the nineties. The region had to grapple with the threat of drought, and when rain fell, it was violent and occasionally accompanied by crop-destroying hail. Fortunately, September brough cooler nights preserving both aromatics and acidity, and yields ran high. In CdP, Syrah showed well, but Grenache stole the show.

The 2022 Vintage

The year began with a dry winter that produced little precipitation. Spring rapidly warmed up, although April did bring a fleeting cold snap. Temperatures proceeded to rise, although both budburst and flowering were a success. May was abnormally hot but June brought some relieving rain in time for what wound up being an extremely torrid summer. Most of Châteauneuf-du-Pape baked under a Mediterranean sun, but older vines took this in stride while rot and disease were kept at bay. August brought some humidity, which helped revive some of the stressed grapes. Even so, conditions were perhaps more conducive to reds like Syrah and Grenache than whites, although whites with lower acid character like Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier performed well. Overall, the crop was of very high quality with the promise of sophisticated, age-worthy wines.

The 2021 Vintage

After six blessed harvests in a row, 2021 brought earth back to earth: Temperatures were unpredictable throughout the growing season, without heat spikes, and random thunderstorms later in July served to test vignerons, including a torrential downpour in mid-September right at harvest-time. Early-budders like Syrah, having been jeopardized by spring frost, and the late-ripening grapes also found themselves under threat. Despite this, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, and Carignan fared well, while the quality of Grenache was mixed, some of it (almost unaccountably) particularly good. The best of 2021 wines focus on red rather than black fruit, on lean but elegant tannins rather than any attempts to overcompensate with an ambitious extraction regime or indulgent use of oak.

The 2020 Vintage

Following the extreme heat of 2019, growers were hoping for plenty of rainfall over the winter to replenish aquafers, and they got it. An astonishing 15-20 inches of rain fell between October and December, and a mild early spring saw vine buds break nearly two weeks earlier than in 2019. The summer was hot, but not unreasonably so; rains were moderate and frequent enough to prevent heat stress. Harvest for white grapes began in the third week of August, and the 2020 vintage is extremely strong in this category, however small (only 5% of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s total). It is characterized by elegance and beauty, with a nose marked by citrus and stone fruit and a palate that combines balanced acidity with a prolonged finish

The 2019 Vintage

Grenache enjoyed a marvelous renaissance in 2019, and for this sun, heat and wind-loving varietal, the vintage was ideal. An abundant fruit set was followed by three heat waves interspersed with rain and more moderate temperatures, and as a result, there was no stress for the vines and ripening never shut down. Growers were able to pick at optimum ripeness and nothing much had to be done in the vineyard. The fruit’s health carried through to the cellar, with many growers reporting that their vinification were fast and efficient.

The 2018 Vintage

The quintessence of a year that the old winemaker’s cliché refers to ‘a vintage made in the vineyard’—based on the difficulty that growers had bringing in the harvest. Rains in May and June created a poor fruit set for Grenache, and the threat of mildew was redoubled by the failure of the mistral; a rare occurrence in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Humidity skyrocketed, making 2018 the dampest year since 1973, and organic farmers grew frustrated that natural treatments were washed away by un-forecasted rain. The result was a harvest that in particular showed a 40%-60% reduction in Grenache. Syrah and Mourvèdre fared better, and these varieties tend to be more pronounced in the blends.

The 2017 Vintage

The 2017 harvest in Châteauneuf-du-Pape was small, but of very high quality, leading to limited releases and perhaps higher prices. A mild winter was followed by an idyllic spring, until a cold snap in May brought extreme rainfall; this sudden shift in conditions led many vines to suffer from mildew, which cut yields dramatically—in some instances by half. As a result, the impact on Grenache had massive consequences for blends. Fortunately, even-keel weather continued through to the September harvest.

The 2016 Vintage

The 2016 vintage in CdP was dominated by warm days and cool nights; ideal conditions for growing top-shelf Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Grenache and Syrah. Preceded by a relatively mild winter, the spring was dry and cool and summer exploded with plenty of sunshine and heat. September rains replenished the reservoirs enough to allow each variety to reach full phenolic ripeness. Harvest began in mid-September and, depending on vine age and terroir, some growers continued grape picking until early October. Châteauneuf red wines from this vintage are creamy and concentrated with silken texture and brilliant fruity richness, while the whites, full-bodied richness, remarkable complexity and sensational freshness.


Climate And Weather

Located within the Vaucluse department, Châteauneuf-du-Pape has a Mediterranean climate—the type found throughout much of France’s south—and characterized by hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. It rarely snows at sea level (as opposed to the surrounding mountains, where snowfall may be considerable).

As the equal of elevation and rainfall, a third defining feature of the climate in Southern France is the wind. In a land dominated by hills and valleys, it is always windy—so much so that in Provence, there are names for 32 individual winds that blow at various times of year, and from a multitude of directions. The easterly levant brings humidity from the Mediterranean while the southerly marin is a wet and cloudy wind from the Gulf. The mistral winds are the fiercest of all and may bring wind speeds exceeding 60 mph. This phenomenon, blowing in from the northeast, dries the air and disperses the clouds, eliminating viruses and excessive water after a rainfall, which prevents fungal diseases.

 

 

 

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Posted on 2025.01.17 in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes-du-Rhône, France, Wine-Aid Packages  |  Read more...

 

A Wine Full of Contradictions: Beaujolais’ Morgon Expresses Its Unwelcome Terroir in All Its Intensity. In-Store Saturday Sips: A Taste of Morgon.

Join Us for Saturday Sips: A Taste of Morgon

Come as you are; come any time that’s convenient for you during our business hours to sample selection from this week’s selections. Our staff will be on hand to discuss nuances of the wines, the terroirs reflected, and the producers.

Elie


Morgon has always represented a Beaujolais of a different color. Not merely the richer, denser dark-red hue (as opposed to the grapey purples of other appellations) but the metaphorical color of ambition. Not willing to produce Gamay-based wines that are simply fun and enjoyable (‘peasant wines’ in the parlance of the French, or side-show wines like Beaujolais Nouveau), Morgon—aided by its unique terroir—has always set the goal of producing wines that are complex, meaningful and on a par with great wines found anywhere else in the world.

The frontal assault on the world’s perception of Beaujolais began in the last century. Led by négociant Jules Chauvet (a staunch opponent of the industrial farming that had become the norm in the region) the movement embraced older, earth-friendly agriculture that disdained the use of chemical fertilizers, synthetic pesticides and a factory mentality among producers. At the time, this was a rather unheard of proposition in the region, but the goal was hand-crafted, often painstaking artisan winemaking.

Chauvet’s disciples were dubbed the Club de Cinq—the ‘Gang of Five,’ they included (besides Chauvet) Guy Breton, Joseph Chamonard, Jean Foillard, Marcel Lapierre and Jean-Paul Thévenet, and sometimes Yvon Métras. The revolution came to a head in the 1980s and forever altered the reputation of once-lowly Gamay in the rhetoric of cognizant wine lovers, who have delighted in seeing these wines approach the earthy majesty once thought exclusive to Pinot-Noir-based Burgundy.

In modern times, a new generation of winemakers (influenced by the Club de Cinq’s work) are determined to display Morgon in her full glory. They have returned to the quintessential and traditional Beaujolais practices of viticulture and vinification: Old vines, late harvests (never chaptalizing), rigorously sorting grapes and using minimal doses of sulfur dioxide or none at all. Over the decades, those principles have expanded to include biodynamic and organic farming and vineyard management.

For an audience who has embraced natural wines, Morgon has long been the natural choice, but for hardcore fans of terroir, who realize that the more transparent is the work done in the field and the cellar the more identifiable is the location, modern Morgon is a mirror of its remarkable foundations, especially the schistous, manganese-veined ‘roche pourrie’ that provides many Morgons with their underlying structure.

The Beaujolais Underground: A Veritable Mosaic of Soil

The biggest error a Beaujolais neophyte makes is an expectation one-dimensional predictability. To be fair, the mistake easy to make based on the region’s reliance on Gamay, a grape that elsewhere may produce simple and often mediocre wine.

In Beaujolais’ wondrous terroir, however, it thrives.

In fact, this terroir is so complex that it nearly defies description. But Inter-Beaujolais certainly tried: Between 2009 and 2018, they commissioned a colossal field study to establish a detailed cartography of the vineyards and to create a geological snapshot of the exceptional richness found throughout Beaujolais’ 12 appellations.

Beaujolais may not be geographically extensive, but geologically, it’s a different story. The region bears witness to 500 million years of complex interaction between the eastern edge of the Massif Central and the Alpine phenomenon of the Tertiary period, leaving one of the richest and most complex geologies in France. Over 300 distinct soil types have been identified. Fortunately, Gamay—the mainstay grape, accounting for 97% of plantings—flourishes throughout these myriad terroirs. In the south, the soil may be laden with clay, and sometimes chalk; the landscape is characterized by rolling hills. The north hosts sandy soils that are often granitic in origin. This is the starting point wherein each appellation, and indeed, each lieu-dit draws its individual character.

There are ten Crus, the top red wine regions of Beaujolais, all of them located in the hillier areas to the north, which offer freer-draining soils and better exposure, thereby helping the grapes to mature more fully.

Courtesy of Wine Scholar Guild

A Palette of Ten Crus

Beaujolais is a painter’s dream, a patchwork of undulating hills and bucolic villages. It is also unique in that relatively inexpensive land has allowed a number of dynamic new wine producers to enter the business. In the flatter south, easy-drinking wines are generally made using technique known as carbonic maceration, an anaerobic form of closed-tank fermentation that imparts specific, recognizable flavors (notably, bubblegum and Concord grape). Often sold under the Beaujolais and Beaujolais-Villages appellations, such wines tend to be simple, high in acid and low in tannin, and are ideal for the local bistro fare. Beaujolais’ suppler wines generally come from the north, where the granite hills are filled with rich clay and limestone. These wines are age-worthy, and show much more complexity and depth. The top of Beaujolais’ classification pyramid is found in the north, especially in the appellations known as ‘Cru Beaujolais’: Brouilly, Chénas, Chiroubles, Côte de Brouilly, Fleurie, Juliénas, Morgon, Moulin-à-Vent, Régnié and Saint-Amour.

Each are distinct wines with definable characteristics and individual histories; what they have in common beyond Beaujolais real estate is that they are the pinnacle of Gamay’s glory in the world of wine.

Vins de Lieux: The Particulars of Terroir Plot by Plot

Although the individual qualities inherent in a specific plot of vines was always discussed privately among Beaujolais growers, the wines themselves—even those by the region’s patron saints, the Club de Cinq—were generally blends.

Says Louis-Clément David-Beaupère (Domaine David-Beaupère; Juliénas): “We forgot to tell people about our climats.”

‘Climat’ is the Burgundian term for ‘vins de lieux’— wines sourced entirely from a given parcel of land, and may be considered the ultimate expression of terroir. This is the essence of the Bourgogne viticulture model, since each of these parcels—which may be only a portion of an overall vineyard—has a specific geological, hydrometric and exposure characteristic. The production of each Climat is vinified separately, from a single grape variety.

Every one of Beaujolais Crus is subdivided into lieux-dits—the change is in trumpeting them. For example, the soils of the Côte du Py, the source of many of Morgon’s most cherished wines, is built around decayed schist, while the soils of nearby Douby—only around seven hundred feet away—are deeper and more granitic, producing markedly different wines.

Cru Morgon: Durable, Long-Lived and Slightly Off-Message

Overlooked by Mont du Py, Morgon is the second largest of the Beaujolais crus after Brouilly, and in the heart of it lies the appellation’s most famous terroir, the Côte du Py. Sitting atop an extinct volcano at the highest point in the region, Py contains the oldest soils of Beaujolais, dating back hundreds of millennia.

Morgon’s neighborhood is upscale; surrounded by Fleurie, Chiroubles, Brouilly and Régnié, and slightly under five square miles in total, it is an epicenter for the terroir that Gamay loves best. While all ten Crus feature some granitic soil, Morgon is granite-land. Not that, but it is a unique type, the blue-tinged version known as andesite. And the only rock that Gamay loves more is iron-rich schist, which in Morgon also has in spades; decomposed and referred to by locals as ‘rotten rock.’

As in much of Beaujolais, Morgon vineyards are protected from cold northwesterly winds by the hills immediately to the west. Instead, warm, dry ‘foehn’ winds develop on the eastern slopes, drying the vineyards after rain and helping to prevent fungal diseases. Otherwise, the wide, shallow valley of the Saône River offers no topographical barriers to unfettered sunlight and vines bask in plentiful sunshine during the growing season. Heat is moderated by cooling influences from the Mediterranean, allowing for the retention of acidity while phenols and sugars evolve. As a result, Morgon wines are denser than those made in much of Beaujolais, displaying ripe cherry and dark fruit characters and a fleshy, juicy texture. Morgon wines age so well that the region’s name is often used as a verb to describe a cellar-worthy wine, saying ‘il morgonne’, or ‘it Morgons.”


Clos de Mez

Marie-Élodie Zighera has roots in the past; a metaphor that is not really a metaphor since her oldest vines were planted so long ago that when France entered the First World War, they were already producing.

“Vines have been in my maternal family for four generations,” she says. “The grapes they grew were delivered to the cooperative cellar by my grandmother and mother up until I arrived at the domain as a winegrower. However, this did not deter my grandmother or mother from taking great care of our 17-hectare (42-acre) vineyard. At that time, I was living in Paris with my family and we would come to Fleurie for the holidays. I used to love this time so much, being in close contact with nature.”

With a drive to turn this love into a vocation, Zighera studied viticulture; after graduation, she found work in a number of vineyards. Among them was Clos Vougeot, where she concluded that she could not hope to make such wines from her family holding.

Marie-Élodie Zighera, Clos de Mez

Then came the eureka moment: “A professional tasting of old vintages was held and I was invited to attend during my work placement at Vougeot. With a Morgon 1911, the unanimous opinion was that it was magnificent wine; that it had aged as well as a Burgundy. I finally knew what type of wine I wanted to make and most importantly I realized it was possible. I had another strong advantage too: The freedom to imagine without guidelines being imposed. I set up my business in 2006 and named the domain Clos de Mez, a shortened version of my name.”

Zighera makes wine in Fleurie and Morgon, where the average age of vines in her plots is 45 years. Her Fleurie holding outlines a hilly landscape, where Gamay vines follow the contours of the slopes of Fût d’Avenas, the mountain passes of Durbize, Labourons and Raymont Peak. She says, “Legend recounts that a Roman legionary once passed through here, leaving his name to the site and to the village. Our vines in Fleurie are found in the southern part of the appellation, bordering Morgon. Facing South/South-East, they stand at an altitude of about 300 meters. The soils of Fleurie La Dot and Fleurie ‘Mademoiselle M,’ which originate from acid rock, are deep and provide good drainage. Rose colored granite is widely predominant here and is found in the form sand called saprolite.”

Vintage 2017

In Beaujolais, 2017 will be remembered as the little vintage who could. After enduring frost in the spring, hail and drought in the summer and rain during the harvest, this sequence of events actually helped produce some excellent wines. The period of drought concentrated the grapes and the harvest rain provided reinvigoration. Gamay excelled, gaining a rich, ripe, fruit character balanced by acidity.

The resulting wines ranged from the intensely concentrated, which should stand cellaring, to the equally excellent lighter examples, which displayed the classic florals that Beaujolais is known for.

Despite the unnerving weather, in 2017, Beaujolais delivered against the odds.

Clos de Mez, 2017 Morgon-Château Gaillard ($32)
Château Gaillard is a lieu-dit that passed to Marie-Élodie from her grandmother. Adjacent to the border of Morgon where it borders Fleurie, the plot of 70 year old vines with very low yields giving a wine of great depth and aging potential. Grapes are sorted as they are picked in each plot of the vineyard; the grapes are moved to the vats by a system of gravity where whole-bunch pre-fermentation maceration at cold temperature is carried out for few days, followed by alcoholic fermentation interspersed by cap-punching and pumping-over. The wine offers ripe, black-fruit character with lively acidity and an expansive finish.

 

 


Domaine de Vernus

After thirty years in the prosaic world of insurance brokerage, Frédéric Jametton decided to do a rakehell turn on his career trajectory. Having been born in Dijon and lived in Burgundy for most of his life, he had become an enlightened wine lover. Not only that, but his former profession brought him in contact with numerous members of the wine community. At the end of 2017, he realized that the time had come to invest in a winery.

Initially looking in the south, he became convinced that the heat spikes brought on by climate change made it unsuitable for the long haul, and after discussions with his friend Guillaume Rouget of Flagey-Echézeaux (who agreed to come on board as a consultant) Jametton settled on Beaujolais, piecing together 30 acres of vineyards acquired from 12 different proprietors, and is gradually restructuring parcels with a view to more sustainable farming.

Winemaker Guillaume Rouget, left, with Frédéric Jametton, Domaine de Vernus

Thanks in part to Rouget’s influence, vinification is conducted along Burgundian lines, with around 70% of the grapes destemmed and fermented in stainless steel with élevage in recently-used, high-quality Burgundy barrels for some 10–11 months. Jametton’s ultimate goal, echoed by Rouget, is to offer a range of wines that brings out the best of the different terroirs while respecting the character and personality of each Cru and each plot.

With Rouget in charge of the vineyards and winemaking process, Frédéric remains at the management helm and spearheads marketing.

Vintage 2020

If you can invent a way to leave Covid out of the equation, 2020 was a wonderful vintage throughout Beaujolais. The growing season was warm, beginning with a mild and frost-free spring, which developed into a hot and sunny summer without hail or disease. Drought—a persistent worry in the region—was not as severe as it might have been, and by harvest-time the majority of grapes were in fine health with rich, ripe, almost Rhône-like flavors—raspberries, sour cherry and even garrigue; the local scrub comprised of bay, lavender, rosemary and juniper.

2020 yields were low due to the dry conditions, leading to concentrated juice and wines able to benefit from time in the cellar.

But, of course, you can’t leave Covid out of the equation: Normally the release of Beaujolais Nouveau occurs on the third Thursday of every November, but in pandemic-dominated 2020, the normal celebrations could not take place and producers instead chose to release the wines a week earlier than usual in order to allow for international shipping times.

Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Morgon ‘Grands Cras’ ($47)
Grands Cras, ideally situated at the foot of the Côte du Py, ranks among the appellation’s most famous climats. The deep soil is made up of granitic alluvium that allows grapes to maintain Burgundy-level tannins while retaining the fruitiness typical of Beaujolais. With an average vine age of 71 years, the fruit is hand-harvested and 80% destemmed, following which the wine spends ten months in oak. A rich, cherry-driven profile with hints of kirsch, fresh tobacco and menthol.

 

 

 


Domaine de Vernus, 2020 Morgon ($36)
Lieux-dits L’Évêque and Champ Lévrier from vines with an average age of 67 years. 80% destemmed with three weeks of fermentation on native yeasts followed by ten months maturation in 80% oak barrels and 20% in stainless steel tanks. This structured Morgon is a benchmark wine showing cherries and plums abound along with licorice, mineral and taut acidity.

 

 

 

 


Mélanie et Daniel Bouland

Daniel Bouland has been called reclusive and solitary—he has also been called the best artisanal vigneron in Beaujolais. When collectors compare him to more flamboyant regional names like Foillard and Lapierre, it is always favorably, at least in part because of his obsessive respect for micro-terroirs—in French, ‘pur’ terroir. Working with fewer than twenty acres of impeccably cultivated vines in the Morgon lieux-dits of Corcelette, Bellevue and Les Delys, plus small parcels in Chiroubles and Côte de Brouilly, Bouland’s wines are approachable upon release, but created with such a backbone that his terroir’s mineral nuances will continue to become more pronounced with five or more years in the cellar.

Daniel Bouland in Morgon’s lieu-dit ‘Les Delys’ with Gamay vines planted in 1926.

With the success of Cuvée Mélanie, named for Daniel Bouland’s daughter, Bouland has added her name to current bottlings beneath the name ‘Mélanie et Daniel Bouland’, possibly in advance of the younger Bouland ultimately taking charge.

Vintage 2022

Like 2017, 2020 was vintage with highs and lows throughout the season, temperature-wise especially. A cold and dry winter led to savage frosts in the spring and hail that damaged crops. And then, in July, the agricultural canvas dried out and remained rain-free and sweltering until harvest. Such arid conditions had a two-fold effect; both kept the berries clean from rot and disease as well as pushed them to phenolic ripeness – drought, however, did become an issue. As vines struggled, yields were inevitably reduced. For some producers this meant forgoing making Beaujolais Nouveau. The quality of the fruit, however, was fantastic as the intense heat concentrated juices, making for some very rich, flavorful wines.

Mélanie et Daniel Bouland ‘Vieilles-Vignes Sable’, 2022 Morgon-Corcelette ($48)
Corcelette is a south-east facing climat where the soils are made of sandy pink granite and the vines are between 60 and 75 year old. Made famous by the iconic Jean Foillard, the roster of vintners who today bottle a Corcelette reads like a who’s who of Beaujolais masters. Brooding and filled with mineral piquancy, Bouland’s bursts with wild fruit including dried black cherry, blackberry, cranberry and pomegranate that digs in with powdery, penetrating tannins.

 

 


Mélanie et Daniel Bouland ‘Vieilles-Vignes Cailloux’, 2022 Morgon-Corcelette ($48)
Bouland’s Corcelette soils are split into two named cuvées—one for the sand (Sable) and one for the stones (Cailloux).

“These two parcels are only separated by a small track,” says Bouland. “but the soil is completely different. Not only does the weathered sandy granite differ from the Cailloux parcel, but the slope is steeper, and the 40-50 years old vines are on a specific low-yielding rootstock called Vialla—a stock well adapted to these soils.”

Opening in the glass with a sappy bouquet of black cherries, pomegranate and a hint of sweet cranberry, the wine shows Morgon’s depth along with Morgon’s firm backbone.

 

 


Mélanie et Daniel Bouland ‘Vignes Plantées en 1926’, 2022 Morgon-Les Delys ($48)
The lieu-dit Les Delys is part of the larger climat Corcelette, down the slope and located right where Domaine Chamonard sits. From a three-acre parcel featuring the domain’s oldest vines, the plot was planted in 1926.These ancient workhorses have dug deep into the subterranean water sources to keep maturity progressing in a dry growing season. This is Bouland’s most age-worthy and firmly-structured Morgon, showing deep and brooding wild berries, cherries, exotic spices, cracked black pepper and vine smoke. It is very young, though—it would be a shame not to leave a few bottles to develop secondary and tertiary notes through the years.

 

 


Mélanie et Daniel Bouland ‘Sable’, 2022 Morgon-Bellevue ($39)
Morgon’s renowned, high-altitude lieu-dit Bellevue is built on ancient, eroded pink granite soil on a 22% southeast-facing slope. As in Corcelette, Bouland releases wine from this plot under two names, ‘Sable’ and ‘Cailloux’ for the specifics of the soil beneath the 70-year-old vines.

‘Sable,’ grown on sandier soils, shows a nice balance between fresh acidity and well-structured tannins with blackberry and cherry on the nose and assertive minerality on the finish.

 

 


Mélanie et Daniel Bouland ‘Cailloux’, 2022 Morgon-Bellevue ($41)
‘Cailloux’ soils are rockier, and provide classic aromas of red cherries, kirsch, herbs and a pleasant hint of carbonic bubblegum.
 

 

 

 

 

 


Mélanie et Daniel Bouland, 2022 Morgon-Pré Jourdan ($41)
Pré Jourdan is a lieu-dit that has only been producing for Bouland for a few years, but has been around a lot longer; near Fleurie, the vines are over 70 years old. One of the last cuvées to be bottled this year, it shows blackberries and spices mingled with notes of rose petals, violets and potpourri.

 

 

 

 

 


Domaine des Terres Dorée

With a name from a fairy tale (‘House in the Land of the Golden Stones’), Domaine des Terres Dorées is a 150-acre vineyard located in Charnay, just north of Lyon. Owner/winemaker Jean Paul Brun is a champion of ‘old-style Beaujolais.’ And by ‘old’, he means an era before pesticides and herbicides, and especially, a time when native yeasts alone were used to ferment.

He says: “Virtually all Beaujolais is now made by adding a particular strain of industrial yeast known as 71B. It’s a laboratory product made in Holland from a tomato base, and when you taste Beaujolais with banana and candy aromas, 71B is the culprit. 71B produces a beverage, but without authenticity or charm.”

Jean-Paul Brun, Domaine des Terres Dorées

Brun also insists that Beaujolais drinks best at a lower degree of alcohol and that there is no need to systematically add sugar to the must (chaptalize) to reach alcohol levels of 12 to 13%.

“My Beaujolais is made to be pleasurable,” he maintains. “Light, fruity and delicious, not an artificially inflated wine that is only meant to shine at tasting competitions.”

“The emphasis is not on weight, but on fruit,” he adds. “Beaujolais as it once was and as it should be.”

Vintage 2021

A warm, humid winter prompted an early budbreak, but April produced a vicious bout of frost followed by a snow-dump that affected new growth. A slight reprieve ensued in June, which allowed for a successful flowering, but heavy rain settled back in throughout July and August. The grapes did not dry out until late August, but the alert against rot and disease was a feature of the entire season.

Harvest came later than usual but was a success; the fruit remained fresh and aromatic with good acidity, although overall, 2021 wines are lighter in both body and alcohol compared to other years.

Domaine des Terres Dorées, 2021 Morgon Côte du Py-Javernières ($30)
The Javernières lieu-dit sits at the foot of the hallowed Côte du Py hill, noted for the iron-rich clay component of its sandy granite soils. The vines in this bottling range from 50 to 100 years old and are farmed sustainably and harvested by hand. he vinification is traditional Burgundian: The bunches are destemmed and fermented with native yeasts and without sulfur in concrete tank. The maceration lasts about four weeks. The wine is aged in concrete for 6-8 months and bottled with a light, non-sterile filtration and minimal sulfur.

 

 


Guy Breton

Guy Breton took over the family domain from his grandfather in 1986—up until then,  the family had been selling their fruit to the large cooperative wineries which dominated the region. The rise of imported yeast cultures to impart flavor and aroma, the use of high-tech carbonic maceration and the widespread commercialization of Beaujolais Nouveau played hell with the region’s reputation, and to much of the wine world, Beaujolais came to be seen as one-dimensional, lacking any expression of the native terroir.

Guy Breton took over the family domain from his grandfather in 1986—up until then, the family had been selling their fruit to the large cooperative wineries which dominated the region. The rise of imported yeast cultures to impart flavor and aroma, the use of high-tech carbonic maceration and the widespread commercialization of Beaujolais Nouveau played hell with the region’s reputation, and to much of the wine world, Beaujolais came to be seen as one-dimensional, lacking any expression of the native terroir.

Guy Breton

Following the example of traditionalist Jules Chauvet, Guy and three other local vignerons initiated a ‘back-to-nature’ movement, calling for called for a return to the old practices of viticulture and vinification. This began with old vines and refusing to use synthetic herbicides or pesticides. They harvested late and sorted rigorously to remove all but the healthiest grapes, adding minimal doses of sulfur dioxide or none at all, and refusing both chaptalization and filtration.

“The end result allows my wine to express itself naturally,” he says, “without make-up or plastic surgery: rustic, spicy, loaded with schist minerals and at the same time, refreshing and deep-down delicious.”

Guy Breton, 2020 Morgon ($45)
Although 2020 was one of the hottest growing seasons on record, Guy Breton draws juice from 80-year-old vines to produce this succulent, floral, breezy wine; a dose of relief from the sundogs of summer. Managing elegance and lightness behind a rich backbone of fruit, the wine shows wild strawberry tartness and crystalline, balancing floral notes and an appealing softness that is evidence of Breton’s reputation among the Club de Cinq who are ushering Beaujolais into a new era.

 

 

 


Notebook …

Is Beaujolais on a Path Towards Premier Cru Recognition?

Of all the ‘subdivisions’ in wine, lieux-dits (named places) are perhaps the most poetic. Having earned their reputation for quality, often over centuries, they are individual plots of exceptional terroir named with love and respect—after a family, a natural landscape feature or a historical event. Among more than six hundred recognized lieux-dits in Beaujolais is La Chapelle des Bois (The Chapel of the Woods), La Tour du Bief (The Tower of the Reach) and La Martingale—whose translation is self-evident.

As in the rest of France, these names have often appeared on Beaujolais wine labels, not necessarily as a legal indicator of quality, but as an informal nod to those in the know. It’s an optional honor, and although lieux-dits are registered, they do not have to conform to specified body of regulations such as crop yields and minimum sugar content. Those sorts of mandates belong to a separate system of classification, one that includes Premier and Grand Crus, the jewels of the Côte d’Or.

Beaujolais’ mosaic of soils was brought to light in 2018 when an unprecedented nine-year study revealed more than 300 types descended from fifteen geological formations. This is one of the reasons that Beaujolais wines are unique, not just from one AOP to another, but also from lieu-dit to lieu-dit.

Now a movement is afoot in Beaujolais to elevate the classification some of these revered plots beyond named-vineyard status to Premier Crus. As you might imagine, this is a monumental undertaking. First, a winegrower has to approach the National Institute of Origin and Quality (INAO) with proof of the vineyard’s aspirations: Are there references to the lieu-dit in the historical archives? Does the wine display characteristics that are unique in the AOP, and does the winegrowers already mention the lieu-dit on their bottles in order to more finely define their terroir? If the answer is yes, the interested party then submits an application to the INAO and awaits their evaluation.

Growers in Fleurie, Brouilly, Moulin-à-Vent, Côte de Brouilly and Juliénas have already submitted such applications and data collection continues in the other Beaujolais Crus.

Patience is understood to be a virtue, as it often takes a decade or more for the upgrade in status to be approved… or not.

Lieux-dits of the “Beaujolais hillside” identified on the 1869 Budker map, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

 

 

 

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Posted on 2025.01.09 in Morgon, France, Beaujolais, Wine-Aid Packages  |  Read more...

 


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