An Invitation to Join ‘The Champagne Society’

JOIN THE CHAMPAGNE SOCIETY

Subscribe to our bimonthly Champagne Club. Please, call us at 248-398-0030 or email elie@eliewine.com

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As a member of The Champagne Society, you’re in a select community of like-minded folks who appreciate the exceptional in life and recognize that sparkling wine is a superlative among man’s culinary creations. A bottle of Champagne is selected for you bimonthly. You will be drinking some of the best Champagne ever produced.

All selected wines are from passionate grower-producers or small houses deeply connected to the subtleties of each of their vine parcels and who believe that wine is made in the vineyard. Many of these wines are highly allocated, many bought directly, and we quite often only have access to a few cases of a particular cuvée.

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As a member of The Champagne Society expect the following benefits:

• The selected Champagne quite often is not available in any other wine shop in Michigan and only in a few places, if any, in the country. We compete with savvy wine buyers in the European and the Far East markets to secure some of the allocations from these sought-after makers.

• The selection is released every other month and ready for pickup by the 10th of that month, or shipped if you prefer. Expect a new bottle in February, April, June, August, October and December.

• The price is always less than $110 and reflects 15% discount of the store price when we have additional quantities to sell to non-members. Champagne available, members may purchase any number of additional bottles at the same discounted price.

• We notify you via email when the installment selection is released in a newsletter that profiles the producer and the cuvée chosen. The newsletter is also posted on www.eliewine.com . Only then your credit card is charged and you are sent a separate purchase receipt.

• You can pause or cancel your membership at any time.

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Posted on 2024.12.02 in France, The Champagne Society, Champagne  |  Read more...

 

The Champagne Society December 2024 Bimonthly Selection: Champagne Laherte Frères

The Talented Aurélien Laherte’s Quest for the Perfect Alchemy

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Blanc de Blancs’, Brut Nature ($52)

• AND •

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Rosé de Meunier’, Extra-Brut Rosé ($52)

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All that is gold may not glitter, but a glass of Aurélien Laherte’s Blanc de Blancs held up to the low winter sun will do exactly that. And it is this sun, and the associated warming of the planet, that has changed much of the way the world views Champagne and the way the region views itself.

Among the leaders in Champagne’s re-envisioning, Aurélien Laherte recognizes both the importance of a ‘sense of place’ in its grower/producer wines (rather than a carefully crafted blend of many places as had been the standard among the big Champagne houses for decades). Combined with the inevitable effects of warming vintages producing riper grapes with less acidity—both problematic in crafting traditional styles—Laherte has threaded a difficult needle by relying on a combination of organic and biodynamic viticulture, gentler methods of pruning vines while refining techniques in the cellar.

Laherte operates out of Coteaux Sud d’Épernay, a sub-region sandwiched between the Côtes des Blancs and the Vallée de la Marne. His results are undeniable: Chiseled Champagnes that are created with the sole intention of reflecting the nuances of the plot in which they originate. The Laherte estate, with 75 parcels situated in three distinct areas (the southern slopes of Épernay, the Côte des Blancs, and the Marne Valley) is centered in the village of Chavot and produces around 150,000 bottles a year. This week’s offering contains a cross-section of the most outstanding.

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Champagne Laherte Frères
Terroir Fundamentals: Preserving Its Details

Champagne’s Coteaux Sud d’Épernay Region

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.

Coteaux Sud d’Épernay: Champagne’s Middle Grounds

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 the rest of 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.

Terroir Fundamentals: Preserving Its Details

When trying to demystify the mysterious—and to ground the ethereal—words like ‘alchemy’ (the ancient pseudoscience of spinning gold from base metals) may seem problematic. And yet, under the nimble hands of Aurélien Laherte, the full range of Champagne’s ‘next-level’ magic takes center stage.

‘Next-level’ because Laherte is one of the most progressive young winemakers in the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay, a sub-region sandwiched between the Côtes des Blancs and the Vallée de la Marne. A champion of organics and biodynamics, Aurélien produces a lineup of blended and single-vineyard Champagnes that expresses the unique identities of his terroirs.

The quest for perfection is a keystone in the plans of every winemaker, but in Champagne—where warming temperatures are created consistently better harvests and a return to a natural approach is making terroir more and more transparent—the luck of the draw is shifting to the skills of the Cellar Master. Knowing when to blend and when to let an individual lieu-dit shine through is among the most valuable tools in the chest, and when deployed correctly, allows the vintner to create wines worth their weight in gold.

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Single Variety Cuvées

Champagne’s Nod to Burgundy

Bordeaux, and indeed much of Champagne, blends grape varieties to create signature ‘house’ wines. In Burgundy, the thinking is different: Burgundies are primarily monocépages, meaning they are made from a single grape variety, often sourced from a single vineyard. In Bordeaux, the monocépage concept is virtually unknown, but in Champagne, most prominent producers will offer at least one or two in their portfolio, Blanc de Noirs or Blanc de Blancs. Frequently they are vintage cuvée produced only in years where a special set of conditions are met and only released in limited quantities.

 • Blanc de Blancs

Blanc de Blancs—a term found only in Champagne—is used to refer to Champagne produced entirely from white grapes, most commonly Chardonnay. Pinot Blanc and Petit Meslier can also be used, as well as a number of other varieties permitted in the appellation, but these are much less common.

Chardonnay: ‘Emblematic Cuvée’

Champagne Laherte Frères, Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay Blanc-de-Blancs Brut-Nature ($59)
100% Chardonnay from the south-facing slopes of Épernay and Chavot, grown on soft clay and chalk and harvested from vines about 35 years old. The wine is fermented in small wooden foudres and barrels with minimal bâtonnage; it undergoes partial (20%) malolactic and is aged on fine lees prior to disgorgement. The dosage is balanced by the creaminess of the malo; the wine shows bright tropical fruit flavors, especially mango with a hint of ginger.

Disgorgement Date: February 2024. Dosage: 0

 

 

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Chardonnay: ‘White with A View’

Champagne Laherte Frères, 2020 Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay Chavot ‘Les Grandes Crayères’ Blanc-de-Blancs Extra-Brut ($86)
100% Chardonnay from Chavot mid-slopes where soft Campanian chalk gives these old vines a perfect substratum on their western exposition. This is a single-vineyard cuvée with vines grown using sélections massales and a blend of new and old rootstocks. Vinification in wooden barrels; disgorgement is done by hand. A classic Coteaux Sud Blanc de Blancs showing notes of crème brûlée, apple pie, Jerez-like nuttiness and an extremely fine mousse.

Disgorgement Date: November 2023. Dosage: 0-5 gram/liter. 4579 bottles produced.

 

 

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Chardonnay: ‘Naturally Expresses Terroir, Variety and Intuition’

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Nature de Craie’, Côte-des-Blancs Premier-Cru Brut-Nature ($72)
From organically grown 30-60 year old vines in the Premier Cru villages of Vertus and Voipreux. The vineyards are located in the lower mid-slopes where the chalk is at its most prominent, capped off with a few inches of clay. No added sulfur was used during the vinification or aging of this wine. It is 100% free-run Chardonnay juice, barrel aged, barrel fermented and indigenous yeast fermented.

Disgorgement Date: April 2024. Dosage: 0-5 gram/liter.

 

 

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Petit Meslier: ‘Vibrant and Expressive’

Petit Meslier is a nearly-forgotten grape of which Laherte is so enamored that he replanted a portion of the clay and silt (with chalk below) mid-slope in the hills of Chavot to preserve the varietal diversity of Champagne. Don’t confuse Meslier with the similar-sounding Meunier; it is a white grape made by crossing Gouais Blanc with Savagnin. Currently grown in small quantities in Champagne, it is noted for its heat resistance and ability to maintain acids during long spells of hot weather and, when vinified as a monocépage, provides tremendous aromatic intensity and depth.

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Petit Meslier’, Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay Extra-Brut ($117)
100% Petit Meslier. In creating his iconic, all-inclusive blend ‘Les 7’, Aurélien was particularly struck by the ability of his Petit Meslier to stand on its own. From a vineyard called ‘Cépage Oubliés,’ it is a blend of several harvests with 40% reserve wine and aged for six months on its lees ‘fût de chêne’, or in oak barrels; it shows honeyed pear, buttered toast and toasted almonds behind an unsurprisingly racy spine of acidity.

Disgorgement Date: October 2023. Dosage: 2 gram/liter.

 

 

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• Blanc de Noirs

In Champagne, Blanc de Noirs mean that the wine is made from either Pinot Noir or Meunier (or a blend of the two), although it’s relatively common to find 100% Pinot Noir. Despite the ‘Noir,’ they may be notably ‘Blanc’ since both Pinot Noir and Meunier are red skinned, white-fleshed grapes that produce clear juice. Without being given time to macerate on the dark skins, the wine will be white to the eye, though much more to the palate.

Meunier: ‘Celebrating the Variety’

A light juice and dark skin grape, Meunier tends to be considered the ‘inferior’ the three dominant grapes of Champagne, without the finesse, the liveliness or the delicateness of its illustrious counterparts, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Lately, Meunier has been experiencing a comeback lately and many up-and-coming winemakers are showcasing it in their range. 100% Meunier cuvées are becoming more common and single vineyard Pinot Meunier releases are available.

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Les Vignes d’Autrefois – Vieilles Vignes de Meunier’, 2020 Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay Extra-Brut ($86)
The selected Meunier plots for this wine were planted by the Laherte family between 1947 and 1953 in the villages of Chavot (lieux-dits La Potote and Les Rouges Maisons) and Mancy (lieu-dit Les Hautes Norgeailles). Some of the vines were planted on French rootstock while others are the result of old sélection massale. Aurélien uses traditional wooden Coquard presses; fermentation occurs with native yeast in old Burgundy barrels and malolactic fermentation does not take place. The wine ages up to 19 months on the lees and dosage is between two and four grams per liter; it exhibits marvelous aromas of white peach, violets and verbena.

Disgorgement Date: December 2020. Dosage: 2-4 gram/liter. 3306 bottles produced.

 

 

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Pinot Noir: ‘Deep and Faithful’

Pinot Noir accounts for 38% of the area under vine in Champagne and is the dominant grape in Montagne de Reims and Côte des Bar. It is frequently referred to as ‘Précoce’ due to its tendency to ripen early, leaving behind the acidity so prized by Champagne makers. It thrives in cool, chalky soil—a hallmark of Champagne’s terroir.

Champagne Laherte Frères, 2020 Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay Chavot ‘Les Rouges Maisons’ Blanc-de-Noirs Extra-Brut ($86)
100% Pinot Noir from the prized lieu-dit Les Rouges Maisons planted in 1983 on rich soils of silex, schist and limestone. Malolactic is employed and dosage a scant 2 grams per liter to produce a rich BdN, poised on the palate and showing the austerity, finesse and racy freshness typical of this terroir.

Disgorgement Date: December 2023. Dosage: 2 gram/liter. 1637 bottles produced.

 

 

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Pinot Noir: ‘Intense and Straight’

Champagne Laherte Frères, 2019 Montagne-de-Reims Premier Cru Chamery ‘Les Longue Voyes’ Blanc-de-Noirs Extra-Brut ($86)
Part of Aurélien Laherte’s’ ‘Terroirs’ series, this is the second incarnation of ‘Les Longue Voyes’, a Blanc de Noirs Champagne made entirely from Pinot Noir. The fruit comes from the village of Chamery on the Petite Montagne de Reims, nearly twenty miles from the estate—hence the name, which means ‘The Long Way’. Barrel aged for 18 months with a 4 grams per liter dosage and no malolactic, the nose reveals notes of black fruits, and the palate is tense, tasty and tonic with a persistent saline finish.

Disgorgement Date: December 2023. Dosage: 2 gram/liter.

 

Pinot Noir + Pinot Meunier: The Twain Shall Meet

Champagne Laherte Frères, ‘Blanc de Noires’ Brut-Nature ($57)
Pick your Pinot—this wood-fermented and aged wine is half Noir and half Meunier and shows dried pear, spice, hazelnut, dried flowers and anise open in this very pretty and expressive Blanc de Noirs.

Disgorgement Date: June 2024. Dosage: 0

 

 

 

 

 

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• Rosé

Credit Madame Clicquot for revolutionizing the (then) relatively small production of pink Champagne. A believer in the idea that a wine should flatter both the eye and the palate, the Grande Dame broke with tradition and re-created the process of making rosé champagne. Before, it was made by adding an elderberry-based mixture to white Champagne, but Madame Clicquot had vines in the Bouzy region of Champagne where she made her own red wine, and she decided to blend this with her still white wines.

This is the most common method of producing rosé Champagne—blending clear white and black grape musts, using between 5% and 15% red wine; it is called a rosé of ‘assembly’. The proportion of red wine can vary, but the white wine must be the majority. Another method of rosé production is the ‘saignée’ method, which involves allowing the must to undergo minimal skin contact, generally for only a couple of hours. This minimal maceration allows the must to develop stronger aromas and flavor profiles while deepening the color. ‘Saignée’ translates literally to ‘bleeding’, which is essentially what the skins are doing into the juice.

Meunier: ‘Strong Identity’

Traditionally used as a blending grape, there are about 26,000 acres of Meunier planted in Champagne, and the variety is rapidly becoming more than an afterthought used for color and balance. In the right soil conditions (calcareous clay with deeper chalk layers) and if allowed to ripen well (leapfrogging the vegetal stage) it can produce a wine that ages remarkably, showing finesse and freshness even after years in the bottle.

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Rosé de Meunier’, Extra-Brut Rosé ($61)
100% Meunier, the wine is sourced from vineyards in the Vallée de la Marne and Chavot 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). The wine is multi-layered with a ripe core of red fruit and brisk girdling acids.

Disgorgement Date: July 2024. Dosage 2.5 gram/liter.

 

 

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Meunier: ‘Varietal Complexity and Nuances’

Champagne Laherte Frères, Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay Chavot ‘Les Beaudiers’ Extra-Brut Rosé de Saignée ($82)
Produced entirely from Meunier (harvest 2020) which comes from plots situated in ‘Les Beaudiers’ in Chavot and cultivated using methods which include short pruning for a limited production; manual and painstaking work that requires regular plowing. The grapes were destemmed and macerated for twelve hours, then fermented in barrels on natural yeast without malolactic. The wine shows layers of pomegranate, wild strawberry and rose petals above an exquisite bead and all the depth and density one expects in a saignée.

Disgorgement Date: December 2023. Dosage: 0-5 gram/liter. 2600 bottles produced.

 

 

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Blending

A Tapestry of Few Threads

Champagne should illustrate the word ‘synergy’ above all, where the sum of the total is greater than the individual parts. The ideal blend should be the aggregation of positive components; every thread should add to the tapestry’s whole. The blend should always drive toward harmony; Chardonnay is often up front, while Pinot Noir supplies the middle and finish. Other allowable varietals should only appear if they contribute to the primary blend.

This is not a universal outcome, of course, and according to Jean-Marc Lallier of Champagne Deutz, “Some winemakers do not blend; they mix.”

When cellar masters do it right, it is a painstaking undertaking; every tank, barrel and vat is tasted countless times to assess which batch would enhance which. This is the true art of Champagne making—the intimate familiarity with each component in order to align them perfectly.

At Laherte, Aurélien does not have a recipe for a single wine; he blends according to the call from the barrel and each blend has a trademark distinction. He prefers very low dosage, insisting that the wine’s minerality must speak first. Regarding the tedious art of blending, he says, “They’re like people; one needs to be strong, one of them weak; one bitter, one elegant.”

Highlighting Village Chavot’s Terroir: Diversity of Soil

The commune of Chavot-Courcourt consists of Chavot (in the northeastern part of the commune) and Courcourt (in the central part of the commune), but also the small villages Ferme du Jard, Les Fleuries, La Grange au Bois, and Le Pont de Bois. Among the many folds and hills in the area, the upper reaches are clay-dominant while the soils turn chalkier as you descend. Most of the vineyards in Chavot-Courcourt are located in the northern part of the commune, on slopes formed by the stream Le Cubry.

Aurélien Laherte explains why he farms so many individual parcels in a relatively small area: “Below the village especially is a significant difference in soil types. I have identified 27 terroir-types in Chavot-Courcourt alone and farm 45 parcels. There is no sand, but there is virtually everything else—from chalk to clay to limestone. Between them are countless fine-grained distinctions, so I treat them individually and vinify them separately.”

Les Beaudiers is a vineyard in Chavot where Laherte Frères has old vines of Pinot Meunier (planted in 1953, 1958, and 1965) that are used for a rosé saignée. Other vineyard sites in Chavot-Courcourt include Les Charmées, Les Chemins d’Épernay, Les Monts Bougies, Les Noelles, La Potote, and Les Rouges Maison, all used by Laherte Frères for their Champagnes Les Vignes d’Autrefois and Les Empreintes.

Although Meunier is the dominant grape variety, Laherte also owns a vineyard called ‘Les Clos’ where he plants all seven legally allowable Champagne grape varieties. From this he concocts the individual-vinification philosophy by picking and pressing all seven varietals together.

‘Duality of Terroir’

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Les Empreintes’, 2018 Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay Chavot Extra-Brut ($99)
From two parcels in the Chavot lieux-dits Les Chemins d’Épernay and Les Rouges Maisons, each (in Aurélien’s words) ‘exemplifying the quintessence of the Chavot terroir.’ The wine is a classic Champagne blend, half Chardonnay, (of which one-third is Chardonnay Muscaté) from Les Chemins d’Epernay where there are clay soils with a little silt stratum in surface and a chalky subsoil—vine planted in 1957. The other half is Pinot Noir from Les Rouges Maison where the soil is fairly deep with a vital presence of clay, flints and schists; these vines were planted in 1983. With a dosage of 3.5 grams per liter, it is a resonant Champagne with floral top notes and deftly balanced acidity.

Disgorgement Date: November 2023. Dosage: 2-4 gram/liter.

 

 

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‘Infusion’

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Infusion – Meslier & Pinot’, Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay Chavot Brut-Nature ($135)
Only 669 bottles were made of this tiny cuvée. The blend is 50% Petit Meslier and 50% Pinot Noir from two plots in Chavot, and it spends 30 months on the lees in barrel before being bottled without dosage. True to its name, the crisp fruit of Meslier is infused with Pinot Noir’s vinosity, and the wine shows green apple, citrus peel, almond and stone flavors that linger through a long, nicely balanced finish. Disgorged October 2022.

Disgorgement Date: November 2023. Dosage: 2 to 4 gram/liter.

 

 

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 ‘Tribute to Yesterday’s Wines’

The soléra system of maturation used for Sherry, the famous fortified wine of Jerez, is a cry for consistency from vintage to vintage. The system involves removing wine for release from the last of a series of barrels that contains a blend of every vintage since the soléra was started. The void in those barrels is then filled with wine from another series of barrels, and so on, until there is room in the youngest series of barrels. The wine from the most recent vintage is added to those barrels.

In Champagne, the method used is slightly different; after each harvest, wine is added to the blend, and every time a producer is ready to release a new batch of non-vintage Champagne, he removes what he needs. Over time, the cuvée becomes increasingly complex as the fresh wines of the latest vintage taking on the mature qualities of those that came before it. It is a system used by surprisingly few producers in Champagne, but Laherte Frères is one of them.

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Les 7 Soléra’, Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay Chavot Extra-Brut ($117) Soléra 2005 à 2021
As the name suggests, all seven allowable Champagne grapes are used in this single cuvée; 10% Fromenteau, 8% Arbanne, 14% Pinot Noir, 18% Chard, 17% Pinot Blanc, 18% Meunier, 15% Petit Meslier from a vineyard planted by Thierry Laherte in 2003. He picks and presses all seven together and employs his perpetual cuvée: Les 7 contains wine not only from the current vintage, but draws bits of reserve wine from all harvests dating back to 2005, the year Aurélien took over the domain. All bottles are disgorged by hand with a dosage of 4 grams per liter. The wine shows lemon zest, crystalline green-apple candy and floral notes in a stony infrastructure.

Soléra 2005-2021, vinification in barrels. Disgorgement Date: December 2023. Dosage: 2-4 gram/liter. 3642 bottles produced.

 

 

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‘Back to Basics’

Champagne Laherte Frères ‘Ultradition’, Extra-Brut ($49)
60% Meunier, 30% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir from vineyard plots in the Côteaux Sud d’Épernay, Vallée de la Marne and Côte des Blancs where vines average around 30 years. The wine ages in barrels for six months and given light filtration before bottling during the spring time. The wine offers a complex bouquet of dried apple and toasted walnut; the Meunier lends floral tones and an upper-register smokiness.

Disgorgement Date: October 2023. Dosage: 4.5 gram/liter.

 

 

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Coteaux-Champenois: Still Champagne

Is It Still Champagne?

The Coteaux-Champenois AOP is dedicated entirely to non-effervescent wine from Champagne and may be red, white or rosé, although the lion’s share is red—Bouzy rouge being the most celebrated. With a warming climate ripening grapes more consistently, Coteaux-Champenois is becoming positively trendy and producers across the 319 communes entitled to make wines under the Coteaux Champenois appellation.

Domaine Laherte Frères, 2018 Coteaux-Champenois Coteaux-Sud-d’Épernay ‘Les Rouges Maisons’ Rouge ($73)
100% Pinot Noir from the prized Les Rouges Maisons lieu-dit; Aurélien says. “At the domain, we love diversity and we have a naturally curious and imaginative winegrower spirit! After a few years, we are happy to be able to present some Coteaux Champenois to you again. In 2018, the harvest was beautiful, generous, with maturities rarely reached and with a full and intense aroma. It seemed obvious to us to push the maturities on a few plots, in order to seek phenolic maturity and an interesting structure to develop Coteaux-Champenois.”

The wine shows off the chalky terroir in a mineral-driven Pinot Noir filled with the finesse and tension that reflects true Champagne character. Only 854 bottles were made.

 

 

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Notebook …

Drawing The Boundaries of The Champagne Region 

To be Champagne is to be an aristocrat. Your origins may be humble and your feet may be in the dirt; your hands are scarred from pruning and your back aches from moving barrels. But your head is always in the stars.

As such, the struggle to preserve its identity has been at the heart of Champagne’s self-confidence. Although the Champagne controlled designation of origin (AOC) wasn’t recognized until 1936, defense of the designation by its producers goes back much further. Since the first bubble burst in the first glass of sparkling wine in Hautvillers Abbey, producers in Champagne have maintained that their terroirs are unique to the region and any other wine that bears the name is a pretender to their effervescent throne.

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.

The lauded wine writer Peter Liem expands the number of sub-regions from four to seven, dividing the Vallée de la Marne into the Grand Vallée and the Vallée de la Marne; adding the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay and combining the disparate zones between the heart of Champagne and Côte de Bar into a single sub-zone.

Lying beyond even Liem’s overview is 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.

… Yet another reason why this tiny slice of northern France, a mere 132 square miles, remains both elite and precious.

 

 

 

 

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Posted on 2024.12.01 in France, The Champagne Society  |  Read more...

 

RED FRIDAY DEAL The Wines of Beaujolais and its Crus at 15% Discount. Any Quantity. All Weekend Offer. + IN-STORE Beaujolais Tasting, Friday & Saturday

Beaujolais is November’s ideal paramour, if not particularly during the third week when the region’s infamous Beaujolais Nouveau is released. As a bright, food-fabulous foil to most Thanksgiving courses, the fourth week in November is when we look to the ten sophisticated Crus of Burgundy’s southern sister region for the best examples of what Gamay can produce.

Post-feast, Elie’s is proud to offer both an in-store tasting and a 15% discount on any quantity of Cru Beaujolais, including the fantastic Fleuries and Morgons of Clos de Mez, Thibault Liger-Belair’s luscious Moulin-à-Vent and the fresh and complex 2021 Armand Heitz Juliénas. They represent the supplest wines from the granite and limestone-rich hills of the region’s north where winemakers are enjoying a renaissance of their roots by producing non-manipulated, non-interventionist wines. Such examples reflect the granitic glories that Gamay brings to this odd appendage of Burgundy, which is utterly un-Burgundian in grape, style or intent.

With Gratitude,

Elie

 

 

 

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Posted on 2024.11.30 in France, Saturday Sips Wines  |  Read more...

 

Wine Matchup for Thanksgiving Feast: A Pack of Ten Picks to Enhance the Food, Reawaken the Appetite and Renew Weary Taste Buds ($279) + Recent Arrival Traversing Burgundy in Six Wines with Domaine Manuel Olivier (6-Bottle Pack $459)

A true masterpiece is composed of many elements, and all the details must be in precise balance: The forearm musculature on Michelangelo’s ‘David’ for example—the intake of breath in the nostril of Sanmartino’s ‘Veiled Christ.’ This is as true for a magnificent meal as it is for a sculpture, and any constituent of your Thanksgiving Day spread that’s treated as an afterthought may glare more than the successes.

Naturally, we consider wine to be an indispensable part of this annual meal, not only to reinforce the overall sensory enjoyment, but as a nod to a greater sense of appreciation for things that we, as human beings, get right.

It’s possible to overanalyze your wine choices, of course—many of the other elements of a Thanksgiving feast are as fixed as the solar system. Wine is one factor that is not only less preordained, but can (and should) change with vintages and tastes.

When dealing with alcohol-by-volume, any multi-course meal where wine is served as an accompaniment should follow a simple rule: When possible, go low so your guests don’t get too high. Whether you consider food/wine match-ups to be an art, a science, or simply a way to expand your horizons with a variety of different styles and appellations, there are some tricks to the trade we try to emphasize with our holiday picks: Contrast or complement but never overshadow and keep the octane at a lower level than you otherwise might in order to make sure that everyone returns home to tipple another day.

This Thanksgiving, Elie’s is offering an eclectic line-up (10 bottles for $279) that should delight and entice while keeping your guests on the safe side of celebration. Our suggestions are culled from new arrivals and old standbys, and are offered as interval highlights at various stages of the meal. They reflect the balance that all cooks, winemakers and artists strive for in rhythm, emphasis, unity and variety.

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To Serve Before Dinner and with Appetizers

When your guests arrive, an icebreaker does not need to contain ice, but the appropriate chill is always appreciated. Red wines, in particular, tend to be served too warm. In this case, the light and perfumed carbonically-macerated Cabernet France from Sébastien David hits its refreshing high water mark and around 55°F, somewhat lower than the typical household room temperature. Likewise, the tendency is to transfer white wine directly from refrigerator to glass, which is too cold to appreciate the nuances of Blard & Fils Roussette de Savoie. Give it ten or fifteen minutes to pick up some ambient room warmth—it will show much better. Of course, these effervescent, quaffable and refreshing cidres will be fine with a brisk November chill.

 Hard Cider

 1  Maison Hérout ‘Micro – Cuvée No 1’, 2020 AOP Cidre Cotentin Tranquil ($24) 5.5% abv
A fizzy, bright gold organic cidre aged for three months in Calvados barrels (leading to the slightly higher alcohol content). It shows aromas of fallen lemon and earth with a lightly tannic, vibrant and compelling body that shows brisk dried peach, hay and parchment on the finish

 2  Maison Hérout ‘Cuvée Tradition’, 2020 AOP Cidre Cotentin – Brut ($19) 5% abv
Bright gold in the color with frothy bubbles and the heady aromas of picked apple. Slightly earthy with a tannic, vibrant, fruity light-to-medium body and compelling hints of minerality.

Maison Hérout
Normandy

The Hérout estate is located near the town of Auvers, where apples thrive in a lush oceanic climate. The Hérout family began producing cider in the 1940s; today, Marie-Agnès Hérout has taken over the farm and remains true to her heritage by producing some of the finest ciders available from this region. After picking, the apples are grated, macerated, and then pressed with the help of a rack press dating back to 1920, whereupon the juice is left to ferment for four to seven months, often in used Calvados barrels.

Marie-Agnès also continues the family tradition of planting apple trees for future generations and in 2000, began a campaign with the Syndicat de Promotion du Cidre du Cotentin to earn the region’s certification for Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée Cotentin status. In May of 2016, after 16 years of hard work and perseverance, the quest succeeded.

 

White Wine

 3  Blard & Fils, 2020 Roussette de Savoie ‘Altesse’ ($27) 12.5% abv
Nowhere in the world does Altesse reign as regally as in Roussette de Savoie, an AOP which has adopted the grape’s nickname ‘Roussette’ as its own. Late to ripen, and turning pink near harvest, the variety produces small grapes with a tight-bunch structure.

This wine is 100% Altesse from Abymes, from vines that are 35 years old. As always, Thomas Blard ferments naturally, with 20% of the juice seeing skin contact for 10 days. Aged on the lees for 10 months before bottling, the wine presents a terrific nose of green grass, salt, lemon and ripe apricot. The palate follows with green tea, lime zest, and herbs behind an exhilarating, Chablis-like texture.

Blard & Fils
Savoie

Jean-Noël and Thomas Blard are a father/son team who has taken their family domain to new quality heights while moving steadily toward fully organic and natural viticulture. In the 1990’s, Jean-Noël became one of the first vignerons in the appellation to diversify into Pinot Noir, and was also eager to raise the quality bar on Jacquère and Mondeuse—the latter by aging in neutral oak for a minimum of two years. With 25 acres under Blard control, grassed over and fertilized naturally, the Blards use a technique known as ‘intercep’ to remove unwanted greenery before finishing the job by hand.

Five generations of Blard have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat: In 1248, the side of Mont Granier (one of the major formations of the Savoie’s Chartreuse Massif) collapsed, and a wave of boulders and scree crushed the landscape below, forever changing the soil structure. Apremont means ‘bitter mountain’ and Abymes means ‘ruin’ and as a result of the natural upheaval, it is today it is considered to be the best place in the Savoie (and by extension, all of France) to grow Jacquère.

 

Red Wine 

 4  Sébastien David ‘Hurluberlu’, 2023 VdF Loire-Touraine ‘Cabernet Franc’ ($25) 13% abv
Working with whole clusters, David ferments ‘Hurluberlu’ on wild yeasts, employing carbonic maceration for 25 days followed by a light pressing to preserve the fruit’s freshness, and to create a wine that is as animated as its name, resplendent with sizzling cherry, bright raspberry and tart cranberry that deserves to be served slightly chilled.

Sébastien David
The Loire Valley

No comment on E.F. Hutton, but when Sébastien David speaks, you should probably listen. He is the fifteenth-generation to make wine in an estate that dates back to 1634. And when he speaks, he says, “I believe in the energy of the land.”

The family owns 37 acres of Cabernet Franc Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, with the vines aged 35-100 years old. Sébastien heed the call of the land’s energy after his grandfather died in the late 1990s—Sébastien’s first vintage was 1999, and has since focused on producing natural wines from fruit that is Ecocert certified.

“My insistence has been to listen to the soil,” he says. “We are organic, biodynamic and are currently exploring permaculture, where grass grows between rows. In the cellar I use concrete eggs as well as amphorae. The pH here in Saint-Nicolas is higher due to more sand in the soil and the concrete allows me to accentuate the more floral notes of Cabernet Franc rather than the green pepper notes you might get from a Chinon.”

 

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To Toast With

A post-election country may have as much to mourn as to toast, so take a moment with your guests to acknowledge the passing of another interesting year and fondest hopes for the next four.

France’s ingenious méthode champenoise makes the quintessential toasting wine, but such singular improvements have been made throughout the world of bubbles that now is an ideal time to expand your horizons beyond the familiar world of Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blends. Even Cava, Spain’s answer to Champagne, relies primarily on Parellada, Macabeu and Xarel·lo grapes, but there’s another dimension to Spanish sparklers that takes a different, and exciting, route.

Sparkling White Wine

 5  Cellers Carol Vallès ‘Parellada i Faura’, 2021 Cava Reserva Brut-Nature D-08/2024 ($22) 11.5% abv
30% Parellada, 30% Xarel·lo and 40% Macabeu aged on lees for over two years. A fruity and lively cava reflecting prominent notes of peach and lemon peel with apple, butter and peach.

Cellers Carol Vallès
Catalunya

Nothing summarizes Thanksgiving better than the lure of family tradition, and this is the magnet that drew Joan Carol back to the farmhouse of Can Parellada that his grandparents acquired more than a century ago. There he founded Cellers Carol Vallès where, with Teresa Vallès, he began to craft cavas in the style he was most passionate about, using traditional methods, unique blends and the long aging times.

 

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To Complement Dinner

When the curtain rises on the main event, cast and crew must be on cue; no more dress rehearsal holidays, this is opening night. And although we’d only recommend diva wines for this important matchup, the fact is that fancy-costume labels should not be a deciding factor when there are plenty of remarkable main-floor wines available for mezzanine prices. Alsace produces wine in a spectacular array of styles that with a little labor-of-love practice; Penedès offers fascinating new varietals while Beaujolais and Burgundy have long offered traditional, but perfect solutions to the myriad flavors of the holiday.

White Wine

 6  Domaine Dirler-Cadé, 2022 Alsace Riesling ($33) 12.5% abv
Built from declassified Grand Cru grapes, Dirler-Cadé’s basic Riesling retains many of the markers of their vineyards of origin, juicy, supple, and aromatic, with intricacies of lime, verbena, herbs, and spice.

Domaine Dirler-Cadé
Alsace

As the name suggests, Domaine Dirler-Cadé is the union of two historical Alsatian winegrowing families. Jean Dirler is a 5th generation winemaker whose family had been making wine in the tiny village of Bergholtz, tucked into the lower hills of the Vosge Mountains, since 1871. Ludvine Cadé’s family owned vineyards in nearby Guebwiller, known as Domaine Hell-Cade. The marriage of Ludvine and Jean in 2000 produced Domaine Dirler-Cadé, one of the finest domains in Alsace, with almost half of their 44 acres in Grand Cru vineyards, as well as plots in five lieux-dits.

Rosé Wine

 7  Can Sumoi ‘La Rosa’, 2023 Penedès ($24) 12% abv
60% Sumoll and 40% Xarel-lo; a shimmery, orange-pink wine offering vibrant ripe cherry flavors and spicy tangerine with a touch of anise in the mid-palate, finishing with a sharp, chalky minerality.

Can Sumoi
Catalunya

At two thousand feet above sea level (in the Serra de l’Home range) Can Sumoi is the highest estate in the Penedès; Mallorca and the Ebro Delta are visible from the rooftop of the winery’s 350-year-old farmhouse. Below, vineyards sprawl across limestone-rich soil between stands of oak and white pine, which to the ecology-driven Pepe Raventós, share equal importance with the vines. “Forests,” he says, “protect the biodiversity of the estate; they are the green lungs of the world.”

It is a spiritual quest, he admits; the smells and flavors of Catalunya are unique and exist in his soul as surely as in his wine. “To express origin, you really need to bring a lot of life into your farm. The principle is simple: the more diversity on your property, the more richness there is, the more resistant and strong your vines will be. The fewer treatments they need, the more authentic the wine will be. I left the idea of making perfect wine a long time ago. I think my duty is to make the most authentic wine possible.”

Red Wine

 8  Clos de Mez ‘Mademoiselle M’, 2022 Fleurie ($27) 13.5% abv
Semi-carbonic fermentation, then aged nine months in vats, Marie-Élodie Zighera’s signature Fleurie offers an attractive floral nose with notes of cherry and strawberry. The backbone is nicely spun through with acidity and the mineral-driven terroir shines through to the finish.

Clos de MEZ
Beaujolais

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 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.”

Red Wine

 9  Domaine Manuel Olivier ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2020 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits ($49) 12.5% Abv
The Pinot Noir from this old-vine Burgundy originate on a gentle, east/southeast facing slope. 50% of the grapes are de-stemmed; cold maceration follows for a week, then natural fermentation on ambient yeasts.  The wine spends 15 months on fine lees in young oak barrels and delivers a rich, fleshy palate with cherry, raspberry and a touch of underbrush.

Domaine Manuel Olivier
Burgundy

Despite a childhood spent among the vines, Manuel Olivier did not follow in the family footsteps directly out of the gate. First, he traveled to Switzerland to pursue his passion for skiing, and along the way, decided that he was equally passionate about wine. He entered the field (literally) with a few acres of vines in 1990, which has grown to nearly 30 in Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune. Using wild yeast, his goal is to produce approachable, subtle wines where the fruit expressed delicacy. He says, “This can only be obtained by an obsessive attention to detail; handpicking, low temperature maceration and use of natural yeast. I destem half of my harvest and take a minimum of seven days low-temperature maceration prior to fermentation.”

 

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With Dessert

On Thanksgiving, there are those who consider dessert an entirely separate meal, generally offered after a breather and, in the case of football fans, a nail-biter game. Hedonism is a given, and a sugar blast from confections is as easy as pie or as complex and elaborate as your inner pastry chef can concoct. Whether it’s an introduction or renewed acquaintance with an old friend, Banyuls, the produce of sea, mountain, sun and wind, are wines created for pleasure.

Red Dessert Wine

 10  Coume del Mas ‘Galateo’, 2017 Banyuls ($30) 500 ml 16% abv
100% old vine Grenache Noir from a plot near the sea. The grapes fortified on their skins—a process that helps extract color, tannin and prevents oxidation, then aged in 225-liter oak casks for a minimum of six months before bottling. The wine is packed with smoky dark fruit and shows great acidity to balance 90 gram/liter residual sugar.

Coume del Mas
Roussillon

Created in 2001 by Roussillon pioneers Philippe and Nathalie Gard, Coume del Mas spreads across 40 acres of difficult terrain, principally on the steep schist slopes around Banyuls-sur-Mer; Andy Cook handles the winemaking. Viticulture in this extreme environment is almost entirely done by hand, and the wines reflect the through dry wines of elegant concentration while the dessert wines display both oxidative and modern ‘rimage’ style requiring an oxygen-free environment of stainless steel. Says Philippe: “Our Banyuls are produced from intense, extremely ripe Grenache Noir grapes that are fortified at around 8% with neutral grape spirit. Akin to Port in some respects, these wines are lower in alcohol and much ‘finer’, fresher and balanced—they are true Mediterranean treasures.”

 

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RECENT ARRIVAL

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Traversing Burgundy in Six Wines
with Manuel Olivier
($459)

Karen MacNeil, author of ‘The Wine Bible,’ states, “The pleasure of Pinot Noir is the surprising way the wine pulls you into it and reveals numerous facets of flavor. And precisely because a good Pinot is so complex, it also has an incredible range when it comes to pairing with food. That is why it’s perfect for Thanksgiving when everything from cranberries to squash to roast turkey are all on the same plate.”

Manuel Olivier understands these principles intimately, and his range of red Burgundies navigates multiple appellations explores the nuanced terroirs of each.  He manages forty vineyard acres across the Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune.

As a side note, since 2019 Olivier has been actively involved in the renaissance of the Dijon vineyards and the development of a new Bourgogne Dijon AOP.

Regional Burgundy

So specific are the cru vineyards of Burgundy that régionale vineyards may exist in the literal shadow of more renowned domains, occasionally separated by hundreds, or even as little as dozens of feet. Régionale wines tend to be culled from vineyards located along the foot of more prestigious wine-growing slopes on limestone soil mixed with some clays and marls, where the earth is stony and quick-draining.

Unlike Bordeaux, where classifications are based on individual châteaux (capable of buying other vineyards and expanding), Burgundian label classifications are more geographically focused. A single vineyard, therefore, may have multiple owners, each with a small piece of the action.

The ‘Bourgogne’ label first appeared in 1937, and in 2017, a further classification permitted wines from vineyards located within the Côte d’Or to be labeled as ‘Bourgogne Côte d’Or’; it’s a great tool for a consumer looking to explore the wide diversity of vineyard among the Hills of Gold while maintaining a terroir-focused, climat approach to Burgundy.

 1  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2020 Bourgogne ‘Pinot Noir’ ($27)
A lightly smoky and refreshingly bright wine; not overly ambitious, but developing nicely and probably ready to consume.

*click photo for more info
 

 

 

 

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 2  Domaine Manuel Olivier ‘Vieilles Vignes’, 2020 Bourgogne Hautes-Côtes de Nuits ($49)
Pinot Noir from 30-year-old vineyards, aged 18 months in oak barrels. It shows silken notes of ripe raspberry and spice with with earthy, black tea tannins.

*click photo for more info

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pommard (Côte-de-Beaune)

If Burgundy is a volume of poetry, Pommard might be thought of as its Alfred, Lord Tennyson, offering power and rich structure, a charge of the Light Brigade, only with a substantially safer outcome. Pommard is the beginning of serious Pinot Noir in Burgundy; nothing else is grown and nothing else allowed besides (perhaps inexplicably) a few vineyards of the Lemberger/ Sankt-Laurent cross ‘André.’ Aptly named for Pomona, the Roman god of fruit trees, Pommard’s most muscular wines hail from its mid-slope Premier Cru vineyards which run in a nearly uninterrupted from the commune boundaries of Beaune in the north to Volnay in the south. Even that may belie the quality of these wines; most experts believe that the Les Épenotes and Les Rugiens Premier Crus should be promoted to join Corton in its Grand Cru status. Once in line for this prestigious upgrade, the vignerons of the time were wary of the restrictive Grand Cru production laws and declined the offer.

 3  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2019 Pommard ($76)
From 30-year-old vines grown in chalk/clay soil at the top of the hill; it spends 18 months in contact with fine lees in 30% new barrels, 30% 1-year-old and 30% over-3-year barrels to show macerated black cherry and earth notes with fine-grained tannins.

*click photo for more info

 

 

 

 

 

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Nuits-Saint-Georges (Côte-de-Nuits)

With the village of Nuits-Saint-Georges itself as the fulcrum, the robust appellation extends to the north as far as the border of Vosne-Romanée, while the southern section lies partly in Nuits-Saint-Georges and partly in Prémeaux. The wines from each section are unique in style and according to experts, with differences defined (in the main) by the lay of the land. The soils in the northern sector are built around the pebbly alluvium that washes down from up-slope, and in the low-lying parts, around silty deposits from the river Meuzin. In the southern sector the alluvia at the base of the slopes originate in the combe of Vallerots where there are deep marly-limestone soils, while at the top of the slope, the soil has nearly all eroded away and the rock is near the surface. In both regions, favored exposures are mostly to the east or southeast.

Producing predominantly red wine, Nuits-Saint-Georges bottles display the muscularity and breeding most sought after in Burgundy—the ability to improve with bottle age. When young, the wine display aromas of cherry, strawberry and blackcurrant, and when matured, leather, truffle, fur and game.

 4  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2019 Nuits-Saint-Georges ($81)
From an east-facing lieu-dit known as Aux Allots where the vines are 40 years old and grow in clay/limestone. The grapes are partially destemmed and fermented on ambient yeast, then aged 18 months on fine lees. The wine shows floral intensity and dense, yet delicate layers of blackberry, currant and dark cherry.

*click photo for more info

 

 

 

 

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Gevrey-Chambertin (Côte-de-Nuits) 

“The Emperor would drink only Chambertin.” – Louis Constant Wairy, Napoleon’s valet.

As those schooled in Burgundian lore know, during the nineteenth century it became fashionable for villages in the Côte d’Or to adopt double-barreled names, adding a hyphen followed by the name of their most famous vineyard: Thus Chambolle added Musigny and Gevrey added Chambertin.

In minimalism, less may be more, and in wine—especially those with a hyphenated name—more may be less; a village-level Gevrey-Chambertin, for example, does not seek to compete with the quality of ‘Le Chambertin’ itself. But if nothing else, its name reminds you that it comes from a rarefied zip code. And to be sure, the region is hallowed grapeland, graced with the Holy Trinity of terroir—elevation, climate and soil structure. Contained within the appellation are nine Grand Crus and 26 Premier Crus (whose name on the label may be followed by the name of the climat of origin) as well as well as nearly a thousand acres of Villages wine.

Gevrey-Chambertin wines are full-bodied, rich, and meaty in their youth and mature to feature notes of leather, game and underbrush.

 5  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2019 Gevrey-Chambertin ($87)
From the lieu-dit La Brunelle, located in the heart of the village, where 40-year-old vines thrive on deep, iron-rich soils. The wine is aged for 18 months on fine lees and shows cherries and cassis alongside Gevrey’s typical profile of smoked meats, sweet soil and orange rind.

*click photo for more info
 

 

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Vosne-Romanée (Côte-de-Nuits)

Originally named just Vosne, the village took the suffix Romanée in 1866 in honor of its most prized vineyard, La Romanée—a habit of many Burgundy communes of the era. From the perspective of a wine lover, it may be grouped together with neighboring Flagey-Echézeaux; while the villages are entirely separate, their finest vineyards are clustered together immediately north of Vosne-Romanée and take that latter title.

The entire surface area of Vosne-Romanée Grand Crus vineyards (excluding Flagey-Echézeaux) is 67 acres, about half the size of the single Clos de Vougeot climat just across the commune boundary. Even so, the commune of Flagey-Echézeaux with the Echézeaux and Grands-Echézeaux sites included, has more Grand Cru surface area than the Premier Crus and Villages combined. Vosne-Romanée is divided between six individual climats—La Grande Rue, La Tâche, Richebourg, La Romanée, Romanée-Saint-Vivant and the most famous, Romanée-Conti. The best vineyards lie on the mid-slope of the Côte d’Or escarpment. Around these prestigious sites are dotted the Premier Cru vineyards and some entirely unclassified land—the difference between a Grand Cru vine and one deemed worthy only of the regional Bourgogne appellation is sometimes a matter of a few feet.

6  Domaine Manuel Olivier, 2019 Vosne-Romanée Premier Cru Les Damaudes ($144)
Les Damaudes is a steep, landlocked Premier Cru found between La Grande Rue, La Tâche and La Romanée Conti where the airy clay-limestone soil contains 50% disintegrated lava. The wine boasts an elegant, refined nose of blackberry jelly, roasting coffee bean with a hint of chocolate and a long spicy finish with notes of nutmeg, cinnamon and wood smoke.

*click photo for more info

 

 

 

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Notebook …

Solar Vintages Roll: 2018, 2019 And 2020

On average, Burgundy sees 1900 hours of sunshine per year; glance at a diagram and you’ll see a neat curve that peaks in July with around 258 sunlit hours and then drops off precipitously for the rest of the year. Vintages that bring considerably more sun hours are referred to as ‘solar’ vintages. 2018, 2019 and 2020 go down as a triumvirate of such vintages.

Even before en primeur orders were placed, 2018 was being hailed as a vintage that resembled the ideal conditions of 1947. Hopes ran high that the atypical ripeness and plushness of the wines might represent a ‘new normal’ in Burgundy. Part of the success of the vintage, in particular for the whites (which show gobs of energetic freshness and alluring fruit) was a particularly wet preceding winter that raised water tables high enough that the ensuing drought was handled easily, especially by more mature vines. The factor most crucial to success was determining harvest dates—pick too soon, and the fruit will not be phenologically ripe; too late, the grapes will flab out and lose acidity.

2019 followed with another bullseye. Dimitri Bazas, director of Maison Champy in Beaune, said, “If you offer me a contract for 30 years and it promises me that every year will be like 2019, then I would say, where do I sign?” The ideal ripeness and special personality of the vintage lies in a growing season that was the third-warmest year of the last century. Two short blasts of extreme heat at the end of June and the end of July were offset by enough rain to prevent serious drought stress to the vines.

2020 cranked up the above conditions another notch; it became a vintage in which one said ‘despite’ rather than ‘because of.’ Even the most experienced taster doubted that the heat and dryness, forcing harvest in August, could possibly produce such a fresh and joyous style. This was a vintage that tested Burgundian vignerons to the max; adaptability and careful attention to the vagaries of nature was key. In 2019, wine from high on the slopes of the Côte d’Or showed the highest levels of dry extract and salty minerality, providing balance for the ripe fruit, while in 2020, the extract combined with fresh acidity to make the wine truly electric.

 

 

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Posted on 2024.11.21 in Fleurie, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Vosne-Romanée, Gevrey-Chambertin, Hautes-Côtes de Nuits, Cidre, France, Wine-Aid Packages, Cava  |  Read more...

 

Spanish Viticultural Polygamy: Pioneering Producers Explore Galicia’s Wealth of Ancestral Varieties, Transcend Boundaries and Make Transformative Wines.

Given a coloring book, Michelangelo would probably have stayed within the heavy black lines and Picasso would have redrawn all the images and colored them with the blunt end of the crayon. The charm in either approach depends on the quality of the end product and the taste of the viewer.

Likewise, the rules of winemaking have imposed restrictions aimed at improving wine in a given region, but the same rules have often put creative re-interpretation in a strait jacket.

This week we will take a glance at Galician winemakers who have played both Renaissance masters and modern iconoclasts, demonstrating that each approach has it merits in an ongoing effort to tame nature’s coloring book in a rugged landscape while simultaneously coaxing her to reveal her true colors.

Galicia: Spain’s Moody Atlantic Landscape

The cliff-battering waves and darkly sensuous landscape of Galicia on Spain’s northwest coast have given rise to a unique language and a distinctive culture. Among wine lovers, the Galician patchwork vineyards have often been viewed as a synonymous with Albariño. But nothing is as simple as it seems, particularly in a region that the wine world has pigeonholed at best, and at worst, overlooked entirely.

Of course, some Galician wine has earned the overlook: The region, inextricably linked to the ocean, is famous for its mariscos—seafood—and much of the vinous output (cultivated on seaside slopes) was simple, slightly fizzy, bone dry, light-bodied white wine similar to the Vinho Verde made over the border in Portugal. These wines are considered the stereotypical match for the renowned Galician shellfish—oysters, goose-neck barnacles, velvet clams, cockles and scallops along with the working-class octopi and lobsters.

But the further inland you go, the greater the wealth of indigenous grapes and styles, from the light, tart, deep-colored reds of Ribeiro to the mineral-driven whites of Valdeorras. These unusually fragrant and elegant wines are finding an expanding market outside the region and underscore the fact that Albariño is merely the tip of the Galician iceberg.

Like most of Europe, Galicia is facing a future in which climate change will affect every aspect of life. Having long embraced its inherent green abundance, which has been likened to that of Ireland, the region is under recent pressures of drought and excessive heat.

María Sagrario Pérez Castellanos, General Director of Environmental Quality in Galicia, has an ambitious plan in the work, aiming for a 2050 climate neutrality target: “If we don’t manage to involve every individual, every citizen, such a goal is impossible,” she says. “This is our issue to tackle, not something that ‘the wise men of the world will solve.’ And it’s clear that this involves you: in every behavior, from when you buy a product, to the waste you generate, when you turn the lights on or off, when you are using renewable energy sources… It involves you.”

In The Galician Middle Belt: Coloring Outside the Lines

If Galicia has ‘belts’, they are more climatic than geological; the region has heterogenous soils throughout— sand, alluvial matter, slate, clay, and granite are all found in various proportions. Different microclimates produce terroirs heavily influenced by the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. The further into the interior of the landscape, the more pronounced the transition becomes, with a slow change from a maritime to a continental climate. Stretching from the Atlantic to Castilla y León, much of the Galician countryside is region dominated by small-scale viticulture and family-run domains, and where sea mists (leading to mildew) are an issue, the vines are trained on pergolas, allowing for an easier passage of drying air. This technique has the added benefit of allowing farmers to raise other crops below the grapes.

The predominance of small vine growing operations has opened the door for a new wave of experimental winemakers like Curro Bareño and Jesús Olivares, who currently operate out of Galicia’s ‘middle belt,’ enjoying elevation as well as the positive effects of the ocean.

Bareño says, “Originally, we sourced grapes from Abeleda in the part of Ribeira Sacra that lies in the province of Ourense and in the Bibei valley—the river that borders the D.O. Valdeorras. But in 2016, we left the appellation and started Peixes from vineyards upstream of the Bibei, beyond the borders of any D.O.

Olivares adds, “This move entirely changed our outlook on the area. We realized that the two banks of the Bibei river were not two different regions. Now we source grapes from Valdeorras, Ribeira Sacra and Viana do Bolo, but none of our wines carry the seal of a D.O.”

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Fedellos

Fedellos means ‘mischievous’ in Galician, and that pretty much summarizes the philosophy of Madrid-born iconoclasts Curro Bareño and Jesús Olivares. Having settled on the high elevations above the Bibei river, they find that a prolonged growing season makes it easier to produce fresh, elegant wines from vineyards exposed to the morning sun, which are cooler and healthier since the dew evaporates earlier.

Founded in 2011, Bareño and Olivares were the talented team behind Ronsel do Sil, one of the most heralded estates in Ribeira Sacra. But their partnership began earlier in the Sierra de Gredos, where were instrumental in producing the winery’s elegant and nuanced expressions.

Curro Bareño maintains that the ‘mischievous’ decision to abandon Ribeira Sacra and Valdeorras and head south into the uplands, where scattered vineyards are found amid steep terraced hillsides surrounded by hardwoods and pines, was the right one. These are ancient sites, carved into the remote hillsides centuries ago, had now been nearly abandoned: “Many local winemakers viewed these vineyards as a nightmare, suitable for only making rustic peasant wines. We intended to prove conventional thinking wrong. With proper care, these wines outside the D.O. cannot be understood as anything other than minutely rendered snapshots of ‘terruño’ just as profound as the wines we made within a D.O.”

“Cellar work is vital to achieve this goal,” Olivares adds. “We follow our Gredos style: spontaneous fermentations with indigenous yeasts, long, gentle macerations with very little extraction, lasting 45 to 60 days for reds and about five days for whites, and aging in well-seasoned oak vessels.”

Fedellos ‘Bastarda’, 2021 Galicia Red ($53)
100% Merenzao, labeled under a feminized version of the grape’s Portuguese moniker ‘Bastardo.’ Originating in the Jura, where it is called Trousseau (from its bunched resemblance to a bride’s trousseau), in Spain the varietal produces lush and airy wines, translucent and dense. Fedellos’ example comes from vines between 20 and 70 years old grown on granite, schist and sand. The grapes are hand harvested, whole cluster fermented on natural yeast fermentation in stainless steel tanks followed by 40-60 day maceration. It shows spicy red berries with undertones of anise; the wine is perfumed and fresh with light, integrated tannins.

 

 

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Fedellos ‘As Xaras’, 2021 Galicia Red ($32)
100% Mencía, a thick-skinned, violet-blue grape indigenous to northwest Spain, where high altitudes have proven amenable to bring out the best qualities in the varietal. This example is a blend of two sites on opposite sides of the River Xaras; hence, the name. Fermented whole cluster on native yeasts, then aged in a combination of concrete tank and neutral French oak. It shows complex yet bright purple fruit; plum and currant with a bracing acidity and chalky tannins.

 

 

 

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Fedellos ‘Peixe da Estrada’, 2021 Galicia Red ($29)
Bareño and Olivares’ ‘Peixes’ project is confined to grapes grown in Viana do Bolo, where vineyards planted on terraces between one thousand a 2600 feet sea level, where growing conditions are colder and harsher, with a high risk of frost and a challenging ripening process. Mencía, Gran Negro, Mouratón, Tintorera and Merenzao are the red grapes cultivated. Godello, Doña Blanca, Palomino represent the whites. All are bush vines, all more than 70 years old, planted in small plots on soils that shine with mica. ‘Peixe da Estrada’ is a blend of 90% red and 10% white grapes, displays cassis and berry aromas with floral notes and a hint of balsam on the finish.

 

 

 

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Fedellos ‘Peixes da Rocha’, 2020 Galicia Red ($40)
A blend of Mencía, Mouratón, Grao Negro, Garnacha Tintorera, Merenzao, Godello, Doña Blanca and Palomino grown on sand, granite, mica and quartzite, a blend similar to Estrada but from terraced sites at a higher elevation. The grapes are hand harvested and the whole clusters undergo natural yeast fermentation in vat with a gentle maceration lasting two months, followed by a full year in neutral 500-liter French oak demi-muids. The wine is bright with high-altitude vivacity, elegant with black fruit and floral notes.

 

 

 

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Fedellos ‘Conasbrancas’, 2022 Galicia White ($36)
A field blend of 85% Godello, 10% Doña Blanca and 5% Treixadura suffused with minerality and invigorating acidity. The nose shows the saline influence of the sea with pie spice and hints of beeswax. Like the reds, there is no D.O. on the label since the gang at Fedellos prefer to march to the beat of their own vinous drummer.
 

 

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RECENT ARRIVALS

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In Ribeira Sacra: Coloring Within the Lines

Vertigo is not a condition that thrives in Ribeira-Sacra. Suffice to say that the steeply sloped vineyard terraces that tower over silvery, slow-moving rivers are a challenge even to the most mountain-goatish among wine growers. But is precisely the physicality of the landscape that allows Ribeira-Sacra such a wide diversity of grapes, expositions, altitudes, slope angles, bedrock types and topsoil compositions.

As in most wine regions, climate dictates success. The west and north end of Ribeira Sacra is more impacted by Atlantic winds and precipitation tends to be heavy due to the absence of any significant mountain range. Between the Atlantic and the Ribeiro and Ribeira Sacra regions, some small mountains curb the influence of oceanic winds. Toward the south and east the mountains rise to higher altitudes and maintain a much stronger continental influence.

Rivers remain a dominant feature of the microclimates; inside river gorges there is an abundant supply of exposures and slope angles—a saving grace for the vineyards because as the climate changes, growers can shift from the hottest exposures to cooler ones while maintaining the same superb bedrock, topsoil and all other characteristics imparted by the local terroir. This practice has already taken hold in the area, with many growers exploring potential vineyard sites that in the past would not have been advantageous.

Here we feature dynamic winemakers who adhere to the rules of their Denominación de Origen to unleash the full potential of their plots of the planet.

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Fento

Hard-working vigneron Eulogio Pomares is a rising star in the far northwest corner of Spain where he receives accolades from critics and consumers alike. Although perhaps best known for his work with the region’s Albariño variety as the seventh generation winemaker at Zárate, his family’s estate, Eulogio can’t be contained and is branching out into some of “Green Spain’s” other subregions.

Fento is a partnership of Eulogio with his wife Rebeca that works with both rare and common indigenous grapes found within Galicia. Organic viticulture is difficult in the region due to humidity and mildew pressure, but Eulogio is applying the methods to bring the Fento vineyards into full organic cultivation, relying on native cover crops and natural products to do most of the work.

Fento ‘Xabre’, 2022 Ribeira-Sacra ‘Val do Bibei’ Red ($32)
Mencía 95%, 3% Mouratón and 2% Grao Negro. Named for the slate and granite sands of the region, the grapes come from terraced vineyards in Quiroga-Bibei subzone where vines are planted at between a thousand and 2200 feet. The oldest of these vines are over eighty years. Fermentation is done in 500-liter barrels, followed by 10 months in French oak and six more months in foudres. The wine shows elegant floral and balsamic nuances offset the rich forest fruit. 158 cases produced.

 

 

 

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Sílice Viticultores

Founded in 2013 by brothers Carlos and Juan Rodríguez and Galician-Swiss DJ-turned-winemaker Fredi Torres, Sílice Viticultores is a project of family and friends. The project’s lifeblood is the intense manual work on the precipitous slopes above the Sil River Canyon. Their 20 acres—planted primarily on granite with some schist and gneiss parcels, in the zones of Amandi, Doade, and Rosende—are farmed organically, with copper and sulfur treatments applied as needed. Like many top producers in the region, Sílice Viticultores chooses to work outside of the D.O. Ribeira Sacra.

Production is necessarily small, and the wines are racy, focused and fun, but with the structure to age. Both farming and winemaking prioritizes bright Atlantic fruitiness and the expression of their individual parcels and zones without sacrificing the fierce natural energy of the region or its great red grape, Mencía. Choosing the perfect moment of harvest, fermenting multiple red and white varieties together with the strategic use of stems, cold maceration and gentle extraction is Sílice Viticultores guarantee of expression of both location and vintage.

Sílice Viticultores ‘Sílice’, 2021 Galicia ‘natural’ Red ($31)
80% Mencía, 10% Garnacha Tintorera, 5% Merenzao and 5% Palomino—only 625 cases made. The grapes are hand-harvested, of course (there is no alternative in the vertical vineyards of the Sil River Canyon) and vinified using indigenous yeasts. 80% of the grapes are destemmed, and 20% are whole-cluster. The wine ages for nine months on its lees in a combination of neutral oak foudre, stainless steel tanks and concrete vats.

 

 

 

 

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Notebook …

A Study in Contrast: 2020 & 2021 Show Climate Change’s New Reality

Getting complacent with climate change is a prescription for disaster, but learning to live with our new reality is the only way that agriculture will survive as an industry. As we have seen in countless examples, winemakers are abandoning areas which have grown too wet, too dry, too warm or too cold to produce products that live up to former standards, while at the same time finding that these same changes open up new areas for exploration, many abandoned for decades.

The speed at which these changes are happening is astonishing. In 2020, Spain saw an ‘early’ year with high temperatures bringing in early spring seeing plant growth begin around 2-3 weeks ahead of the average schedule, which together with heavy spring rain saw almost tropical conditions in many regions such as Rioja, Catalunya and Galicia. The only region that fully escaped damage was Ribera del Duero, where the altitude and extreme cold of the winter months means that bud-break occurs later, avoiding mildew damage in the wet spring weather. Galicia saw a much earlier harvest than usual, with picking starting at the end of August. Spring also saw outbreaks of mildew and botrytis, which affected production, although in general the harvest was of good quality. The size varied a lot according to the area: D.O. Monterrai saw a record harvest and the harvest is predicted to be around 15% larger than that of 2019 whereas in Ribeira Sacra the harvest was around 15% smaller than an average year.

The following year, the opposite condition prevailed in Galicia, with a long wait for veraison due to a cool summer. Still, the harvest was so abundant that Regulatory Board increased yields from 12,000 kilogram/hectare to 13,500 kilogram/hectare. The ability to overcome cooler weather was largely a grape-to-grape proposal with thicker-skinned varieties faring best. As for the quality of the wines, the general impression among Galician producers is that it was very good. Xurxo Alba of Bodegas Albamar says, “Although we have had a bumper crop, the wines have structure, volume, lower alcohol than in recent years and good acidity.”

 

 

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Posted on 2024.11.14 in France, Misc Spanish, Wine-Aid Packages, Ribeira Sacra  |  Read more...

 

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