Recoltant Manipulant in 2019


We close the year 2019 with dinner were we drunk some little producer in Champagne:
There is no province that affords excellent wines for all seasons, but Champagne.
We taste as always producers that make champagne exclusively from its own vineyards with very clever attention to the soil and the beauty of mother nature.


Charles Dufour
took over his family estate in 2006, he is located in Landreville in the Bar-sur-Seine, in the Aube department with 6 hectares of wine mainly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with a little percentage of Pinot Blanc which are quite old, more than 60 years. Everything is Certified Organic with ECOCERT (organic farming). He makes tiny quantity fo single-vineyard wine usually vinified in barrels as "Les Champs du Clos" a blanc de blanc also the same Cuvee in Rose; Le Haut de la Guignelle. His more famous Cuvee is the entry-level Bulles de Comptoir. Each Cuvee is numbered sequentially and given a new artist label.
All Charles wine has a proper personality always with an oxy style but without being tired always full of energy, rich and opulent, of indisputable authenticity, capable of fully reflecting the native terroir, packed with a very attractive label. Also, Charles is one of the few producers can make No So2 champagne almost all the time.

The latest edition of Charles is called BISTRØTAGE which are grapes harvest in the vineyards owned by his mother Francoise Martinot. Blanc de Noir from vineyards on Pinot Noir on clay-calcareous terroir in the village Vallee de l'Arce. The first Cuvee was the harvest 2010 the vinification is done in steel and wooden barrels no dosage and sulfur were added in the disgorging time.
We taste the 2010 and 2013




2010
was gold in color with fine bubble rich nose of dead yeast, brioche, sourdough bread, shortbreads along yellow cream and fruits rouges. Palate mature rich and textural.

2013
fine perlage, soft mousse, and persistence, nose more on the red fruit along autolyze bread, cream, and bakery notes. Lots of energy in the palate with a lovely oxy salty element.

Christophe Mignon in the village of Festigny Valle de la Marne owns 6 hectares of vines all in Pinot Meunier. His a vigneron dedicated and dogmatic on his viticulturist side, he works according to the Lunar calendar and using biodynamic preparations. He also making homeopathic and phytotherapeutic tinctures to balance the biological health and environment of the vines to better build strength over disease.
Mignon wines are complex, detailed and expressive with a ripe depth with a pronuncial minerality. 

We drunk the Rose de Saignee 2014 disgorged in 2018 
The color was a red skin onion fading slightly, copper on the rim. The nose of pastry element lemon curd along with a good depth of red fruit as wild raspberry and green strawberry, very savory and texture on the palate with this earthy minerality as a wet mushroom. Nice vibrant acidity and round complex palate.

Also for Christophe Mignon, we drunk another Cuvee Eugene Prudhomme Brut from 2016/2017
disgorged in June 2019 a project named after his mum name a family history in the Champagne production.
Fantastic value Champagne, made predominantly from Pinot Noir grapes. Elegant with discreet bubbles, this is perfect as an aperitif or with food. Amazing energy, minerality with an electric tension despite be a Brut style.  


 Ruppert Leroy is a little Domaine run by Benedicte and Emmanuel Leroy in the village of Essoyes in the Aube region 4 hectares of vines which in 2009 they stopped to sell grapes converted the properties in organic farming applying the biodynamic principle in both vineyard and cellar with a simple winemaking best define a "vin nature". Each cuvée comes from a single vintage of a single vineyard, bottled ‘brut nature’ with no dosage. In the Domaine is include a garden and small pasture which they kept for their own animals.

Cuvée Rosé
- from the Les Cognaux Lieu-dit
- pure Pinot Noir saigne style a bleeding rosé
- without added sulfites
- 4-day semi-carbonic maceration
- alcoholic fermentation and aging on lees in vats for 9 months
- natural malo-lactic fermentation
- aging 18 to 20 months in bottles
- notes of jammy cherries, brandy cherries, quetsch, blood orange and cinnamon, and pepper spices. Very creamy attack. Long finish on the palate with a minerality finish.

Marie Courtin
Dominique Moreau in the village of Polisot with 2,5 hectares of vine in one full block with a tiny portion of Chardonnay the other is all Pinot Noir no certification happening here but all plot is run with an organic approach. No dosage is the way to go and many Cuvee especially the one rest in the barrel are sans sulfite ajoute. Her champagne is encasing with ripeness within a racy streamlined structure with an intense mineral structure. To me is one of the most exciting champagnes made in the Aube. All the vines are selection massale.

A very austere Pinot Noir, tight, slightly creamy and acidic really this Cuvee needs time before you can appreciate its beautiful complexity.

Champagne Clandestin
a Joint Venture between the young Burgundian Benoit Dessous and Bertrand Gautherot from Voutte & Sorbee. A hidden secret clandestine in the Aube region from parcels of wines in the land of Kimmeridgian soil; the style is the same as Vouette biodynamic farming oak aging and rich oxy style as well Certified Ecocert.
The parcels of pinot noir are
Les Semblables

We tasted 2016 disgorged in 2018 zero dosage very rich oxy Pinot style with great energy on the palate. Lots of boulangerie and pastry notes with a nice creamy and savory texture.
This Cuvee is two parcels with the same orientation and direction on the famous Portland Kimmeridgian soil of the Cotes des Bar.


 

From the same vintage, we tasted the single side Les Grandes Lignes an austere linear Chardonnay with lots orchard unripe fruit like apple and nashi pear. Palate super energetic like a razor as a Japanese knife. Something to drink very ahead.
Best
raffaele mastrovincenzo
Blog
raffaelemastrovincenzo.blogspot.com.au
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