New waves in Champagne

The philosophies of this new generation of growers in Champagne R.M. are notably progressive, shaped by contemporary ideas, creating palpable energy encouraging other growers to follow them with conscious viticulture force them to make high-quality wines. 

Champagne has been a region always moving forward; from the grand cuvee of Le Grand Maison to the renaissance of the Recoltant Manipulate which are always the most exciting part. As a background in the past, Anselme Selosse is the man behind the use of "Lieu-dits" the single vineyard site, and the perpetual method technique. Under his think thank Ulisse Collin - Jerome Prevost - Chartogne Taillet and others has been making champagne inspired by him. 

 Alexander Chartogne Taillet
Anselme Selosse 
In my personal opinion after the Selosse School the second wave is the new generation in the Cote Des Bar in the Aube department, down south of the mainland of Champagne 112 Km south of Epernay; producers as Voutte Sorbe, Cedric Bouchard, Charles Dufour, Marie Courtin, Clandestin, Rupert Leroy, Olivier Horiot, etc... shaped this part of Champagne characterized from the Kimmeridgian, Portland soil with very exciting wines valorizing the single vineyards and Terroir, mainly with little or none dosage.
Dominique Moreau
After that has been the time of Organic Byodinamic, Holistic farming with the new generation as Flavien Nowack - Aurelien Lerquin - Chevreau Bornazel in La Parcelle (I believe lots of new other producers need to be mentioned).

Flavien Nowack
On my last trip, I visited 3 new young vignerons all 3 super excited, all located in the Grande Valle de la Marne in the Grand Cru Commune of Ay.
Henin Romain
Henin Romain is a son of a family of Champagne winegrowers; Romain is a very young vigneron who start in 2016 inspired by Sébastien Mouzon in Verzy, who created his style from 1,5 hectares from his family holding. He went directly to organic and biodynamic with a proper Vin Nature approach.

Romain in his Vineyard in Ay
All his vines are surrounded by lots of life.
The first years were tough: 2016, 2017 with very few bottles. In 2018, he harvested in Greece with Jason Ligas and Patrick Bouju for the SAMOS project. This experience made him the decision, and give the inputs to work without added sulfites. Romain is now working with 1.50 ha certified organic in 2020, and all the wines are registered by the natural method, sulfur-free wine association. However, is planning to heritage his family vineyard of almost 7 hectares to build his production and try to supply some of the big demands the world request. 

Based in Ay, a commune classified grand cru located at the gates of Epernay, this village is known for Pinot Noir nearly 90% of the vines here are planted with this variety. The Slope of Ay (photo above) is steep with a blend of Cretaceous Chalk and clay with south-facing exposure. 
Romain works different plots from Ay - Mareuil Sur Ay - Mareuil-le-Port - Dizy with vines in conversion under the organic label and Demeter. 
His new project for 2019 is agroforestry, he has just planted trees in the middle of his vines.
His vines are massive selections of Pinot Noir planted in 1962. He vinified in barrels and "Qvevri". The Anfora is mainly used for primary fermentation. 
                                                                           vineyard in Ay
In the cellar 
The Anfora
Anfora is buried in the ground.
The idea behind his champagne is natural farming with no intervention in winemaking. The "tirage", the solution to make the second fermentation in the bottle his made with the grape must for the current vintage to be added at the Vin Clair in bottles for the "Prise de Mousse". So2 is banned at any stage. 
We tasted several cuvee and the wines are extremely good with lots of energy. 

                                                                    Antoine Bouvet 
Antoine Bouvet with his perpetual barrel start on the 2015 vintage

Antoine is the grandson of Guy Bouvet, a small Champagne Maison "Guy Bouvet" in Mareuil-Sur-Ay established in 1970. Mareuil Sur Ay is located along the northern banks of the Marne river east of Epernay; is a stone limestone soil rich in chalk and clay. This village classified as a premier cru is the home of the Close de Goisses vineyard and the Clos Saint Hilaire, Sous Le Mont just to understand the prestige of this village. 
Antoine has clear ideas, despite his young age, he elaborates his champagnes with great naturalness and depth. The numbers are very limited.
The vineyard heritage is limited but of great quality in Mareuil Sur Ay - Dizy - Avenay Val D'or and Bisseuil. The plants are managed with great sensitivity by applying biodynamic methods. The same philosophy applies in the cellar, spontaneous fermentation and minimal intervention possible. Certainly one of those names that are establishing themselves among the "very young" less than 30 years old with already 10 vintages on his shoulder.
We tasted wines from barrels and bottles, there is precision and complexity with terroir-driven the chalky minerality coming through and the depth is very intense. 



The Saignee is a vinous complex with energy and tension, chapeau. 


Les Monts de La Valle a 100% Pinot Noir from 2018 on 40 years old vines disgorged in 2021 is rich complex with those red fruits and great pastry notes with vigor and liveness. 

Les Coutures from Avenay Val D'or is a vineyard planted by his grandmother in 1957 that does have complexity, as a Grand Cru Chablis as Le Clos of Dauvissat on bubbles.  


Pupitre 

Paul Gosset 
The Gossets belong to a family who settled in Aÿ as early as the 16th century. At the beginning of the 20th century Paul's great-grandfather, Gabriel, was the first to try his hand at making "bubbles" from grapes that until then were almost exclusively used for the production of still wines. It was only in the early 1930s that some of the winemakers in the region began to make sparkling wine from a small part of their annual harvest. 
History, awareness, sensitivity, and know-how handed down from father to son, are concepts that are more appropriate than ever to frame the personality and attitude of a future champion of this region's production landscape. We are talking about Paul Gosset, not even twenty-five years old, ready to make his debut presenting a visionary project, capable of representing with astonishing simplicity and refinement the basic concepts of the present, past, and future identity of one of the most important wine regions in the world. 
Supported by his father Michel, Paul works a vineyard park of about 3.5 hectares in absolute respect of the living matter that surrounds him, supporting a relationship of interconnection and balance between the elements earth-wine and environment. Four plots, each with its own identity, distributed over four distinct terroirs: Aÿ (1.34 hectares Pinot Noir), Mareuil-sur-Aÿ (1.2 hectares Pinot Noir, 0.3 hectares Chardonnay and 0.12 hectares Meunier), Dizy (0.40 hectares Pinot Noir) and Chouilly (0.2 hectares Chardonnay). All fermentations take place spontaneously from a pied de cuvee of indigenous yeasts. 70% of the winemaking takes place in fûts de chêne of different cuts and ages. The use of sulfites is reduced to a minimum and is between 15 and 30 mg.
La Cote Faraon a Lieu dit  in Ay 
Paul is rebuilding a part of this vineyard planting with fava bean, mustard, and other herbs from the last few years to reinvigorate the soil next year will be perhaps productive, an incredible scenario to look at it.

In this picture, you can see the other part of the Cote Faraon which produces wine on almost 20 years old vines. 



The Barrel room of Paul. 
We tasted lots of Vin Clair from his perpetual selection from different plots and vintages, a great experience. 

The color of the Vin Clair is deep with lots of substance. 

We tasted from the bottle the "Au Fil des Temps" a cuvee focuses on the four seasons that mark the vineyard.
A blend of the vineyards of Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ, and made from 50% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay, and 15% Pinot Meunier. The grapes are picked at optimum maturity and with sufficient potential alcohol content.
70% of this champagne is vinified in barrels, Paul work on concentration and natural oxygenation.
The wines are elegant, precise with mineral content and little oxidation lifting the mouth and the wine digestibility. 
a view on the slope of Ay
2' In the morning. 

Best
raffaele mastrovincenzo
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wine / spirit / lambic / drinker
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