NV Champagnes Tasted in London: Jancis Robinson 09/07/19
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NV champagnes tasted in London: Jancis Robinson 09/07/19 TASTING ARTICLES GROWERS' CHAMPAGNE Worshipping at the altar of non-vintage champagne... Tyson Stelzer is an Australian wine writer with a particular interest in screwcaps and champagne. It was the latter that lured him to a Hawksmoor church in London's Spitalfields recently to lay on the finest generic tasting of champagne the capital had seen for some time. To the outside observer it may seem strange that this event was organised from Australia and, apparently anyway, had nothing to do with the official generic champagne promotional body. Ours not to reason why. Taste Champagne was a great success for those of us who enjoy tasting champagne without too much of a crowd. I dare say Tyson might have wished for even more attendees at the trade tasting during the day and the public one in the evening. But it was a sufficient success for him and his team to be planning the next one already. Put 25 March 2020 in your diary... There were so many champagnes available to taste – 211 – that a strategy was needed. I decided to taste each exhibitor's standard non-vintage blend, which is after all the calling card of all producers and, according to the most accurate estimate I could get from champagne officials, represents 94.4% of all champagne produced. We may all fuss about the luxury-priced prestige cuvées, and I would like to point out that vintage champagne is probably the bargain category at the moment, but in reality, the champagne business is all about NV. The reason I haven't written much about NV champagnes recently is because, although the blends change every year, it is frustratingly difficult to identify which blend you are tasting. One distinguishing mark of the good grower champagnes, or 'domaine champagnes' or 'single-estate champagnes' as Tim Hall of Scala Wine calls them in his insider's view of Champagne, is the amount of information most of them have on the bottle, usually on the back label. It is common to be told which vintage(s) the blend is based on, when the wine was disgorged and what the dosage was, what the varietal make-up is, and often the provenance of the grapes. But the big houses tend to keep the whole thing a mystery. Some mutter that this is because they like to keep open the possibility of the notorious practice of buying sur lattes, supplementing their stocks with unlabelled champagne from a variety of outside sources. But to be fair, I think a lot of them see the market for NV champagne as consisting of normal people who couldn't care less about the detail of what's in the bottle. Quite a number of them give details on the back labels of their vintage and prestige cuvées but are happy to leave those who buy NV champagne in ignorance. But I think that since many a bottle of non-vintage champagne costs £30 or £40, they should treat their customers with a bit more respect. I'll be writing on Saturday in more detail about the arguments in favour of giving more information on bottles of NV champagne. So at Tyson's tasing I made a complete nuisance of myself asking at every table which vintage the NV blend was based on. The variety of responses was hilarious and I have spelt out many of them in italics in the tasting notes below. Master of Wine Martin Gamman representing Joseph Perrier, for instance, told me the blend of their Cuvée Royale I was tasting was based on 2014 but added with a smile, 'people have to ring me up if they want to know that sort of thing'. I have also included my tasting notes on the basic blend shown by each champagne producer at a tasting of 'new wave' champagnes organised by Tim Hall at 67 Pall Mall on 4 June so that you should get a good grasp of what's currently on the market. In general those at Tim's tasting were much more forthcoming with information than those at Tyson's but there are certainly exceptions. I followed this double immersion in champagne with four very concentrated days in the Champagne region on which I will be reporting in detail over the summer. Tasting notes on 61 non-vintage champagnes (one wine was tasted twice, on different dates) are listed alphabetically by producer below. Detailed background information on those producers tasted at 67 Pall Mall on 4 June was kindly provided by Tim Hall and also appears in italics. Agrapart et Fils, Les 7 Crus Brut NV Champagne Estate based in Avize, with most of its 12 ha (30 acres) spread over several Côte des Blancs grands crus. No chemical pesticide or herbicide, cultivation for soil quality and root depth. Well-used 600-litre casks used to ferment important fractions. There are natural-yeast fermentations and experimentation with this for the second fermentation too. This is 90% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Noir from seven villages, including grands crus Cramant and Avize. Blend of 2015 and 2016. About 2 years on lees. About 50% of the 2015 fraction barrel-fermented. Dosage 7 g/l. Quite deep greenish straw. Fairly aggressive chew – seems not yet quite integrated. Very firm rather than hedonistic. Rather sudden finish. Drink 2020 – 2023 15.5 Yann Alexandre, Noir Brut NV Champagne Based in Courmas on the Petite Montagne de Reims, 6.5 ha (16 acres) of vines in 30 parcels spread over 6 villages, about half planted to Meunier, one-third Chardonnay and the rest Pinot Noir. Green alleys and use of only organic fertiliser began in 1999. Herbicide was stopped completely 15 years ago and ploughing begun. They have achieved the highest level of certified HVE (Haute Valeur Environnementale 3). Only the cuvée is used from the press, and fermentation is somewhat cooler than ‘classic’, at around 16 °C rather than 20 °C. The domaine ‘brut sans année’ is 55% Pinot Meunier, 35% Chardonnay, 15% Pinot Noir. Base 2013, plus 30% reserve wines. Malo done. Aged 5 years on lees in cellar. Dosage 8 g/l. Nicely balanced and complete on the nose. Really spreads across the palate. Not the most concentrated but attractive in a flirtatious way. Neat finish. Rather impressively confident. Drink 2019 – 2024 16.5 Vincent d'Astrée, Brut Premier Cru NV Champagne Popular French brand taken over by Beaumont des Crayères in 2018 and therefore carries a co-op code (CM) like B des C. Deepish straw. A bit more substantial on the palate than the Beaumont des Crayères counterpart. Drink 2018 – 2019 15.5 Ayala, Majeur Brut NV Champagne Based on 2014. Clue is the 2018 disgorgement date ‘because we always age for three years on lees’. Tiny bead. Nice and tight – extremely refreshing although I'd guess there is quite a bit of dosage. Just a little bit astringent on the end. Drink 2019 – 2022 15.5 Beaumont des Crayères, Grande Réserve Brut NV Champagne Base '2014 and 2015' I'm told. Not that intense and quite sweet. Pretty ordinary with some chewiness on the end. Drink 2018 – 2020 15 Besserat de Bellefon, Cuvée des Moines Brut NV Champagne Light nose and rather sweet. Some astringency. Drink 2019 – 2020 15 Boizel, Réserve Brut NV Champagne Very knowledgeable pourer who told me this is based on 2014. Pale lemon straw colour. Some distinctive nuttiness on the nose. Creamy texture but it seems a little sweet. Admittedly they also have a zero dosage cuvée. Drink 2018 – 2021 15.5 Bollinger, Special Cuvée Brut NV Champagne Disgorgement date given for vintage wines but not NV. Shocking! Very pale with a greenish tinge. Extremely zesty nose with real depth. Pretty frothy mousse with an undertow of greater age than most of the champagnes I have been tasting. Definitely distinctive though there is something a little loose about the structure. Drink 2019 – 2022 16 Le Brun de Neuville, Blanc de Blancs Brut NV Champagne Based on 2013 but there is no way of knowing from the label. Tight and focused. Sleek texture. Very nice balance and not too much dosage. Refined. Drink 2018 – 2023 16 Cattier, Brut Premier Cru NV Champagne The French representative behind the table told me immediately that this was based on 2012 – and seemed quite surprised when he failed to find any indication of this on the back label. Deep straw. Pretty intense nose for a non-vintage blend. Mouth-filling, fairly frothy texture. Sweet lemon cream. A little diffuse on the palate but the nose is impressive. Drink 2018 – 2020 16 - Chanoine, Tsarine Cuvée Premium Brut NV Champagne Very fancy bottles indeed for this sister brand to Lanson and Besserat. Something a tad soapy about this. Frothy and a little metallic. But it's actually admirably long. Drink 2018 – 2020 15.5 Chartogne-Taillet, Ste-Anne NV Champagne Alexandre Chartogne succeeded his parents in 2006 at this 14-ha (35-acre) domaine. He is at pains to point out the grand historical reputation of the vines of Merfy on the Massif de St-Thierry north of Reims, where there is a deep layer of glacial debris and sandy clay over the chalk. He cultivates this to drive vine roots deeper and uses cover crops to help devigorate vines and keep yields moderate. His fermentations involve wood, concrete ‘eggs’, earthenware vats as well as steel tanks and he makes a range of single- vineyard wines, apart from the entry-level Cuvée Ste-Anne NV. This is 55% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, 5% Pinot Meunier.