00 INTELLIGENCE 00 of 00 > The Savile Row–suited owners of Grandes Marques Champagne houses produce millions of bottles a year, poured regularly at polo matches, grand prix races and charity balls. In contrast, visionary winemaker Anselme Selosse doles out a mere 5,000 cases annually to those in the know. Now a cult figure in the wine world, Selosse has spent more than three decades managing his Deck tktkhere on knives, whiskey, wood family’s Domaine Jacques Selosse in Avize, 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Paris, and rebelling fires and more against the region’s conventions. A wine heist in March, during which 3,700 bottles worth about 300,000 euros ($405,000) were stolen from the domaine’s cellars, demonstrates the fevered de- mand for Selosse Champagnes. (The thieves also Photograph by MARTON PERLAKI Drinks Bubble Economy How Anselme Selosse became the toast of Champagne By Elin McCoy TTAVIANO O AN S T: SU T: S FOOD STYLI FOOD 00 INTELLIGENCE 00 of 00 took 16,000 labels that the grown—to “reveal the overall truth of the vine- winemaker worries will be yard,” he says. The goal for his single-vintage used for counterfeits.) Champagne, on the other hand, is the opposite— Invariably dressed in a to show the character of the terroir in the year down vest over an open- during which the wine was made. The 1999, for collared shirt, Selosse is a mix example, is dense yet filled with energy. It’s of philosophical thinker and chalky, citrusy and very sleek. inquisitive farmer, with a Substance and the 1999 vintage are among the craggy face, rumpled hair and dozen current releases I sample at a collectors rough, work-worn hands ac- dinner in May at Manhattan’s NoMad Hotel orga- customed to tending vines. nized by Selosse’s importer, Rare Wine Co. The “My addiction,” he says, “is highlights prove to be his six lieux-dits (single- smoking Lucky Strikes in vineyard) Champagnes, each from a different SELOSSE’S memory of the great designer Raymond Loewy, grand cru vineyard. (Selosse owns 7.5 hectares, or GREATEST HITS who made the logo.” (Luckily, all those cigarettes 18.5 acres, across 47 parcels, almost all in grands Initial Blanc de Blancs Brut haven’t impaired his palate, he says.) crus villages—a significant investment when you This vibrant all-chardonnay Traditionally, Champagne has been all about consider that 1 hectare costs more than Champagne, a blend of three blending grapes from vineyards in as many as 100 €1 million.) villages and vintages, is the most available of Selosse’s different villages to create a consistent house Three of the lieux-dits are chardonnay based cuvees and the best style. Big winemakers like Moet & Chandon buy and three are pinot noir based, but all are vinified introduction to his style. Its fresh, crystalline character, a from thousands of small growers who own almost in much the same way: Fermentation takes place mix of ethereal lemon and a 90 percent of the region’s vineyards. When Sel- in barrels with indigenous yeasts. Minimal sulfur pronounced chalkiness, seems to come alive in the glass. osse’s father, Jacques, bought a tiny parcel of vines is used. And the wine remains on the fine lees, or $150 in 1947 and founded his eponymous domaine, he dead yeast, for years until bottling. Substance Blanc sold to well-known Champagne house Lanson. Now 59, Selosse says he’s consolidating his ideas. de Blancs Brut Today, more and more of these growers are “We were one of the first to dare to follow biody- This silky, all-chardonnay mix of 20 vintages exudes power keeping the best grapes for themselves and mak- namic viticulture,” he says. “But we abandoned and opulence while remaining ing their own artisanal, estate-grown Cham- these practices when they became fads and just a bright and not at all heavy. Its toasty, nutty notes; sensual pagnes. Selosse’s father was an early convert, in recipe.” Early on, some critics panned his wines as spices; lemony fruit; hints of the mid-1960s. But it was Anselme who made the too oaky, and he’s since pared the note way back. He creme brulee; and deep smoky domaine’s reputation in the 1980s and 1990s, af- still harvests grapes riper than most producers do, minerality make it one of Selosse’s most distinctive ter taking over management of the estate. which gives his Champagnes more roundness and Champagnes. “At the beginning of my career, with such a small richness. With their vibrant energy, deeply expres- $250 to $280 domaine, I couldn’t make a lot of wine, so I focused sive mineral character and multilayered flavors, Lieux-Dits La Cote Faron Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut on developing intensity,” Selosse says. One of his they seem more like great white Burgundies with This polished, seductive, signature experiments was blending wines from bubbles than the sort of reserved, harmonious all–pinot noir cuvee from a many different years using a version of the solera Champagnes one typically encounters. steep slope in Ay is a blend of 12 vintages from 1994 through system developed for Spanish sherry. Each year, Selosse’s latest experiment involves a different 2005. The most multilayered Selosse removes 22 percent of the wine aging in a kind of hospitality: In 2011, he and his wife, and savory of all Selosse’s single-vineyard Champagnes, it barrel for bottling and replaces it with the same Corinne, opened an elegant 10-room hotel and has many dimensions of flavor, amount from the newest vintage. restaurant called Les Avises in his home village of including red berries, licorice The current release of his Champagne, la- Avize. The neoclassical chateau, which dates and sweet herbs. $400 to $500 beled Substance, for instance—an all-chardon- from 1820, was once home to another Cham- Lieux-Dits Les Carelles nay blanc de blancs—contains a bit of all the pagne house, and Selosse recently relocated his Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut years from 2005 back to 1986. The blend of 20 winemaking operation there. “Les Avises is a This 100 percent chardonnay vintages gives the wine richness and opulence, complement to our Champagne,” he says. O. from the village of Le C Mesnil-sur-Oger shows with aromas of honey and dried flowers and “Healthy living with taste, culture, passion, hedo- fantastic elegance. Powerful deep, complex flavors of allspice, toasted bri- nism and the Latin idea of carpe diem.” aromas of warm, ripe pears burst from the glass, and the wine’s oche and hazelnuts. Think of Selosse as a wine poet, composing for WINE RARE F zingy acidity; intense flavors of By combining vintages, Selosse aims to mag- connoisseurs who are looking beyond the stan- Y O salt, lemon and chalk; and long S finish are dazzling. nify the terroir of the wine—“the salts and miner- dard luxury bubbles for something with person- $400 to $500 als” specific to the place where the grapes were ality, emotion and soul. COURTE.