FWIW I’m liking the Agrapart Complantee. It’s good and tastes rather BdB-like. Better than many a vintage Champagne in its class.
Gamay was also historically allowed.
We were at Les Crayeres last month and asked the somm for a recommendation. He was all over this wine from Tarlant:
that was made with non traditional varieties. I think it was greatly helped by the lack of dosage which kept everything crisp, but there are some overt fruit flavors from these kind of grapes that makes the resulting sparkling wine taste “cheap”. I mean, is there a place for sparkling wines that taste of loquat or yellow plum or freesia? Sparkling wines that have the thickness of ripe pinot blanc or pinot gris? I don’t know…but I’m not convinced enough to spend $100 on a sparkling pinot gris no matter where it comes from. I just don’t like the resulting flavor/fragrance profile. Maybe there was a reason they discontinued using these grapes?
This is an interesting rather than a great Champagne (albeit, I’ve never had it with real age):
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2006 Moutard Père et Fils Champagne Brut Cuvée des 6 Cépages - France, Champagne (5/19/2014)
Dinner at Mike and Cathy’s place (Wellington, New Zealand): Colour deep gold, a real contrast with the NV. Also, more persistent mousse than the NV. A contrast on bouquet too. A rich, mealy, complex nose showing some autolysis character with notes of yellow peach, nectarine and a savoury element. In the mouth, this Champagne is much more about structure than the first two, with good dry extract and power. Rich, complex and seemingly with some age (everyone was picking this as older, 2002 and or from the 1990s), but still focused with balanced acids. Flavours of pineapple, mandarins and marmalade, with a zesty, dry finish. Would be interesting to cellar. M. Moutard explained that the Champagne is unusual in using six of the permitted varieties: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Blanc, Petit Meslier and Arbanne. (92 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
Here is a good, previous thread on the topic:
Interesting. I’ve had some Pet Nat from Gamay which sucked, but I still have a bottle of Nicole Chanrion Blanc de Noir from Gamay (Beaujolais) made with méthode champagnoise that I’m curious to open sometime soon. Don’t know if she officially sells it.
As to the original question: I really like the Drappier Quattor (made from 25% each of Arbanne, Chardonnay, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc), which is also not too expensive at slightly below 50 Euros and in my view definitely worth the price.
I’m just a hitchhiker on this great thread.
Thanks everyone.
I tried the Laherte Frères Les 7 (when it was under its previous label Les Clos) and thought it was pretty boring but it may have improved as they add more vintages to the solera.
In Patrick O’Brian’s books, the characters sometimes enjoyed Sillery, a still wine from Champagne. Anyone know of its availability or component grapes?
Drew,
Sillery is on the northern Montagne de Reims just down the slopes from Verzenay. Along with Puisieulx and Beaumont-sur-Vesle, it makes up a trio of Grand Crus that neighbor each other and are often forgotten. The A4 expressway and D944 highway run through all of these villages as you head southeast from Reims . It is quite difficult to find pure wines from these three villages (just as it can be difficult to find pure Oiry or pure Grand Cru Tour-sur-Marne). It is majority Chardonnay with a good amount of Pinot Noir and a tiny bit of Pinot Meunier. Interestingly, most of the growers that make their own wine here have more Pinot Noir than Chardonnay in their vineyards.
The village of Sillery used to be one of the most well known villages in Champagne for both still and sparkling wine. This all seemed to change in the early 1900s. I’m not sure why. Today, Francois Seconde is the most well known producer from this village and he currently makes a few wines that are 100% Sillery (both still and sparkling). A number of houses source grapes from the village with LVMH having a good amount of owned/contracted land. Moet actually put out a pure Pinot Meunier from Sillery in it’s mono-cru collection that dates from the mid-1990 vintages.
Wines from Sillery can be quite good. I tend to prefer the Chardonnays and the village’s Chardonnays did very nice in 2013.
I see people have already posted on the Laherte Freres bottling (which I liked the one time I tried it but not enough to make it onto my regular Champagne purchase list).
For even more obscure grapes Benoit Lahaye has a small plot that was, appropriately enough, “grandfathered” in consisting of a variety of obscure grapes that the current owner’s great grandfather planted back in the 1920s.
"Field blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Arbanne, Chasselas, Petit Meslier , Gros Plant, Teinturier and other varieties.
This cuvée is named after the single parcel of the same name. The oldest vines were planted in 1923 by Benoit’s great grandfather, at a time when vineyards were inexpensive. The vines in Champagne usually average 30 year old and it is a rarity to have vines that are as old as 90 years. In 1952, Benoit’s grandfather replaced some dead vines by other varieties, some unknown or now forgotten. Combined with the age of the vines, this diversity gives the wine a great complexity and rare aromas. Until 2009, the wine made from this parcel was blended with wine from other parcels. After tasting it separately, Benoit recognized its unique character and decided to make a special cuvée from it. The 2009 vintage was aged for 10 months in 225l old barrels, bottled in July 2010 without filtration, then kept an extra 28 months in bottles before release. No Dosage. 140 cases made. "
I like it a lot (as I do everything from Benoit Lahaye). When I poured it at a big gathering recently it was divisive - half the people loved it and half disliked it.
Im with you 100%. Like I said above, Ill stick to MV Krug and such at that price point.
As priced on Wine Searcher, the best in the US comes in at $50. I`d go for a taste at that price for this one.
Agreed, some good info albeit along with a bit of touchiness.
Hi Brad, glad to see you jump in here. We need your knowledge.
Yes, I tried it once. It was interesting, very good, but I wouldn’t buy it again.
I’ve found with this wine it really depends on the year. Some releases / disgorgements have been mind blowing and well worth the $100+ (Though often needing time in the decanter to loosen up).
I’ve found Bouchard variable in general. Sometimes the wines are gorgeous, sometimes they’re a bit boring. Given the price tag I’ve stopped playing roulette.
Brad,
Thank you for your help!!!
I’m glad to have tried it…however, my friend Doug & I both thought that it was way over-priced for what it offered. Given my love of Weissburgunder I wish I could get a producer in Germany to make a quality sparkling Pinot Blanc that I loved as much as the GG’s.