TN: NV Champagne Suenen Champagne Grand Cru Oiry Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut

• NV Champagne Suenen Champagne Grand Cru Oiry Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (7/31/2020)
  Nose: The nose is aromatic and fresh, filled with chalk, lemon peels, crushed rocks, biscuits, ginger, baking spices, apples, peaches, five spice, pears, and melon rinds. There is excellent depth and balance with the autolytics and fruit intermingling impeccably.

Taste: The feel is medium bodied with racy, high acidity. There is some density to the feel with the lees contact filling out the palate along with chalk, lemon peels, apples, peaches, ginger, crushed rocks, baking spices, and some five spice.

Overall: This is from a 2014 base and it is just a knockout. There is excellent depth and balance across the nose and palate with perfect use of lees contact to retain freshness and add in extra complexity. While I’m sure it can age, it’s just so wonderful right now and should absolutely be enjoyed in this form. (93 pts.)

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Posted from CellarTracker

Suenen’s Oiry Village bottling is the only Oiry Village bottling I have ever drunk as far as I recall. Are there other Oiry Village bottlings in the US, and, if so, from whom? Thank you.

Thanks for a great note, Keith. I really dig Suenen, and I don’t drink nearly enough, which I realize every time I see a post like this. You are going to make me spend money this Sunday morning

this is a really good question and I hope that someone who knows can answer with more depth. I think I recall that Pertois-Lebrun does a good amount with Oiry though I’m not sure that they have any bottlings dedicated solely to Oiry fruit.

then I have done my job

Oiry is the smallest Chardonnay, Grand Cru Village under vine with 88.4 hectare. So, certainly this reduces the potential for single Village wines.

Chouilly: 522.5 hectare
Cramant: 350.9 hectare
Avize: 267.9 hectare
Les Mesnil: 433.8 hectare
Oger: 403 hectare

Marguet does an Oiry bottling. Don’t know if it’s avail. in the U.S., however.

I got two bottles of the 2016 Marguet Oiry from Lopa recently. I need to crack one side by side with the Suenen.

… and post notes.

Is there a lieux-dit that Marguet does not do?

Ha! I would love to taste Benoit’s interpretation of any and all!

NV Champagne Suenen Champagne Grand Cru Oiry Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru (2/27/2023)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over a few hours –
– dosage: 3 g/L –
– disgorgement: January 2021 –

Crisp, green apple Nose. Bright maize color, with a fairly loose bead. Light to medium-light on the palate. Aromas certainly suggest something that will be quite pleasant. On the palate, this is crisp, a bit powdery, and jaw-droppingly awesome! Despite being quite dry, and light-on-its-feet, this has incredible depth: there’s something vaguely berry-ish there, along with a noticeable warm/perfumed spiciness – incense, perhaps; high acidity; quite crisp and dry, but still fruity — I don’t consider this austere; Smarties candies; little touch of white grapefruit on the finish; 12% alc. not noticeable; complex, engaging, and squarely in my happy zone. This is the best bottle of Champagne I’ve had in a while.

Hey Hey! Glad you enjoyed it so much. Pretty cool when we can have these kinds of experiences.

Absolutely loved this one! Shout out to @Keith_A_k_e_r_s for giving me the little nudge I needed to give it a try. I’ve already re-loaded.

Of all the champagnes I have learned about from this site, this is by far my favorite. If my cellar wasn’t 5-10% over capacity, I would be loading up on this, though my love for this wine may force me to buy it anyway.

Drat you, Grafstrom. Ok, so do you recall if this was the 2017 base, i.e., did you get this from WHWC? I’m debating picking up some more Vilmart GC and this would help flatten my shipping costs. I’ve yet to try the Oiry bottling.

Graf, I called WHWC and validated it’s the Jan 21 disgorgement, 17 base. I bought a couple. I’ll give one a try next week.

On a side note, for those who dig the Vilmart Grand Cellier, I bought three but they have 3 bottles left at $57. That’s a strong price for the quality you get in that cuvee.

Yep. 2017 base from WHWC. And I believe you have tried this one —- I thought I saw a brief TN from you in CT.

Ugh, you’re right. Forgot about that, which is why CT is such a big help. Well, I bought two so let’s see if my experience with the upcoming bottle shows like yours did for you.

If you ultimately regret having the second after tasting the first, and you still have it next time we see each other, I’ll get you your money back on it.

P.S.: I’ve done the same thing many times in the past. There’s the version where you buy, having forgotten you already have some. Then, there’s the worse version here, where you buy to try having forgotten you’ve already tried. Usually, if the wine was worth buying again you wouldn’t have forgotten about having previously tried it. Hopefully your first go with it was in a group, or lineup, setting and maybe it just didn’t get the time/attention it needed. Good luck with it!

I’m gonna trust your palate, and that of Keith too, although his was base 2014 FWIW.