I’m posting pictures first and later TNs and comments as time allows!
First day, Léclapart tasting, Meishi Daily and late night at Caserne Chanzy.
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How about also the photo of meals too ?
Greatest hotel view, ever.
Top of my list for places I wanna go back.
Really looking forward to more details!!!
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Sorry Peter I don’t do restaurant food pics 
!
We had dinner at Le Foch tonight (one Michelin star). Good but not extraordinary. Some hits (st-jacques carpaccio, salmon mi-cuit and quails) some misses (langoustines and mises en bouches).
2019 Clusel-Roch Côte-Rôtie Les Schistes (very good)
2019 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Clos Saint-Antonin (others liked this more than I did).
Notes and details from today’s tasting at A. Bergère coming soon. Our meeting is done so I’ll have more time this weekend!
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Disclaimer: we sell their wines.
Champagne David Léclapart in Trépail (on another gloomy day) – 07/02/2024
Notes: edited for some minor corrections on the history and approach.
I was particularly excited for this visit for two reasons. Primo, I loooove their champagnes. Secundo, I was very much looking forward to discuss their philosophy and approach. While David was in Geneva, his son Martin was nice enough to host us after a full day of work.
Arriving at the tasting room, everything feels authentic: no gimmick, no excess. Martin has a cool vibe to him and he made us feel at ease right from the start. As they haven’t disgorged the latest vintage yet, we were to focus on 3 wines: 2020 Trépail Blanc (Coteaux Champenois), 2020 L’Amateur and the 2018 L’Aphrodisiaque.
We start with the Coteaux and quickly engage with Martin who is clearly very hands-on and knowledgeable about every aspect of the growing and winemaking. They have 3 hectares (about 7.5 acres) of vines in Trépail over 20 parcels and planted to 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir. Trépail is a cooler village as it sits in somewhat of a “bowl” (cuvette) and is bordered by forests. They are now the 4th generation to tend the land. 90% of the vineyard is under sélection massale with only one parcel with clones. They have converted to biodynamie in 1998 and have received Demeter certification in 2001. The initial conversion that David went through started with bumps in the road. But after meeting with an Australian expert in biodynamie, he decided to keep away from the dogma in certain books describing the philosophy and make his own path respecting the tenants of it. Since then, it’s working and they wouldn’t veer away from it.
The three pillars of their work are: everything is vintage, no dosage whatsoever and full natural malo on all wines. They work with enameled vats (enameled steel) and some oak (a little bit of oak from Champagne but most coming from Hermitage cooper in Burgundy who own their trees and forests). They get the barrels as new oak but with a “chauffe blonde” (long and low toasting) and their wines in new oak account for only a fraction of their vinification. So, you definitely don’t get oak as a strong note in their wines. They don’t work with stainless steel because their experiences with it provided wines that were thinner. The stainless provides too much constant “energy” to the wines by having it “move around” in the vats. This was the first time I was presented with this empirical observation.
They decide when to pick when the grapes taste ripe, the seeds taste right and the skins feel ready. I love that senses dictate the action. Call me a romantic. They do use the refractometer a bit but not much. They tend to pick about a week to a week and a half later then their neighbours.
The presses are wooden pneumatic Coquard but aren’t in house. They have a partner for that.
They put in bottle (tirage) at 20 g/l instead of the usual 24 g/l. They feel that provides just the right pressure for their wines.
11 months on fine lees and at least 2 years “sur lattes”. There is no bâtonnage, filtration nor fining.
The alcoholic fermentation happens with indigenous yeasts. The chai has a northern exposure, keeping it a little cooler. Nothing is thermo-regulated. The vats aren’t bigger than 40 hl.
They do see the climate change impacts. In 2023, they had to use refrigerated trucks to get the grapes from the field to the sorting and pressing and they now have to start picking at nighttime or very early morning (hello headlamps!).
They have 5 cuvées (L’Amateur, L’Artise, L’Apôtre, L’Astre and L’Aphrodisiaque) and a a full Coteaux lineup (white but not in 2022, red and rosé). They make about 15,000 bottles a year. I asked Martin why most Coteaux champenois wines were pretty expensive and I learned that they have to fit within the appellation Champagne meaning that a bottle of Coteaux is one less bottle of champagne you can produce! The “cahier des charges” also mentions that you cannot blend vintages for your Coteaux which is not an issue at Léclapart since they don’t have reserve wines (see pillar #1 above…). Oh yes, why the “A” for the cuvées you might ask? Because the first letter of the alphabet seemed fitting when David made a “new start” (like the very beginning of something new) with his first cuvées under his name.
About 90% of their production is exported and sold abroad in about 34 different countries.
So, what do you get with David Léclapart champagnes? Wines that reflect the carefully and properly tended land, the vintage conditions, the ripeness of the grapes when picked and gentle and expertly vinified juice. There is not much room for error when everything is that transparent and authentic.
Coteaux Champenois Trépail Blanc 2020
This pours with a pale yellow going to hay color. The nose offers citrus (ripe lime, lemon), a slight vanilla cream whiff and hints of spices and crushed rocks. What really gets you is the texture on this wine. There is good structure to the palate with a clean and bright acidity, nice volume on the mid-palate and a decent mineral finish. It’s defined by the freshness (acidity, minerality) but it’s not lacking fruit to keep this balanced. Good food wine and part of the best white Coteaux I’ve tried.
When I tasted this wine, I don’t know exactly why but Robert-Denogent came to mind. I mentioned this to Martin who knew the domaine and actually had the chance to chat with Antoine in Volnay not long ago. I think we both share an appreciation for their wines.
L’Amateur 2020
Disgorgement of July or September 2023. This comes from 6 parcels varying from year to year (100% Chardonnay). The first nose gave me a bunch of pretty florals, slight autolytic notes a little ripe citrus, ripe apple and pear. The palate is initially a little timid but it builds intensity and provides a nice chalk finish. This is a very nice, understated rendition of Chardonnay. Don’t let the delicate feel of this bottle fool you, there is plenty of complexity and pleasure in this.
L’Aphrodisiaque 2018
Disgorged in November 2023.
The star of the show. 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir. This is also 100% in oak barrels. It spends 11 months on fine lees and 4 years sur lattes. This bottle had been opened for 1 week prior to our tasting and… it didn’t suffer one bit! It pours a nice golden yellow. Still a beautiful rich nose with quince, pear, toasted brioche, red berries and a nice punch of spices. There’s great concentration and amplitude on the palate. It’s complex, ever changing and has a wonderful long finish with enough chalky extract for freshness. Grand vin.
It was a wonderful visit. We sometimes forget the luck that we have to be allowed to meet people who truly make an exceptional product. Many thanks to Martin for sharing such a wealth of information and just being a totally gracious host.
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Loving this thread, Phil!!! Thank you for your time and effort in collating your thoughts, pictures, and information for all of us to read and enjoy. 
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Dinner after the Léclapart visit:
2002 Domaine du Château de Marsannay Clos Vougeot
Meh. This seems over the hill. It’s not oxidized but it’s rather thin and unbalanced. I assume this bottle didn’t have the stuffing to old 20+ years. The nose is red berries, herbaceous notes and light spices. On the palate, it’s rather thin and dilute. The acidity takes over with some fine tannins giving a short finish that feels a little harsh. Not much to like here.
2007 Château Rayas Côtes-du-Rhône Château de Fonsalette Cuvée Syrah
This was double decanted about 9 hours ahead of time. Very expressive nose of ripe strawberry, pomegranate, spices, red meat, dry earth and some dark florals. A hint of alcohol on the nose as well. Full, “gourmand” palate. This is a little high octane: ripe fruit that brings a full mouthfeel, plenty of acidity, nice minerality that brings some much needed freshness. The finish is very long on sweet strawberry, dried figs and some salinity as well. But, the same alcohol I had on the nose peaks through on the finish. This is a big wine and there’s plenty of structure to keep aging. Delicious, ripe, dark but the alcohol sticking out was a bit of a letdown. Still, wonderful and complex.
Edit: I forgot we also had this for lunch:
2018 Delavenne Coteaux Champenois Bouzy Rouge
It worked well with the Speck salad. Crunchy cranberries and raspberries and a little bit of green. All glou-glou and i wouldn’t age this. Decent but not a good QPR.
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After dinner, we did another champagne at the hotel:
Georges Laval Extra-Brut Garennes 13-20
Disgorged July 4th 2022. Dosage 1g/l.
2020 Base wine. Mostly BdB profile but the Meunier brings in more fruit. Balanced and good but we got to this late at night…
Sounds like the Laval was clean, yes?
Yes! Which is always a crap shoot! At least, back when I was drinking Laval 10 years ago. I stopped because prices went up, availability was scarce and one of out 4 bottles was showing early oxidation or a “funky” nose.
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The only two I’ve ever had were both bad (both tasted blind at the same tasting last year). So, apparently, still a craps shoot!
I have found significant bottle variation in the Leclepart wines. When I was last in Europe we drank a handful that were stunning and gorgeous and some of the best champagnes we had. I moved him to top of my buy list. But In the US i get weird, mousy, off bottles more often than I’d like. Multiple sources and provenance. Anyone else have issues or just my bad luck ?
Disclaimer: we will soon be selling A. Bergère champagnes.
Champagne A. Bergère in Épernay (rain and gloom again) – 08/02/2024
We had an appointment at 5:00PM for the tasting at André Bergère. Someone, somewhere, has decided that all my trips to Champagne will happen under a cloudy sky and/or pouring rain. This time, it was pouring rain. Again.
We drove to Épernay to get to the tasting room which is located on l’Avenue de Champagne. If you’ve never seen l’Avenue de Champagne d’Épernay, look it up. It’s rather lavish and garish. It’s just one long strip of sumptuous manors, châteaux or other luxurious buildings.
Luck does smile at us, maybe to apologize for the crappy weather and we find a parking spot right by the Bergère location. We weren’t sure if Adrien was going to meet us or if we would be hosted by someone else.
The tasting room is quite different than the one we visited yesterday at Léclapart (understatement of the day). Here, we enter the grounds by the main gate and straight away on the left is a very nicely appointed tasting room consisting of a small bar and lounge area decorated with all kinds of A. Bergère branded products (t-shirts, baseball caps, etc.). Some mags of various cuvées are also nicely displayed as soon as you walk in.
We haven’t walked in for more than a couple of minutes that Aymeric enters the tasting room all smiles and with a sunny attitude. That just relieved part of the gloom from the gray skies and rainfall.
The domaine was founded in 1848 but it isn’t until 1949 that Albert founded the Maison and started producing champagnes. In 1986, André takes over the initial 6 hectares of land and starts acquiring additional land in Champagne. Today, they farm 70 hectares (173 acres) of land of which they reserve 45 hectares for the domaine (including about 5 ha in GC from Côte des Blancs and 5 ha from Coteaux Sézannais) and 25 hectares for négoce (sold). It’s planted to about 70% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir and 10% Pinot Meunier with a tiny production of Petit Meslier which does get its own cuvée (about 1500 bottles). Throughout their vineyards, they use clonal selection.
The domaine is now run by Adrien in the vineyard and chai and Annaelle in front-office. And the 4th generation is now around albeit a tad young to start looking into prolonging the tradition and family name! And yes, everyone’s name starts with an A.
The Bergère lineup is comprised of at least 12 cuvées. That’s a lot of cuvées. Add to that some Coteaux (production of about 2400 bottles only), Ratafia and a Gin (pet project of Adrien and some close friends) and you get quite a day of tasting in front of you! We limited ourselves to 10 and didn’t get to taste the Rosé de Saignée or the 100% Petit Meslier this time around.
Aymeric tells us that the classic cuvées (BSA i.e. non vintage) see about 15 to 30% wood. They get their casks from either the Bordelais, Burgundy or Austria. Most (almost all) wood is oak but with some acacia. They spend at least 2 and a half years sur lattes with most, if the BSA, at 3 years and 5 years for the vintage cuvées.
They use nonindigenous (exogenous?) yeasts and let malolactic fermentation complete. Alcoholic fermentation used to take place at 16oC but they now do it at 18oC. All cuvées are unfiltered following an observation on the Coteaux Blanc a while ago. Adrien, loved that vintage Coteaux Blanc from the barrel but once filtered, it lost its vigor and led to this empirical decision. They dose with sugar cane sugar having found it better than beet sugar.
They sell about 60% of their production locally and about 40% trough export. They produce approximately 350,000 bottles a year.
Origine Brut
Fruit from Fèrebrianges, Étoges and Congy. 70% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir and 10% Meunier. 70% is from the base year (2021) and 30% is from réserve (2018, 2019 and 2020). Dosage is 4g/l and it was disgorged in November 2023. I just realized I skipped writing tasting notes on that one but from memory it was quite enjoyable, balanced but a little nondescript. I’ve got one in my cellar, and I’ll pop it soon to revisit and provide better notes.
@Brian_G_r_a_f_s_t_r_o_m Sorry about that somewhat useless tasting note! I know you had the Origine and BdB Extra-Brut in hand. I’ll ping you when I open the Origine soon!
Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature
100% Chardonnay from Fèrebrianges, Étoges, Congy and Sézanne. The base year is 2020 with no dosage and it was disgorged in June 2022.
Light hay color on this. Citrus, almonds, light florals and chalk on the nose. It’s bright with high acidity and lots of chalky minerality. It doesn’t offer a lot of volume on the mid-palate and the finish is a little short but very pleasant and mineral (some salinity).
Blanc de Blancs Brut Solera
100% Chardonnay from Fèrebrianges, Étoge, Congy and Sézanne. 50% base year of 2021 and 50% solera going back to 2013. Dosage of 3g/l and disgorged in July 2023.
Very nice nose with pineapple, ripe citrus, a touch of peaches and some very light autolytic notes. The palate starts with a bang of fruit which continues on the mid-palate and adds some chalky extract to lead to a long finish. This is a very good wine. My associate’s favorite of this tasting.
Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Extra-Brut
100% Chardonnay from vines in Chouilly, Cramant, Avize, Oger and Mesnil-sur-Oger. A base year of 2021 on this as well with 3g/l dosage. I didn’t note the disgorgement on this one so I’ll have to reach out to Aymeric.
Typical pure BdB from Côte des Blancs. This is just so precise. Citrus, dusty chalk, medium concentration on the mid-palate but such freshness from the acidity, salinity and minerality that it calls for another sip. Medium finish that leaves you salivating. Very nice.
Les Vignes de Nuit 2016
100% Chardonnay from old vines (1972) planted in Étoges. This is dosed at 5g/l and disgorged in March 2021. Only 3000 bottles produced.
The nose is all honey and honeycomb initially. Some unripe peaches, white flowers and honeysuckle appear after some time in the glass. A little understated on the palate but very elegant with the peaches now being riper and some citrus joining in. Good finish on citrusy acidity. I’d love to revisit this with some more age in bottle. My other associate’s favorite of this tasting.
Les Peignottes 2017
100% Chardonnay from Grand Cru plots in Oger. The fruit comes from very old vines dating back to 1920, 1975 and 1990. This is a Brut Nature and was disgorged in March 2022. This cuvée sees about 30% oak. 3376 bottles produced.
Amazing nose with so much richness! Toasted bread, caramel, ripe yellow fruits (golden apple, Mirabelle) and some white flowers. This is gourmand, vinous, complex, offering beautiful amplitude and a long finish with a touch of beautiful bitterness adding freshness to the fray. My favorite of the tasting.
Les Clos 2018
100% Pinot Meunier from old vines (1970) in Fèrebrianges. Brut Nature and disgorged in December 2022. 2100 bottles produced.
Crunchy apple, some pear maybe some quince paste (pâte de coing). The palate has nice chewiness with a medium finish offering an enjoyable bitter apple note. This has a real signature to it and I’d like to revisit it slightly warmer (it was served and tasted very cold).
Millésime 2013 Brut
50% Chardonnay, 40% Meunier and 10% Pinot Noir from various plots. 30% wood on this cuvée as well. Dosage is low at 3g/l and this was disgorged in March 2022.
The nose is toasted bread and brioche with some ripe pear and spices. Good fruit concentration on the palate with baked apple and spices leading to a persistent finish but to me there was something amiss on the finish. I was the only one to think that and what do I know!
38-40 2017
Special cuvée that started with the 2006 vintage. 38-40 is the address of A. Bergère on l’Avenue de Champagne. This is an opportunity for Aymeric to tell us that the domaine where we are having the tasting used to be a farm belonging to Pol Roger. The tasting room used to be the stables. This is all Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs from various parcels and doesn’t see any wood.
Very autolytic but with some pear and white flowers. It showed a little hollow on the mid-palate but gained weight on the finish. My associate who loved the Vignes de Nuit also fell hard for this one.
Rosé Brut
90% Chardonnay with 10% still Pinot Noir (Coteaux Champenois). This is a base of 2017 with 7g/l and disgorged in March 2022.
Very enjoyable nose with light barley sugar, red flowers and blood orange. However, the mid-palate lacked a little concentration and the finish was a little short.
And we conclude…
Reflecting on the tasting on our drive back to Reims, we all agreed that we were surprised by how broad the range is for this domaine. Lots of cuvées and lots of work. We were also in agreement that the quality of work and land is perceptible in their wines. They keep a great quality/price ratio in a region where QPR is getting challenged. Some amazing standouts (Peignottes for me is just an amazing wine!) made this visit special and Aymeric’s knowledge of the Maison and the region was a great soundtrack to our tasting. We received a warm and generous welcome and we are looking forward to tasting the last few cuvées we did not get a chance to. This is a recommended stop on l’Avenue de Champagne if you are in Épernay.
Note: to my taste most of the wines were served too cold and this affected the tasting. I will revisit some of these wines from my personal stash very soon.
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Following the tasting at Bergère, we drove back to Reims to finish our full day of work and then moved on to Le Foch on Boulevard Foch 
.
As mentioned in a prior post, it was a good meal with more hits than misses. The service was okay and laid back for a Michelin star restaurant which was actually perfect because we needed a relaxed type of evening. The champagne list was quite extensive but we were all champagned out. So we looked for reds instead. The wine list is a little on the short side and most bottles are too young. I was a little disappointed in the wine list but one of my associates was in a mood for Rhône so we picked from the limited selection.
2019 Clusel-Roch Côte-Rôtie Les Schistes
Wonderful nose of fresh red cherries, red meat, pretty florals, some smokiness and blackcurrant on the tail end. Nice balance on the palate with good fruit concentration, lovely acidity and a nice finish on the same fruits as the nose, salinity and crushed rocks. Very clean with pure fruit and easy drinking even this young. I really liked this.
2019 Clos St. Antonin Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Tons of dark cherries, kirsch, understated pie spices and dried herbs (rosemary?). The palate is smooth, tanins are “enveloppés” and enough acidity to carry the fruit. But this is a tad hot, the alcohol is perceptible. And it feels a little monotone to me. It’s basically kirschy cherries from beginning to end. Others at the table liked this over the Clusel-Roch CR Les Schistes. I preferred the CR.
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Thanks for the great notes, Phil! That Les Vignes de Nuit sounds interesting to me ---- any idea why the clear glass on that one (and a couple others, I note, too)?
Good question on Les Vignes de Nuit. I’ll ask.
Rosés are often in clear glass to display the color of the wines and make sure the customer is aware he is buying a rosé (apparently, many rosé fans cannot read ).
I’d rather have protection against “goût de lumière” rather than see the color. Add to that it’s even worse for the environment and I would simply ban them. But that’s just me.
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Thanks for the note. I liked the 2016 a lot and own a case of it. Excited to see how they develop.
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Phil, thank for you bringing all of this to us. I know the work it takes to upload, type and array all of this with a narrative. I appreciate all of your effort.
I want to go find more Leclapart. The wines are not cheap but the efforts they manifest in bringing these wines from ground to glass, and the care they use, I respect that. The 2017 L’Aphrpodisiaque I had in December, and previous bottles of L’Apotre give me good reason to go search, driven by your post, too.
Again, thank you.
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G/l? Is that a pressure unit of measurement?
Really helpful notes; thanks, Phil!
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