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.