My Ongoing Blog Of Our Week In Champagne (& Paris)--9 Visits w/Pics/TNs UPDATED W/ FINAL THOUGHTS

[Frank_Murray_III]

Wednesday MOUSSE FILS

To get from DETHUNE to MOUSSE, we leave the Montagne and head into the Marne Valley. The Marne runs west of Avize and Bouzy, spanning out to the west and around the underside of the Montagne. The Google Map below can help orient your eye. You can drive through Epernay to get there, or do as we did and go through the Montagne, which is beautiful, and cut through some of the small valleys that ultimately dump into the village of Cuisles where Mousse is based. I offer some photos below of the small villages, like Fleurie la Riviere, to give you a sense of the connecting villages that you pass through on the route we took.

When we got to Mousse, we met with Julie who has worked for Cedric Mousse now for a few years. She is very fluent in English, and is working on her Master’s in Intl Business. She loves the winery and her role there, which is in part to help with visitors like us, but she also understands the process of making the wines very well, too. She was a real delight to spend what was nearly two hours of touring the vineyard, which is just around the corner from the winery. The village of Cuisles (pronounced kweels) is very small, which is no surprise as so many of them are. So, to walk from the winery to the vineyard is a right, a left and probably 500 steps. Then voila, you can see the biodynamic plot that is in part the Mousse acreage. The family started making champagne here about 100 years ago, and there are 12 generations of Mousse vignerons going back in time. Again, lots of history.

In part why Julie spent the time with us was because Cedric was in the vineyards spraying some plant material, as well as some vinegar to help with PH, in order to adjust to the recent and expected rains, as well as try and reduce some of the stress that he believed was going on in the vineyards. We met him only briefly, as he was busy and running around in his vineyard clothes.

As for the winery at Mousse, much of the energy sources comes the solar they generate. They are working to be as self-sustaining as possible, and aside from their corks that they need to buy from Spain, they pride themselves on sourcing nearly everything else as close to the winery as possible. They have their own self-sustaining well that they use for water needs, as well. It’s an impressive place for those who value the aspect of eco-friendly.

With Julie, we tasted the entire range of wines, which you see below in both my TNs and photos. Pinot Meunier is king here, although there is some Chard and Pinot. And, there is a soil type called Terre d’Illite, or the green clay. One of the wines is named after the soil, which is prevalent in and around the village. And the Chardonnay plot used to be Meunier, but Cedric’s father was so puzzled as to why the Meunier did poorly on this plot that he dug up the vines and tried Chardonnay and it thrived. It needed the deeper soil, the aspect of that part of the vineyard that actually favored it. Finally, aside from the red wine that is used to make the Roses, there is really no wood used here–it is virtually all done in stainless. So, you can see the differences in approach between say here and then that of Vilmart, Marguet or Miniere, where wood is employed to varying degrees.

In sum, I really like the Mousse wines. The dosages run between 0-7 g/l, depending on the cuvee and the wines are priced really well. And, they farm in the way that interests me, of that which I want to support. I know some don’t see this the same way as I do, and that’s OK. But, if you want to support this philosophy, then these are wines you want to buy and try.

• 2012 Moussé Fils Champagne Terre d’illite Blanc de Noirs - France, Champagne (5/16/2018)
  Disgorged 10/2017, using 95% PM and 5% PN. 5 g/l dosage. Grapes all come from the various Cuisles parcels near the winery. Named after the green clay that is the sub-soil of the village. Shows a good punch of intensity, with lemon peel, citrus, black cherry and terrific length. Lovely.
• 2013 Moussé Fils Champagne Special Club Les Fortes Terres - France, Champagne (5/16/2018)
  Will be released later this year. 100% Pinot Meunier from the single parcel near the winery in Cuisles, from the lieux-dit called les Terres Fortes. 3 g/l dosage and disgorged 11/2017. Lots of mid-palate generous texture here, along with a mineral/tonic water quality, zesty and a good spine of acid. Finishes with some bread dough notes and light lemon.
• NV Moussé Fils Champagne Anecdote Blanc de Blancs Brut - France, Champagne (5/16/2018)
  Mousse has so little Chardonnay in the range, but there is one single parcel, that was formerly Pinot Meunier but it performed so poorly that Cedric’s father decided to figure out why. He dug down and found out that the green clay was nearly 160cm down, which was far too deep for the vines to reach. So, he pulled it out and planted Chardonnay, and the plot is called Les Varosses. This has a different mouthfeel than all the other Mousse cuvees, as the texture shows a polish and smooth expression. Creamy lemon, along with some apple. Quite BdB in tone and I enjoyed this, as change of pace for the rest of the PM and PN dominated range.
• NV Moussé Fils Champagne Blanc de Meuniers Premier Cru Brut Zéro Les Vignes de Mon Village - France, Champagne (5/16/2018)
  This is made solely from the Cuisles fruit, with a base of 2014/2015. Zero dosage and 100% Pinot Meunier. It is also aged under cork with the staple, so no cap. Beautiful balance, stony, lively acidity, lemon, stone fruit and it reminds me of the same purity that I found in the Benoit Marguet cuvees, which too are zero dosage. As it breathes, and the bubbles leave, it becomes creamy, a still wine resemblance with terrific balance. Lovely.
• NV Moussé Fils Champagne Brut Rose Effusion - France, Champagne (5/16/2018)
  This was our last wine to taste of the Mousse range. This is the blend of both soleras that they maintain, with a total composition of 92% PM and 8% PN. 6 g/l dosage and I forgot to jot down the disgorge date. Fresh, lively, red berry, creamy and bright in tone. If I can find this locally in time via my shop, I will buy it. Enjoyed this as a solid Rose.
• NV Moussé Fils Champagne l’Or d’Eugène Blanc de Noirs Brut - France, Champagne (5/16/2018)
  Disgorged 03/2017, 8% PM and 20% PN. 7 g/l dosage. The d’Eugene is a solera, this one starting with the dominant base of 2015, and going back as far as 2003. Floral, lime and honeyed. I find this cuvee and dosage to be outside of what I enjoy. I would rather drink the d’Eugene Extra Brut, and most certainly the disgorgement tardiff of the EB cuvee. However, for the entry bottle of the range for Mousse, they settle on this level of dosage so that they can have the wine be approachable for all palate preferences. They may lower it with time, as tastes may change and I gave them my feedback to help!

Posted from CellarTracker

[Mary_Deem]

Thank you for sharing your tasting notes of Moussé wines…especially the Terre d’illite Blanc de Noirs.

I recently tasted the 2012 Terre d’Illite Blanc de Noirs following a bottle of 1990 René Collard “Cuvee Reservee Millesime”…not an intentional compairson but just how things happened.

Compared to the much older Collard, it quite different in so many ways …and yet both were a powerful expression of meunier. Despite the lack of age, the Terre d’Illite stood up well to the venerable Collard wine in terms of intensity and ‘meunier power’.

I found the Terre d’Illite had an intensley ‘earthy’ lemon -even tea- ‘meunier’ expression. I know that makes no sense. I am sure the soil comes through in this wine. I have clay hardpan where I live, and it certainly gives my vegetables a distinct taste compared to those locally grown, but on more loamy soils.

I probably am making no sense…forgive me, I am no wine writer. Thanks again for yet more inspiration to explore and taste.

P.S. - Forgot to add that your dinner looked fabelous. How was the fish…i am guessing it was the pollak? I am guessing it is far better than what we get out here in landlocked Indiana It looks scrumptous. Also, a belated happy anniversary!

[Eric_Sch]

Great thread - thanks for the stories and photos. We recently had a Mousse Special Club Rosé that was stupendous - the best special club I’ve ever had and one of my WOTY so far. I love Meunier based bubbles and have really enjoyed Mousse so far… I look forward to trying the l’Extra that was recently offered by Envoyer.

[brigcampbell]

@Eric Sch

I love Meunier based bubbles and have really enjoyed Mousse so far…

Eric, I’m with you. For me, it seems to add a depth and richness. Nordhoff has shared a few 100% meunier with me over the years. Loved them all.

[scamhi]

beautiful pictures and a dream vacation, F111.

[Frank_Murray_III]

Thursday MARIE COURTIN

Thursday was a transition day for the week, as we had arrived in Rilly on the previous Sunday, and had spent Monday-Wednesday enjoying the area and the visits I posted for you. Our plan was to head for the southern region on Thursday and end their Friday, to visit what is called the Aube. We would drive back to Paris on Saturday morning.

To start our south trip, we had to check out of Rilly on Thursday AM and jam south, which was not as near as I thought. And to make things more challenging, I had made an appointment with Nathalie Falmet to taste her wines on Thursday 10AM, which meant we had to bail from Rilly, jam south on the highway and get to see her in time. Inside of that was not forgetting (as I did–ugh) that my wife was along with me for the ride and rushing through breakfast, then checking out and speeding down to the village of Rouvres les Vignes was a bad idea and one she legitimately raised as silly. So, I ultimately made a better decision and we cancelled with FALMET and took our time to head south, to get to our new hotel in the city of Troyes, which would serve as our homebase for the final two nights in the region. Plus, we still had the standing appointment with Dominique Laurent of MARIE COURTIN in the afternoon of Thursday, a visit that proved to be really cool for us as I look back. Ultimately, my wife was right, but why is that surprising?

Before I go into the MARIE COURTIN visit, a brief comment and a link about the Aube. The region of the Aube is in truth closer to Chablis than it is to Reims in the north. Even in my conversations with Dominique, as well as Aurelien Gerbais and Bernard Gautherot, both who I saw on Friday, I can hear the burgundy influences in their remarks. Whether they studied there, or they find the soils (like that of Kimmeridgian, which is in both the Aube and Chablis) to be similar, or the idea of the mid-slope for the best plots, or making single site or site-specific selections, etc, the influence of burgundy on the Aube is apparent to me. To give you a sense of geographic layout, use the safe link below to understand my point.

So, you can see how Marie-Courtin, Gerbais, Vouette et Sorbee, Cedric Bouchard, etc. are all within a close footprint to Chablis than their counterparts up near Epernay and Reims. This was lost on me until I had to drive it and really understand it.

We arrived to Marie-Courtin in the afternoon and she was busy, along with her husband, trying to both handle several things at once, including disgorgement, labeling and also seeing us. The winery is run by a husband and wife team, with Dominique Laurent as the wife making the Marie Courtin cuvees and her husband, Roland Piollot who makes the wines under his own label called Champagne Piollot. The wines are made in the same place, and they are both farmed rigorously clean, using biodynamic methods. And for Dominique’s wines, which we tasted almost exclusively except for one Piollot (TNs below), she farms and makes her wines from a single plot, which is a 2.5 hectare parcel that is situated on Kimmeridgian soils. The Piollot plots are more numerous, yet both sets of wines are farmed out of the village of Polisot, which you can appreciate in the photos below.

When we drove up for our appointment, we had to really focus on if we were in the right place. This is not Napa or Sonoma, where one can drive up to a property and there may be preceding signage along the way, and then there are obvious signs when the property is upon you. Like with our other visits, and as I have said over and over, we visited the sectors of Champagne where things are rural, the villages tiny and the connected winery is typically next to or adjoined to the winemaker’s home. This was the case of Marie Courtin and we finally arrived. We were introduced to Marine, an assistant of Dominique, who has worked with the winery for the past decade. She capably knew the wines and while she was particularly French speaking dominant, she adjusted to us and my English and for that, I really appreciated her effort and kindness.

Of note for this visit, we got lucky and we stumbled onto the disgorgement process that they were doing across the tiny street in the winery. In the middle of tasting, when we realized what was going on with the process, we asked if we could stop and go observe, which we did. I took photos and a video (which I hosted to Dropbox and linked below, it is safe). You get to see the real heart of the process: from the freezing of the bottle necks, then the disgorgement of the caps, to the addition of the dosage, then the corking and wire cage kit being applied. For me, this really helped crystalize what happens in the final stages, a process that up to this point I could only appreciate via the books from Peter Liem, etc. Now, it all became clear. Without a doubt, one of the best moment of the trip–very cool and informative.

Once we had seen that process enough, we went back to the tiny tasting area across the street and finished up. To insert one key fact, Dominique’s wines are 100% Pinot Noir—they come from the single plot I mentioned earlier, it is farmed biodynamically and so it’s the winemaking that differs that creates the various cuvees that are all named differently. From what we tasted, there is Resonance (made in steel, no dosage), Efflorescence (made in oak, zero dosage, and one of the best wines I tasted across all 5 days), Concordance (made in oak, sans soufre and no dosage) and Allegiance (sans soufre, no dosage and Rose using a saignee method). We did not taste Eloquence (which is unlike the other cuvees in that this is made with Chardonnay, not Pinot Noir, made in wood without dosage).

These wines sing, and like MARGUET, no dosage here and the wines do not show it. They show a purity, terrific acidity, minerality, energy and brightness. In sum, this visit was thrilling for me, and it reinforced yet again that dosage is an aid, but it doesn’t have to be added to the wines to create something special. And, under the smart work of Dominique Moreau, she proves you can farm cleanly with care and make thrilling wines without harming the place you have borrowed to earn your living.

Bravo.

• 2013 Marie Courtin Champagne Allégeance Extra Brut - France, Champagne (5/17/2018)
  Base year 2013 so I will avoid using the NV choice for my TN. For reference, all of the MC bottles are machine etched at disgorgement near the very bottom of the bottle. The base year will be listed as a two digit number, just prior to the 4 digit disgorgement date. 100% PN, zero dosage, and sans soufre along with the saignee method. Disgorged 09/2017. There is a whiff of something here that reminds me of syrah, a light barnyard or leather kind of thing. Creamy strawberry, melon and very smooth in tone. Very distinctive.
• 2013 Marie Courtin Champagne Efflorescence Extra Brut - France, Champagne (5/17/2018)
  Base year 2013 so I will avoid using the NV choice for my TN. For reference, all of the MC bottles are machine etched at disgorgement near the very bottom of the bottle. The base year will be listed as a two digit number, just prior to the 4 digit disgorgement date. 100% PN, zero dosage, raised in oak. Disgorged 02/2018. Man, this is great stuff, one of my favorites of this entire week. The cut, definition and precision here is spot on. Lemon aromatic, acidity and minerality all in play with balance. The long finish is where the red fruit really comes forward. To produce biodynamic, without dosage, using one grape and to make this…bravo.
• 2014 Marie Courtin Champagne Concordance Extra Brut - France, Champagne (5/17/2018)
  Base year 2014 so I will avoid using the NV choice for my TN. For reference, all of the MC bottles are machine etched at disgorgement near the very bottom of the bottle. The base year will be listed as a two digit number, just prior to the 4 digit disgorgement date. 100% PN, zero dosage, raised in oak and also sans soufre (no sulfur added). Disgorged 12/2017. This starts off grippy and kind of tight yet with air it unfolds a bit more to shed some of the structure. The minerality is high here, very present, as well as the acidity. There is lots of energy here, kind of raw so I wonder how the sans soufre allows this to impact the expression.
• 2014 Marie Courtin Champagne Resonance Extra Brut - France, Champagne (5/17/2018)
  Base year 2014 so I will avoid using the NV choice for my TN. For reference, all of the MC bottles are machine etched at disgorgement near the very bottom of the bottle. The base year will be listed as a two digit number, just prior to the 4 digit disgorgement date. 100% PN, zero dosage, and unlike all the other MC cuvees, this is made in stainless. Disgorged 10/2017. I dig the acidity here, with red fruits, citrus and nice vivid expression of flavor.

Posted from CellarTracker

















My next entry will be for my visit to see Aurelien Gerbais of PIERRE GERBAIS. Thank you for reading and for the comments to date. I appreciated that a # of you have told me that you have enjoyed these posts.

[Neal.Mollen]

really digging the thread, Frank. Sorry about the sticker shock at Crayeres! It was not quite that much when we were there, but there is no denying it is a very dear place. It was 2 stars when we were there.

[Adam_Noble]

This has been the best thing I’ve read all week. Thank you.

[Viet_Ly]

Really cool to be able to taste wine made from one single vineyard but made with different methods. Would love to experience this one day so I can calibrate to different variables. First I need to do side by side tasting with 100% variety made in similar method and similar champagne but different levels of dosage. So many variables to experiment with! =)

[brigcampbell]

@Viet Ly

Really cool to be able to taste wine made from one single vineyard but made with different methods. Would love to experience this one day so I can calibrate to different variables. First I need to do side by side tasting with 100% variety made in similar method and similar champagne but different levels of dosage. So many variables to experiment with! =)

Viet, a friend put together a Taittinger vertical tasting which covered the breadth of their offering with ranging levels of dosage, upwards of 18g. You’d think YIKES! at those levels but wasn’t the case. Much to my surprise. Seems there’s more than one component that affects the perception of “sweetness”. Fruit ripeness being an obvious factor.


Champagne tasting story.
https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=31820

[Viet_Ly]

@brigcampbell

Viet, a friend put together a Taittinger vertical tasting which covered the breadth of their offering with ranging levels of dosage, upwards of 18g. You’d think YIKES! at those levels but wasn’t the case. Much to my surprise. Seems there’s more than one component that affects the perception of “sweetness”. Fruit ripeness being an obvious factor.

Champagne tasting story.
Bubblefest - Taittinger Horizontal - CellarTracker

Wow, that is a fun lineup! Going to have to seek out a few of those next time I get a chance. Thanks for sharing.

[Paul_H_Galli]

A monumental report!
But I expected nothing less from FMIII…

TTT

[Frank_Murray_III]

Thank you for the nice comments back, guys. I appreciate it. This has been fun to keep building and yet I still believe I have missed some things because of my newness of the area, wanting to really just be in the moment, which means I didn’t take as many context notes as I could have. Always can do better, be better is how I think about things. Anyway, we move on now to Friday…

Friday PIERRE GERBAIS

For this day, my wife decided to stay back in Troyes, where we had been lodging for our stay in the south. She is not much into wine talk, wine drinking and those endeavors but she does drink a lot of Champagne with me so that fondness is what allowed her to enjoy most of this trip but for this day, she pulled the cord and said go alone. So, I thanked her for being the champ for the first four days and after breakfast at our B and B (Maison de Rhodes - Maison de Rhodes), I headed out to see Gerbais.

Gerbais is located in the village of the Celles-sur-Ource, which is west of Marie-Courtin where I had been the day before. To help orient your eye to the layout of the area, let me offer this safe link from Google Maps. Notice where Polisot is located, then shift to the left to see Celles-sur-Ource.

https://goo.gl/maps/YfamyVTMqDN2

You will notice on the map that a flag marker will pop up for Cedric Bouchard. He is a neighbor (and good friend of Aurelien Gerbais) and in the Celles-sur-Ource, you have Cedric and Aurelien sharing adjoining plots on the north face. I did not visit Bouchard but my plan would be to do that next time, as I own his wines and would like to make that visit.

When I arrived to Gerbais, I saw a young guy talking on the phone out front of the winery so I decided to park and go inside the tasting/receiving room and I met who turned out to be his wife, Audrey. She introduced herself, using English with me and we sat down and started to taste. Within a few mins, the young guy came into the room from outside and introduced himself as Aurelien Gerbais. He is the winemaker now, and is the 4th generation now leading the family winery, which follows on an additional 6 generations who have been in the area. He can’t be more than 30? Young guy, with great energy and a calm, passioned insight.

The domaine farms under the same charter as VILMART, which is under the Ampelos certification. This means that the farming is basically organic in approach, although the reserve the right to use one chemical treatment per vintage in an emergency situation to save the harvest. To my knowledge at Gerbais, it has not been exercise before. This philosophy was well-rooted in many of the comments by Aurelien during our visit, especially when we walked the plots together as you will see in the photos below. In fact, after we had driven to the north slope above the winery, there was a tractor spraying in an adjacent vineyard and I could tell from his body language and comments that he was uncomfortable with our location vis a vis the tractor’s chemical and we didn’t stay in that location long. However, he had wanted me to see the spot, in part so he could explain the soil and show me the soil cut (which you will see in the photo below. And FWIW, this same kind of expose and focus is quite similar to that of Kevin Harvey and RHYS, where in a past tour he took me to look at his soil cuts at Horseshoe and Alpine. And further, it is not coincidence that Kevin and his mission is inspired/informed by his influence of Burgundy, as that same influence is deeply rooted in several of the producers in the Aube, to include Gerbais and Bouchard–more on that shortly).

Back to the visit…once Aurelien and I had a few mins to get to know each other, he must have sensed my intent. While I had not communicated with him directly prior to arriving, I did express to him during our first few mins that I was not trade, not ITB and was simply a guy who had fallen for champagne, and that I was there to learn and appreciate his craft, including support the winery’s philosophy to farm clean and preserve its land. Plus, that I had found his wines early on and that I was already a supporter back in the US. All together, this must have resonated for him as he indicated that we should hop into my car and drive up into the vineyards. So, that’s what we did. He jumped into the shotgun seat and he directed me to a few left and right turns and within a minute or so (as it is with many of these small villages like Cuisles, Buxieres-sur-Arce, Polisot, etc), the village is situated right next to the vineyards (as shown below).

We drove into the north slope of the village and we talked about the farming, the heritage and the 4 valleys that all come together to form the region. He reinforced the same influence of Burgundy that I would hear from Bernard at Vouette et Sorbee, as well as what you will read in the Peter Liem book and other’s writings on the Aube. This area is really as close to Beaune and Chablis as it is to Avize or Reims. And with the soils of limestone and clay, along with Kimmeridgian (all so critical to the wines of Burgundy and Chablis), that the influence of those 2 areas are really here more important than that of Reims and what would be the historical practices of the north in Champagne. Further, you have the fact that Aurelien trained in Beaune, he is influenced by the wines from there, and this is indicative in the focus on site, soil, single varietal wines, etc that are part of the Gerbais philosophy. Finally, the weather here in the south is different. It is warmer, it is more humid and it is also more susceptible to frost, so the environment too becomes different from the north.

After looking at the north slope, we drove down further into the slope, the mid-slope really and talked about the future of Champagne. Aurelien maintains a real concern that in 25 years, the trend towards early harvests and warmed temps will render it very difficult to make true champagne. To make that point in practice, you will see in the photo below that he has a section of pinot noir that he is experimenting with in preparation for what may be a move to still wines: making still pinot noir to adjust to the area and the eventual climate. Notice how these vines are staked differently, and he is one of few (may be the only should my memory be correct) that has approval to farm like this. His strategy here may be the reality of where we are all headed as things continue to warm up.

Across from the north slope, you can see the south, which in part is where the oldest Pinot Blanc vines in all of Champagne are located. Planted in 1904 by the Gerbais family, they are still in production and they go into the L’Originale cuvee that is 100% Pinot Blanc. And finally, while Pinot Noir is dominant down in the south, the Aube, it is here that all 7 traditional Champagne varieties are still grown.

After we finished the tour and drove down through the heart of the north slope, we headed back to the winery where we tasted the entire Gerbais together. At Gerbais, they do everything in steel, and their goal with every wine is to get after balance: in the vines, the acidity, the ripeness. They use very low sulfites, they don’t fine nor filter and they work very hard to intervene as little as possible. Again, back to the Burgundy inspiration to let site and varietal speak as single voice, and farm it organically to get the best terroir and intensity to come through.

I really dig the Gerbais wines. I have been buying them since I discovered the Prestige cuvee a few years back from Envoyer. The wines are all made in very low dosage, pure, clean and refreshing. And, they are priced well, making it attractive for me to buy 2-3 or three of each when offered so I can work to appreciate them over repeated experiences. In closing, it was a privilege to get what was close to 2.5 hours with Aurelien, to get his perspective and hear about their land, their vision and taste alongside him. This to me was a beautiful example of the generosity, lack of pretension and sharing that is such a wonderful part of this area. Thank you, Aurelien.

• NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne Extra Brut Grains de Celles Rose - France, Champagne (5/18/2018)
  Base of 2013. Like the Grains de Celles that is not the Rose, this is made with the same components of 50% PN, and the remainder of equal share 25% Chard and 25% Pinot Blanc. And the color is generated by the addition of 5% red still Pinot Noir. 3 g/l dosage. Pinkish salmon color that is really beautiful in the glass. The fruit is approachable, the texture soft with strawberry, lime and acidity.
• NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne Extra Brut L’Osmose - France, Champagne (5/18/2018)
  Base is 2013. This bottle was disgorged 09/2017, which was nearly a year after the bottle I just drank a few weeks ago. 100% Chardonnay, with a 3 g/l dosage. This cuvee replaces the previous “Prestige” bottling. That cuvee was mostly younger vines but now the domaine puts all of the parcels of Chardonnay into this bottle, from both the Bar sur Aube and Bar sur Seine sides of the appellation, making this now the true lens into their Chard profile. Lemon, chalky, citrus pith, complex with a river rock quality. The Chablis-like impact of the kimmeridgian soil is evident here and as with the bottle of L’Osmose I drank a few weeks ago, I get it now and have come around to appreciating their expression of Chardonnay.
• NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne Grains de Celles Extra Brut - France, Champagne (5/18/2018)
  Base is 2014. 50% PN, 25% Chard and Pinot Blanc each as the remainder. Dosage is 3 g/l. This is the best view into Gerbais across the 20 plots that stretch across the area, to include the Pinot Blanc which was planted in 1904. Tangerine, lemon, citrus blossom. The texture here is rich yet with balance. Finishes with citrus and slate. Terrific for the value and that this is farmed organic/clean.
• NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne L’Originale - France, Champagne (5/18/2018)
  Base is 2013. Disgorged 10/2017, with 3 g/l of dosage. This is 100% Pinot Blanc, coming from the family’s oldest plot that was planted in 1904 by the great grandfather of the domaine. Aurielian, who is the son who manages the domaine now reveres this plot because as he says “all of our generations have walked on it”. Stone fruit, melon and showing a terrific energy and acidity. My thought in my notes says ‘energy going in all directions’. Shows grapefruit on the finish that is very prominent, along with a touch of green apple. Terrific.
• NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne L’Unique - France, Champagne (5/18/2018)
  Base is 2014, 100% Pinot Blanc. Made sans soufre with no dosage. This cuvee is unique (hence the name) as it is every vintage an experimental bottling that Aurelian Gerbais will create. This vintage he chose the PB, to make it in this very minimal fashion of inputs. Intense with plenty of spine, a liquefied rock sensation with lemon intensity and some finishing melon. This was very cool to taste and powerful.
• NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne l’Audace Brut Nature - France, Champagne (5/18/2018)
  Base is 2012. Disgorged 04/2017 and this is 0 dosage and sans soufre, too. 100% Pinot Noir. Sits in the glass with a lightly bronze tone, just a light hue of gold that is not part of the other cuvees. This is grown on the north facing side of the valley above Celles-sur-Ource, so the sun exposure that hits this plot is coming at a different angle, a different intensity. And, it’s grown on a very steep slope, just off to the side of the Cedric Bouchard plot where his Rose comes from, too. The vines are 70 years old. Black cherry, raspberry and the distinct aromatic of PN. It shows an intense, chalky core with a lively acidity and finishing red berry notes. Delicious.
• NV Pierre Gerbais Champagne Rosé de Saignée - France, Champagne (5/18/2018)
  I didn’t log the specs on this bottle but the essence of this wine comes from the L’Audace cuvee, yet there is 24 hours of skin maceration to provide the color. Zesty, complex, with lots of acidity and layers of energy in all directions. Chalky, lime and berry. This wine really stood out to me in the tasting.

Posted from CellarTracker














My next and perhaps final entry will be with my visit to VOUETTE et SORBEE. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

[David_Glasser]

Finally got around to opening this thread. Wow, what a joy to read and a treasure trove of information! Love the pics, feels almost like I’m there. Well done and thank you for taking the time.

[William_Segui]

Tremendous work being done here FMIII - thank you. That Gerbais Rose sounds worth seeking out

[Frank_Murray_III]

Thank you, Will. Appreciate it.

As I move on and we wind down both the trip and this blog, I want to insert some visuals about the Thursday night dinner we did in Troyes at Aux Crieurs de Vins. This restaurant was recommended to my wife and I by Bertrand Gautherot (Vouette et Sorbee, which will follow), and this same restaurant was mentioned inside the Robert Walters book, Bursting Bubbles (a must read if you dig Champagne Amazon.com). So, we decided to dine here and it’s really just a treat to walk in. It’s got a wine store wedged into the front of the restaurant, with bottles from all over France, many of them from the ‘natural wine’ category, along with a good inventory of local champagnes, and of course, Allemand (see below). In hindsight, I should have grabbed a few of them and hauled them home, as it would seem these wines are on an upward trajectory that is leaving my own comfort zone for price.

Aux Crieurs (http://www.auxcrieursdevin.fr/en-auxcrieursdevin-home.html) is a rustic place, with about a dozen tables, and like a few other places we dined in while in France, it has a chalkboard menu that is brought to the table and you pick your selections. We went for a # of things and shared them, along with a few glasses of wine. If my wife would drink red with me, I would have bought an Allemand for the table (!!).






The food here was good, and while I didn’t take any photos of it, this is a wine lover’s stop if you are going to dine in the Aube, in Troyes.

As we march on, and based on the remaining photos I took on my final day, I will bust them up into two posts that will follow. I was taken by the beauty of the drive between Gerbais (Celles-sur-Ource) and Vouette et Sorbee (Buxieres-sur-Arce) and a large volume of photos I took on my final visit so I’ll spread them a bit and then do my narrative of my visit with Bertrand @ V et S.

[Frank_Murray_III]

Enroute to VOUETTE et SORBEE.

Driving out from GERBAIS and headed to see Bertrand Gautherot at V et S, the drive is green and flat. In some respects, it reminds me some of Carneros, as it rolls a bit with hills, with some fields of yellow flowers (one that had a deer running through it, too), then in a next turn, there is sloping vineyards along the road, then a gentle switchback, and then more hillside. It’s all really beautiful. Here is a short link from Google Maps to give you some perspective. If the map doesn’t switch to satellite for you, click it so you can get a good flavor of the ride, which is really not that far between the 2 points:

Here are some photos from the ride, up through my entry into the village of Buxieres-sur-Arce (where V et S is located).







This now takes us up the point where I arrive at Vouette et Sorbee. I was early, and when I walked into the winery, Bernard and another man were labeling wines so he asked if I would return at the scheduled time, 45 mins later. So, I hopped in my dirty rental car and jammed down the tiny road towards the motor way to what was a hotel and got a cheese sandwich. 4 Euros, it hit the spot and I was lucky they made it for me b/c they were closing from lunch and prepping for dinner. I ate, proceeded to leave my TN book, for which I realized only AFTER I had drove back to V et S for my visit. So, back into the car, back to the small hotel, grab the TN book and drive back yet again to do the visit. Now, let’s talk the visit…

[Frank_Murray_III]

I had read about Bertrand Gautherot and his V et S wines from both the Walters book, as well as the excellent work done by Peter Liem, which is yet another must-have if you are interested in learning about and taking the dive into Champagne (https://www.amazon.com/Champagne-Boxed-Book-Map-Set/dp/1607748428/ref=la_B00IHZBTZA_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1528239990&sr=1-1).

Bertrand is direct and very vivid in his descriptions and passion for the work he does and the life he leads. Alone in my visit, as my wife had stayed back, I simply followed Bertrand where he wanted to take me. It started with us walking through the back of the winery and talking about his farming methodology, and in the case of V et S, the use of organic compost which is generated right on site by his 3 cows. You can see in the photos that follow that there is hay (organic) and stored onsite for the winter, and the cow manure is collected and spread into the vineyards here. It’s a complete process, and one he believes integral to the entire picture of his philosophy. PS–there are no photos of the cows, although it was funny because on the road between the hotel and V et S, I saw 3 cows chilling next to one of the vineyards just outside of Buxieres. Turns out, these were his cows getting some sun and doing some relaxing. They do exist.



Once we moved on from the barn, we started to walk the vineyards. The winery was started after WW1 by his grandfather. Betrand farmed the plots from the mid 1990s but did not make wine, instead selling off the grapes. But, with encouragement and discussion with both Anselme Selosse and Jerome Prevost, he decided to certify the winery as biologiue (organic) and he did his first vintage from 2001. Further, in the winery’s name, he chooses not to have the family name on the wine, but instead feature the names of the plots. As he told me “to showcase the juice of the wine, the soil so this is what you open and taste”, which leaves him to be free.

Keep in mind that V et S farms 6 plots, for which 2 of them (Vouette, which is directly behind the winery and planted in 1967 from Chablis massale cuttings, and Sorbee, which is Volnay massale cuttings, planted on the plateau above the winery) are reachable by foot during my visit. Bernard and I walked up the steep slope of Vouette, talking about his biodynamic approach to farming and how there has never been a single chemical used in any of his wines, which indirectly speak to the principle that he uses none of these as a grower. This is deeply important to him, his view into how to make great wines, to let the soil live and be in connection to it (which is quite similar to that of Benoit Marguet’s philosophy, amongst a few others I met this trip). In the photo below, on the left hand portion, you will see the deeply green leaves of Vouette, which formerly were planted to Pinot Noir, but Bertrand elected to convert the plot to Chardonnay, as he believes it will do better here (and will eventually be what helps compose the Argiles blend).

In the preceding photo, you can see a windmill. This sits at the top of the slope, just in front of the Sorbee plateau plot (which is Pinot Noir). That windmill was churning pretty good during my afternoon visit and Bertrand says it provides him about 40% of the power he needs for the winery and his home below.

Proceeding past the windmill, we get to the top of the plateau. The history of the winery includes some division of the land. While I want to be careful of my facts, my recall is that the division of the land left some with a cousin, whose plots lie either next to or across from some of Bertrand’s plots. His cousin farms conventionally, and this distinction and the exposure Bertrand gave me to the soil and to see the two plots at the same time really left a deep impression on me. It exhibited in clear, sensory terms how the soil and vines are affected by the decisions made in how it is farmed. The photos below don’t do a good job in conveying that sensory impact and that’s unfortunate but like with Gerbais, Mousse and Miniere, these soils that are farmed cleanly, without all the herbicides and other chemicals sprayed, these soils smell fresh, they smell alive, possessing a deep, loamy, vivid quality. The cousin’s soil looks dead, pounded down, lifeless, stuck together and gooey–I named it ‘dead’. It smelled and looked dead. Whatever you might believe, and certainly I am not going to judge anyone who doesn’t believe in these practices of farming clean, with a care for the land and a belief that we are all connected and what we do, I do believe clean farming practices affects us all, as a system. And, arguably it affects the grapes, the wines and the purity. Try Marguet, Miniere, Vilmart, Dethune, Mousse…these wines are pure and they are vivid. In my mind, this is not an accident nor chance. I’ll support these people even more going forward, and I’ll defer my dollars to them, away from the houses that decide to farm differently. For me, these are not my dollar vote any longer. Below are the photos which I hope can help drive the point.






Following our soil study and walking and talking for what was I believe an hour, we headed back to tour the winery. These photos will follow next…

[Steve_Doi]

Frank:

Echoing others, this series is fantastic. Thank you for taking the time to post.

[Frank_Murray_III]

Thank you, Steve. Glad you are enjoying it.

Back to finishing my visit with Bertrand, we ended up back at the winery and we toured a bit. As you will see in the photos, this is lower tech with respect to the equipment. For example, a very similar press to that of Vilmart, and conversely, quite different from the more modern practices of say Dethune, Mousse. Notice too the fancy tractor, that looks like a pink Honda mini-motorcycle. And a final reference back to this idea of ‘living soil’ and vines, I offer the photo of the two vines that Bertrand is holding. I posted this photo in a separate thread a few weeks back and it generated some discussion. I’ll limit my comments then here to say that this is thematic to Bertrand’s view about soil health and farming, relevant to the modern chemical approach of today’s big champagne industry as opposed to the minority approach of a cadre of people like him and others (who I mentioned earlier in my blog) that choose to farm cleanly and arguably the vines respond to this practice by diving deep. In part, yes, because they are competing properly with the vineyard weeds and other greenery, and also they are driving down to get after the good stuff, versus staying close to the soil. By the way, if I recall accurately these vines are the same age, from roughly the same plot, just farmed as bio vs chemical. Hmmmmmm.

As we finished the walk, Bertrand took me through a part of the winery that has cement walls that are covered in paintings and other cool art manifestations. One of these was a chalk drawing that he did himself, which I show below. It’s probably hard to read but it illustrated a brief chronology of Champagne, from the pre-Industrial times, through the advent of industrial (chemical) farming, added by modern marketing, and the state of things today. Chemicals + Marketing= the demand and evolution of what Champagne is mostly today, aside from the geeky, committed and passionate people like himself, and speaking for myself, like those of Benoit Marguet, Cedric Mousse, Dominique Laurent and others who push back, drive towards quality and terroir expression, and care for what’s coming out of the ground and into our glasses.

Finally, before I left and the tour was about to end, and this was one of the cool moments of the trip, a fitting way to end the week, was when Bertrand went to his riddling rack of dusty bottles, pulled something unlabeled from it and proceeded to the driveway in front of the winery and disgorged the bottle. He sat two glasses down on the metal table in the shade and we drank a 2006 Fidele together. It was amazing to finish to the day. Shortly after, his wife and dog emerged from the house across the driveway, and we met as she was getting ready to walk the dog through bustling/busy (sarcasm intended!) village of Buxieres. As I wished him goodbye and took off back for Troyes, I was appreciative of my time in the South and that finishing glass of Fidele.












My final blog upcoming post will be my impressions from a few of the Paris restaurants that we visited following our return from Champagne. One meal and restaurant in particular, Semilla, was outstanding so I will come back with that next. I’ll then sum it all up in a final post with some thoughts/lessons learned. I appreciate you following my blog and hope you have enjoyed it as I wind it up soon.