Warning: Pizza and Sparkling Gringet note. No Champagne, but worth sharing.
We tried a new pizza spot in Bellingham tonight, and the food was exceptional. I stumbled across it earlier this week and hadn’t even noticed it before, but the empty bottles in the window—Metras, Ganevat, Domaine Dandelion, Belluard—caught my eye. Turns out they only serve “natural wines”, but the list is impressive, especially for a pizza place. They’ve been packed ever since the Seattle Times ran a piece titled “Some of Seattle’s best-ever pizza is back, but it’s in Bellingham.”
We ordered a bottle of Domaine Belluard Vin de Savoie Ayse Les Perles du Mont Blanc, a sparkling Gringet from Savoie. It was beautiful, with a fine bead, crisp acidity, and a mineral edge. Notes of pear, citrus, and floral tones. I used to buy a lot of Belluard’s wines before his tragic passing a few years ago. While it’s a natural wine, this bottle was remarkably clean, with no toublesome bretty, natty, or mousy flaws.
He produced some absolutely amazing bubbles in his lifetime. And thanks for the details of the Hangeul stamp in the corner. Seems it’s a local Korean artist called Ji-Young Demol Park.
Recently a South Korean guy started making wine in the Savoie: Domaine H
Haven’t tried his wines yet, but from sources here, he knows his stuff.
Hey Jayson - Saw you reference the 2014 Corbon. Curious… what style this is like? At a restaurant last night, the somm said it was his favorite bottle on the menu. I wanted to try La Rogerie so didn’t order the Corbon, but it piqued my interest.
I strongly recommend trying Corbon. The one we had was the stainless, no malo, 8 years sur latte vintage BdB. Nicely balances lemony/green apple incisiveness with the richness and texture of time on the lees. Plus I personally have a thing for good Avize Chardonnay.
First time trying the wine of Clement Perseval. Pinot Noir & Meunier from 50 year old vines. 2015 harvest disgorged in 2023. Bio-dynamic farming, indigenous fermentation, no dosage, and minimally sulphured. The extended time on the lees is evident on the nose - lots of rich pastry and yeast notes. The palates comes in waves, starting with crunchy, acidic berry notes then followed by the brioche you get on the nose. Great tension and balance between that bright fruity acidity and the richness. For something without any dosage, it’s shocking unctuous at the end - still loads of acidity but not the enamel eroding sear I get from many grower champagnes (not that there is anything wrong with that, I like it also). It’s great now, but I have a hunch it’ll be truly sublime in 5-10 years - glad I have another bottle! For $82 it more than delivers.
I gave my wife a glass and said “Happy Anniversary!” I received a bit of stink eye as she pointed out that our anniversary is in July. So I sat her down with the YKYAWBW thread and told her that @ToddFrench was on his way as I poured an extra glass. But as the evening waned, it was clear that Todd would be a no show, so we polished off the last glass together. All is well that ends well.
From brunch this morning. Our long-standing non-geeky couples wine group met, and I’ve influenced the group enough I guess that Champagne is more the focus, which replaces so many years of drinking still wine. I’m happy for that, as the group seems to genuinely like doing more Champagne. With the quiche, fruit and apricot ice cream, these Champagnes fared well, especially the Piconnet BdN which is really good.
2021 C H Piconnet Champagne Blanc de Noirs Brut Nature - France, Champagne (6/7/2025)
Disgorged March 2024, 100% Pinot Noir and no dosage. I've had some other stuff from Piconnet as I work through the range and I will say this cuvee is the best so far. What a beauty. Lots of stone fruit here--peach and apricot, amidst a gentle weight. A finish of lime peel and minerality. Gorgeous stuff for $59. I'm adding more of this to my 'wait for Fall' shipment from Caveau.
NV Henriet-Bazin Champagne Premier Cru Brut Nature Gaston & Louise - France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru (6/7/2025)
2nd bottle of this cuvee, this time with the base being from 2019 (70%), and the remainder from a perpetual back to 1968. Wow. 50/50 Pinot Noir and Chard, from Villers-Marmery. No dose, with at least 36 months on the lees, but uncertain of disgorge date. Oddly, that is missing, but otherwise the back label (like all the other Henriet-Bazin cuvees) is full of cool information about farming, parcel inclusions, soil, exposition, etc. This should serve as a 'how to' for the region to give people like me more info about what's under the cork--bravo to the domaine for this effort. As to the wine, I dig this wine because of the energy and clarity that comes through it. Lemon, pear, cranberry with lots of tension. The finish is crunchy with plenty of saline. Yeah, maybe lean for some but I drink Champagne for energy, and there is plenty here. Good stuff.
NV Henriet-Bazin Pinot Meunier Champagne Blanc de Noirs Brut - France, Champagne (6/7/2025)
Bought a single bottle of this to try, as I have previously explored most of the range already. 100% Meunier from the area just west of Gueux (and more broadly Reims). Of note, like all the Henriet-Bazin wines, the back label is loaded with with cool info, which should be a call-out to other producers to do a better job sharing info about how their own wines are made. Henriet-Bazin gets it, and I appreciate it. 7 grams of dosage. I liked this and found it to be a juicy, fleshy expression with pear, nectarine, berry and a cool spiciness. I paid $52 for this bottle, and it seems well-made but I actually like the no/low dose Henriet-Bazin stuff more.
NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Grand Cellier Œnothèque T13 - France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru (6/7/2025)
March 2020 disgorgement. As it has been mentioned before, this is effectively Grand Cellier (70% Chard/20% Pinot Noir) with additional time on cork within the Vilmart caves. But of the Oentheque released thus far, this is the exception in that it saw also the additional time on lees, just over 6 years. My read on this bottle is that I like it better than the bottle we had earlier in the year. I didn't find the oak to be out of whack on this bottle, but instead more complementary with the fruit, and of note the acid on this bottle seemed much brighter. Lemon, passion fruit and caramel. The only challenge I had with this bottle was there is bitterness in the finish, giving it a rougher edge. Maybe in the end someone could argue that was some of the oak speaking, and perhaps that is right. I just found this bottle better than the previous for what it's worth. My final bottle, I'm not going to backfill, and I'll likely just drink regular Grand Cellier if I want to have that part of the range.
Thanks for the notes. But are you sure about where you put this TN? The GC BdN is, I believe, not the same wine as the BdN Meunier (which I don’t think is GC). It seems to me from your photos that the wine you had was this one: NV Henriet-Bazin Pinot Meunier Champagne Blanc de Noirs Brut, France, Champagne - CellarTracker That is certainly where I and others have left TNs for it.
(Or you would need to create a 2019 version if you wished to label it as such even though it is not declared by the producer as a vintage (with the restrictions that brings)).
Paul, you’re right. The Grand Cru identifier would not apply. I actually had the note where you are suggesting it go, then I went in and put it under the BdN cuvee. Since I like to be as accurate as I can with this stuff, I’ll fix it! Of note, I saw your TNs there and actually, that was the poke I needed last month to buy the bottle.
Interesting. I was under the impression these were just late releases, not late disgorgements. I didn’t buy any at the time for that reason. Since I cellar GC every vintage, paying a premium later didn’t make sense. But a true late disgorgement changes the equation.
Warren aka Retired Doc, the T13 is the anomaly (at least between that and the T15). The T13 does have the extra time prior to disgorgement. The T15 does not.
2011 doesn’t have a great reputation it seems, but an offer appeared and I thought I’d see for myself… And, despite a dodgy cork, this wine from an apparently less well-known producer is really rather nice as an aperitif this evening:
Of the officially released Vilmart Grand Cellier Oenotheques so far - T13, T14, and T15, only the T15 is an original disgorgement. There will be other releases added to the range and they could be either original or late disgorgement, but most of what is currently planned in volume is going to be late disgorgement. From what I have tasted across both released and unreleased Grand Cellier Oenotheques, I actually prefer the original disgorgements cellared for extra years at Vilmart than the late disgorgements. This could change over time as the late disgorgements age, but a well cellared original release or original disgorgement Grand Cellier is a beautiful thing.
Finished off the final glass of the Piconnet tonight. Damn, what a beauty of a wine. One of the best of my year so far. Sent Dan a note to grab 3 more, dunno how many more he has but I’ll be jazzed to pour this for my blind group in the Fall.
I don’t off hand and I only got one bottle to fill a case. I do recall it being one of the finest BdN I’ve had in my very limited experience. My wife strongly urged me to get more and I have let her down so far.
Hiking the Via Francigena means that at some point I’ll get fed up with Franciacorta and TrentoDOC and need the real McCoy.
2019 Egly-Ouriet Champagne Premier Cru Les Vignes de Vrigny - France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru (6/8/2025) Wines of the Via Francigena- Camino Italy style; 5/26/2025-7/6/2025 (Northern and Central Italy): The nose is lovely with Meyer lemons, creamed peaches, Bosc pears, nectarines, red apples, orange blossoms, some chalky minerality, yellow flowers, biscuits, toast, vanilla, and a touch of doughy notes. The Medium bodied feel is deft and balanced with integrated, high acidity that shows off excellent persistence. This is fantastic and I’m quite enjoying the less autolytic-driven style of this wine. It shows off more of the Meunier character whilst possessing good freshness. (93 pts.)
My wife and I decided that less is better. We’re downsizing our stuff by 50% (going from a 60m3 container to a 30m3) coming back to Canada. This weekend was the yard sale. We invited friends over, gave most of our stuff away and I opened a bunch of bottles I won’t be cellaring in France. Tonight, we’re sun-burned and tired and needed something to bridge us to the night.
Light salmon and copper in color, this is delicate and understated. Grapefruit, pastry and florals on the nose. Some ripe citrus, red berries and more florals on the palate with zingy acidity and a saline finish. Everything is in balance and elegance. Not really complex but fragrant and refreshing. Very nice.
