Grapes: Chardonnay
Region: Côte des Blancs, Champagne, France
Vintage: 2023
Viticulture: Organic
Soils: Chalk
Vinification: Neutral barrel ferment + 2 years elevage. 0-0.
Aging: In neutral barrels
Fining or Filtering: Disgorged
Sulfur: None added
Notes from the Importer: Chardonnay from the small-yielding, brilliant white-chalk parcel in Les Crochots that reaches the highest maturity (and is harvested later).
Chevalier’s parcellaire Champagnes landed in the U.S. From the get-go in 2014, Antoine dove deep into natural Champagne production, immediately cutting out all synthetic products and herbicides in the vineyard. Same in the cellar - nothing added, and a mix of neutral oak and concrete eggs for elevage. I’ve never seen a Champagne producer follow such strong (and painstaking) convictions since Day 1.
He only makes two single-parcel cuvees, both born from the unique Turonian chalk soils here in this lost corner of central-eastern Champagne, the Côteaux Vitryats - first cultivated by the Romans, then the Cistercian monks; then devastated by phylloxera and World War II. Yet this is where Antoine has the freedom to brush aside conventional boundaries. As Charles Dufour and the Aube are synonymous with Pinot Noir, Antoine and this region are all about Chardonnay. I’ve never tasted Blanc de Blancs as eloquently expressive as these.
