Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
Region: Les Dos, Taumois & Les Clos within Vrigny; Les Cochènes & Les moines Vats from Chenay
Vintage: NV
Viticulture: Permaculture
Soils: Chalk, clay, limestone
Vinification: Made with the final press juices of Pinot Noit, dubbed "rebeches", a.k.a. "rubbish" - what would normally be sent to the distillery. A homemade marc (brandy) is added to halt the fermentation with a bit of residual sugar.
Aging: Aged for 18 months in old barrels that previously held red Burgundy
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: minimal
Notes from the Importer: While Champagne runs in his bloodstream, Alexandre Lamblot has chosen a deviated path from that of his family’s tradition - one which is in its fifth century of tradition. For a decade now, Alexandre has managed a small parcel of vineyards - about 4 hectares spread among the Petite Montagne de Reims, Massif de Saint Thierry and Vallee de l’Ardre - of his own, with a Meunier-dominant focus that you would assume he’s had impacted upon him by his mentor, Jerome Prevost.
When I say a deviation, it is such because of the time-consuming, bordering-on-the-insane levels of commitment that Alexandre has to his land. Ok, yes, small yields by way of very careful pruning. Agreed, harvesting everything by hand, making sure to not cause any of the grapes any harm by stacking too many in one crate, that seems a bit extra. But it’s when we start talking about his practice of isolating each vineyard’s yeast strains, re-creating them and using those for the secondary fermentation, that’s around the time some of us may hop off the train. Well, don’t - the commitment is staggering and the resultant wines deserving of his tireless exactitude.
If you’re having trouble framing just what all of that means in terms of the final output, what I would encourage you to imagine is that Alexandre doesn’t start out his harvest thinking of creating something sparkling; no, the mission is only to create the finest wine possible, and then decide if it should continue its life as a wine with a delicately fine mousse. The wines are aged in barrels common in Burgundy - 228L to 600L, some 140L feuillettes like you’d see in Chablis (cough, Raveneau, cough) - with the occasional concrete egg making an appearance.
In what’s become common with our favorite producers across the globe, but more noticeably so in a cooler region such as Champagne, is the outward appearance of their vineyards juxtaposed to their more corporate neighbors. As winter’s grasp loosens its grip, the lush green tones grow brighter in Alexandre’s vineyards, rife with life as you see the wildly diverse range of plants and animal life play symbiotically. Vitiforestry is active in all of his vineyards (some 600-plus fruit trees among all of his plots), with all sorts of planted or naturally-occurring cover crops oozing energy, providing the chance for those nearby “other” vineyards to glare with envy nearly as green as Alex’s plots glow.
The fruit is harvested only when perfectly ripe; any berries deemed less than perfect are sent off, though you imagine given his meticulous nature, they’ll find a different use. With a solid eleven months in barrels (usually about 20% new), each wine develops a depth rather uncommon through Champagne as a whole, and the final sparkling wines - when allowed to go through a secondary fermentation - are wildly complex, with a microscopic mousse that serves to only elevate the aromas, tastes and sensations of each sip.
To me, there are influences in these wines, whether intended or merely observed by yours truly: surely Prevost has indoctrinated Alexandre further into Meunier’s otherworldly potentials; I see bits of another Alexandre - Chartogne - in the conscientious separation of his plots, and in some of the choices of locale in the Northern regions of Champagne. And then there is one more - Cedric Bouchard, whose wines mirror the quiet intensity, the textural aspects and the thought of “Champagne” being a region, not a drink; that is to say, focus on the wine underneath those bubbles, and the wild labors of love that silently took place in order to bring this project to fruition.
**Combining alcohol from Champagne with fresh grape juice from old Pinot Noir vines. The juice is sourced from the final press known as the "Rebeche." Aged for 18 months in old oak barrels previously used for red Burgundy wines without filtration, or fining.
"René Lamblot, patriarch of the estate, made his ratafia in oak barrels. This mistelle is a family tribute and the high-quality culmination of the last pressed juices.:
