His teasingly complex wines incorporate both the intense fruit of his vines and the austere mineral background of his terrain. My favorite is neither his smoothly round Brut Initial (formerly Tradition) nor his austere Version Originale (called Extra Brut until recently)—both highly praised on all sides—but a blend of several vintages he calls Substance. It is the very essence of Avize: long, graceful, and delicious.
The Chiquet family, which owns the old firm of Jacquesson & Fils, at Dizy—in predominantly Pinot Noir country, across the river from the Côte des Blancs—also has vineyards at Avize, from which it makes a Blanc de Blancs as expressive as that of Jacques Selosse. But the firm has most of its vineyards distributed among several crus in the Vallée de la Marne. Jean-Hervé Chiquet, one of the firm's two managers, has a strong sense of the character associated with each of them. “We have the same responsibility as any other grower of fine wine to preserve vineyard character. It takes work. And it means we must impose rigorous limits on yields. I find it difficult to accept the theory, popular in Champagne, that yield doesn't matter here because we should be more concerned with a wine's finesse than its substance. The two qualities are not mutually exclusive so long as you remember that finesse is not just a polite term for lightness—you can get lightness in a wine simply by adding water.”
Jacquesson's considerable reputation is based on the small group of cuvées it produces year after year. When I tasted with Jean-Hervé, he insisted that we use conventional tulip wineglasses, not flutes. “Flutes are pretty,” he said. “And they're fine for looking at the tiny bubbles. But to fully appreciate a Champagne as a wine, you must use a wineglass.”
Like Salon, Jacquesson sells its wines only when they are ready. At present, the Grand Vin Signature is available in both the 1988—a severe vintage in Champagne that needed time before release—and the 1993, which was much more forward. Brut Perfection, a nonvintage wine, is always aged sufficiently to make any final adjustment of balance either minor or unnecessary. (When a bottle is topped up with a little wine after the fermentation deposit is disgorged—just before being shipped—there is usually a whisper of sugar syrup in it. The less there is, the easier it will be to fully appreciate the wine's depth of flavor.)
Francis Egly's wines are typical of his vineyards at Ambonnay, a grand cru at the start of the Montagne de Reims, far from Jacquesson's vats at Dizy. It is one of the best crus for Pinot Noir. Though the wines of Bouzy, nearby, are more muscular, the wines of Ambonnay are fine and ample. “When I took over the property from my father twenty years ago, I was lucky,” Egly told me as we tasted a succession of wines in the cellar behind his house. “He handed down to me many acres of old vines that had been properly cared for. And the soil had been consistently aerated and fertilized organically. I make the most of what I have. I take pains to pick my fruit at maximum ripeness. I give the wine the time it needs in vat, and then as much time as I can on the lees in bottle before I disgorge.”
His Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition Grand Cru reflects the proportions (roughly) of the two varieties in his vineyards at Ambonnay: about 70 percent Pinot Noir and 30 percent Chardonnay. It is redolent of toasted almonds. But then all his wines are richly flavored and mouth-filling: typical of Ambonnay. My favorite was a 1997 Blanc de Noirs—100 percent Pinot Noir—from old vines at Les Crayères, a vineyard planted by his grandfather in 1946. (It's sold without mention of the vintage.) It had an aroma of acacia blossoms and marzipan. “Les Crayères is a great vineyard,” he said. “There's little we need to do to these wines—except remember to do very little.”
Other producers in the Vallée de la Marne use wines from several crus to complete each cuvée, striving for a style in which the characteristics of the sites complement or reinforce each other. Gosset bases its Grande Réserve on vineyards at Aÿ—where the firm was founded in 1584, making it the oldest in Champagne—because it likes the structure and aromatic elegance in its wines. But the blend usually includes wine from Bouzy as well, for power, and from Ambonnay for fullness and for its fragrance of almonds and wild strawberries. Like Celebris, the prestige cuvée Gosset introduced with the 1988 vintage, the Grande Réserve has Chardonnay from grand cru vineyards at Le Mesnil and at Oger on the Côte des Blancs for greater refinement to balance the imposing Pinot Noir of the Marne.
Laurent-Perrier, at Tours-sur-Marne, also brings together Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in its Grand Siècle “La Cuvée,” but Alain Terrier, the firm's longtime director of production, has had many years to experiment with small lots from all over to find exactly what he wants to maintain the wine's style from year to year. He explained to me what he looks for in the final blend: “It mustn't be heavy—that would be tiring. It must have a presence, but mustn't be so overwhelming that one thinks that's enough. One should look forward to the second glass.
“Whenever I have to make a choice in assembling a cuvée, I go for purity of taste and aroma. I avoid anything clumsy that might obscure the essence of the wine. After all, the definition of our wine—and of Champagne itself—is elegance and pleasure.”
RECOMMENDED WINESHere are a few brut Champagnes that reflect the character of specific sites, vineyards, and regions.
- Egly-Ouriet, Blanc de Noirs, Vieilles Vignes, Ambonnay, Grand Cru ($65)
- Egly-Ouriet, Brut Tradition, Ambonnay, Grand Cru ($40)
- Jacques Selosse, Substance, Blanc de Blancs, Avize, Grand Cru (a blend of 1986 to1993 vintages; $115)
- Jacquesson & Fils, Blanc de Blancs, Avize, Grand Cru '95 ($55)
- Pierre Gimonnet & Fils, Cuis, Premier Cru ($36)
- Salon, Blanc de Blancs, Le Mesnil '90 ($200)
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