Grower Champagne Gourmet

My, how the time flies along, it hardly seems like that long since the last gourmet, and here we are again. Tonight we are looking at a few Grower Champagnes, that is smaller producers who make all their wines from their own stocks. By their very nature, as small producers, these wines are far more representative of what the region is capable of. Unlike Veuve Clicquot which produces somewhere in the region of 6 million bottles of yellow label each year, Jacques Selosse makes about 60,000 in total! We are starting off with the Jacquesson Cuvee 731, apparently we are the first to get the new cuvee. This is a great chardonnay dominated champagne, crisp, dry, and acidic enough to get the juices going. It is based around the 2002 vintage, with reserve wines to fill it up.
For the starter we are pouring Egly Ouriets brut. Pinot dominated from his grand cru vineyards in Ambonnay, Bouzy and Verzenay, this is much softer, red fruit flavours with a well developed yeasty character from a full three years and three months on the lees. Like many grower-producers, Francis Egly lists the date of disgorgement on the back label giving an indication of the "freshness" of the wine but also allowing the consumer to work out the base vintage. This was disgorged in 05 so is likely to be based on the 01 vintage (01 harvest, in bottle by late 01 early 02, three years on the lees = 2005).

For the intermediate we are pouring the Selosse Rose. Coming in a nice fancy frosted glass bottle with minimal labelling this is quite an enigma. Apparently the pinot for this is sourced from Egly-Ouriet so there is a bit of a cross-over. Light salmon pink in colour, I cant actually taste this one, so Im not sure what its like. Will try and get some feedback later and post a tasting note.

The main course brings out one of the big boys, Egly-Ouriets Blanc de Noir. 100% Pinot, again from his grand cru vineyards in Ambonnay and Bouzy this is ripe red fruit with a rich almost grainy character to it. I love blancs de noirs and this is one of the best that Ive had. Although hand on heart my favourite was a Meunier champagne from Moet, part of the Trilogie des Grands Crus - Les Champs de Romont that alas is no longer available.

With the cheese we are serving Jacques Selosse Initiale Brut NV. Big burgundian style champagne, this is very much like drinking a sparkling montrachet. Anselme did a stint of training in Burgundy and consequently his wines are made in quite a burgundian style. Oak barrel fermentation, weekly battonage, long time on the lees. This should be a great match with the Epoisses.

We also finish with Selosse, this time his Exquise Sec. Specially created for three friends of his, all chefs, each with three michelin stars, this is a rich robust champagne that has been sweetened with brown sugar that Anselme apparently imports from Manchester - a local connection. The wines has a bit of a bite to it, almost cognac-y with hints of dark muscovado sugar. With a pear tatin this will be great.

Moutard Cuvee de 6 Cepages 2000

Weve got a record of journalists in for the weekend. (Not sure if that is the correct collective noun, but I like the cut of its jib!). So they were being wined and dined in the Arkle tonight by Penta our (temporary) Marketing manager, and I decided to kick start them with this little beauty. Its a relatively small domaine, and one of the few that maintains vineyards growing the lesser known varieties of Champagne. Arbanne, Petit Meslier and Pinot Blanc are all still legally permitted grapes (although it is no longer permitted to plant them). Like the Aubry brothers, Francois Moutard believes that the grapes must have been planted and used for a reason. Tasting this champagne it is easy to see what they contribute. It has a more floral, rounded character with slight hints of honey and a crisper, sharper acidity which lends itself well to be used as an aperitif. I love this champagne because it has something different. When I taste one of the big brands there is a certain "blandness" for want of a better description, there is flavour and layers of elegance to the wines, but they just seem to miss that extra personality. Thats why I love the grower champagnes so much, to me they express what Champagne is all about, the terrior of the region, the complexities the different varieties bring to the mix, and the difficulties in what is essentially a borderline growing environment. I believe that when you are buying in the vast majority of your fruit, no matter how long standing the contracts you may have with the numerous growers may be, you dont have control of your principle ingredient and ultimately you cannot have control of your end product.