1. Champagne Arnaud Margaine
Villers Marmery
La Montagne de Reims
White in a Sea of Black
Background
To understand what is special about Champagne Arnaud Margaine you need to understand what makes the entire village of Villers Marmery unusual.The area just south and east of Reims was devastated in the Great War and no fewer than 4 battles of the Marne were fought with the opposing sides being, quite literally, bogged down in trenches for years.
Villers Marmery wasn’t quite at the centre of the fighting but it was a lot too close for comfort.
As far as champagne is concerned the thing about Villers Marmery is its location.
It’s situated right at the end of La Montagne de Reims right at the point where the hillside curves round in a big arc towards the south and west.
Look at the map below and you’ll see what I mean.
Villers Marmery is indicated by a white arrow. The red line shows that the vineyards in Villers Marmery have exactly the same south east exposure as La Côte des Blancs further down. So what does that mean?
Well, most of the Montagne de Reims is planted with black Pinot Noir grapes that give full fruity champagnes whilst La Côte de Blancs is planted with Chardonnay that produces lighter more delicate champagnes, many of them Blanc de Blancs (100% Chardonnay)
Villers Marmery has characteristics of both areas and unusually for a village in La Montagne de Reims, 90% of its vineyards are planted with Chardonnay. Many of the champagnes from Villers Marmery have the light bright style of Blanc de Blancs champagnes coupled with a touch of the fruitiness of the Pinot Noir. You could say they combine the best of both worlds and people who normally find Blancs de Blancs from La Côte des Blancs to be too sharp, too dry and a little astringent will find the Villers Marmery Blanc de Blancs to be ‘just right’ as Goldilocks said.
Champagne Arnaud Margaine
Margaine is a relatively young house by some standards – only 4 generations. The business was started by Arnaud’s great grandfather Gaston back in the 1920s but at that time Gaston made only still Coteaux de Champagne wines. It wasn’t until the 1950s that the then head of the family, André, decided to produce his own champagne.The Margaine family owns 6 ½ hectares of vineyard, all in Villers Marmery, which are planted 90% with Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir.
This translates into an annual production of around 65,000 bottles.
Arnaud and his wife are very welcoming and immediately likeable – just like their champagnes in fact – and I was quickly invited for a tour and tasting session.
Of these three I’ve selected the Cuvée Traditionelle as champagne of the month and you can find out why below.
Another thing that I liked about Aranaud Margaine is that he is very down to earth, practical and very open-minded, so he has no rigid formula to work to.
For example he uses a mixture of stainless steel fermenting vats and oak barrels; he sometimes uses malo-lactic fermentation and sometimes he doesn’t. It all depends on what best suits that year’s wine.
It’s the same with the dosage: it varies from year to year according to what the wine of that year demands.
Cuvée Traditionelle Premier Cru
Arnaud Margaine’s range isn’t the largest you will find but that’s not a criticism.
What he makes, he makes to perfection.
This is just a sheer pleasure to drink; it’s got everything and it’s really difficult not to enjoy.
The assemblage is 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot Noir, so you can imagine that the style is fresh and light, but since this is from Villers Marmery, there’s more than a little fruity fullness to Cuvée Traditionelle.
The champagne is mainly from the 2007 harvest (55%) so that means about 2 years ageing which is not very long BUT a very high proportion (45%) of the blend is reserve wine from 2006, 2005, 2004 and even some wine from 2000, so you can imagine that there’s plenty of added depth and complexity coming from the reserve wines
In fact there is always at least 30% of reserve wine in Arnaud Margaine champagnes and sometimes as much as 50%
The dosage of Cuvée Traditionelle is 12 grams/litre, relatively high for a predominantly Chardonnay champagne, but this works to perfection in this delightful champagne.
It has all the elegance of a Blanc de Blancs with a lovely, typical citrussy finish in the mouth, but it avoids the intense minerality of many Blanc de Blancs. It’s round and opulent when you drink it and it’s also very reasonably priced and you’d be forgiven for thinking it cost a good deal more.
In short, it’s a real bargain that I’m sure you’ll love.
Discover it now for yourself before it gets’ discovered’ by the wine media and prices double overnight.
Only £137.83 per case (6 bottles) + £9.13 delivery
(£22.97 per bottle)
** If you wish to purchase multiple cases please contact jiles@madaboutbubbly.com for price information **
2. Champagne Henriet Bazin
Villers Marmery
La Montagne de Reims
Understated elegance and quality
Background
Henriet Bazin is run by a father (Daniel Henriet) and daughter (Marie-Noëlle Rainon-Henriet) team, Marie-Noëlle being the 5th generation of her family to be in the champagne business.
The family owns 7 ½ hectares of vines: 3 in Villers Marmery planted with Chardonnay and ranked as Premier Cru, 3 hectares of Grand Cru in Verzy and Verzenay planted with Pinot Noir and interestingly, another 1½ hectares some distance away north of Reims, which are planted with Pinot Meunier.
Those 1½ hectares were formerly part of 134 hectares owned by Heidsieck Monopole.
When Heidsieck Monople was bought by Vrancken back in the late 1990s Vrancken didn’t get the vineyards. Instead they were sold off in small lots to a number of small champagne makers.
This is one of the measures in place to prevent the big brands gobbling up an ever greater share of the vineyards and ensuring that the smaller players can compete.
The quid pro quo for this however is that the smaller growers have to wait 18 years until they own the vineyards outright and during this time they are obliged to sell the crop to Vrancken. It will be 2012 before this contract runs out and Henriet Bazin will then be able to keep the Pinot Meunier to make their own champagne.
That will put them in the enviable position of having all three of the Champagne grapes in their own estate and will make them a formidable name amongst the smaller growers and one which I feel sure you’ll see more of in the export markets around the world.
The champagnes
On recent visit and tasting Marie-Noëlle showed me around and explained more about their champagnes.Henriet Bazin is still a very traditional house.
The family is very proud of their history and Marie-Noëlle has taken on the task of reconstructing the family tree.
The house is full of interesting artifacts such as this chest of drawers in which each drawer is made out of wooden champagne cases from many years ago, each one bearing the name of the importer in one country or another.
Although they have invested heavily in the latest press and have access to all the technological support
they need, Henriet Bazin have made a deliberate decision to hang on to the older style enamel fermentation vats because they feel that these produce a champagne that is much rounder and a little softer than champagne fermented and aged in stainless steel.
Whether it’s psychological or not I don’t know, but it’s certainly true that their champagnes do have a certain luscious softness to them.
I found this even with the Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru which had all the classic Blanc de Blancs characteristics of dryness and zing plus a little suggestion of kirsch and stewed fruit to round it out as well.
The Blanc de Noirs which is the champagne I have selected for you this month, has even more of this rich, full soft feel to it.
In Japan it has a small but excellent reputation whilst in France Henriet Bazin regularly appears in the wine ‘Bible’ the Guide Hachette, so there’s no question about the quality, but it’s rarely got much attention in the U.K.
That gives you the chance to stake your claim to a case or two before everyone else wakes up
Henriet Bazin Blanc de Noirs Brut - Grand Cru
A blend of wines from the 2006 and 2005 harvests so that means 3 – 4 years ageingLots of red fruit aromas to it plus a toasty note that makes it a real mouthful. If you enjoy full flavoured champagne with a good deal of body to them, you’ll love this one.
A champagne to enjoy on its own or with poultry and other white meats
As with all the champagnes this month, Henriet Bazin Blanc de Noirs is really good value for a quality Grand Cru champagne
Only £155.80 per case (6 bottles) + £9.13 delivery
(£25.97 per bottle)
** If you wish to purchase multiple
cases please contact jiles@madaboutbubbly.com for price information **
Can't Make Up your Mind?
Why Not Try a Mixed Case?
3 bottles each Arnaud Margaine/Henriet Bazin
Only £146.82 per case (6 bottles)
Plus £9.13 delivery3. Champagne Pierre Deville Rosé
Verzy
La Montagne de Reims
The Mayor’s Tipple
Background
Everyone is looking for good value for money so this excellent rosé is something you won’t want to miss.Pierre Deville is in fact made by the Corbeaux family in Verzy. The current head of the family business is Christophe Corbeaux who is also mayor of Verzy.
Now Christophe is so tied up with his work as mayor that he’s happy to admit that he doesn’t have enough time to make his champagne. That’s why he only makes some 12-13,000 bottles per year from 4 hectares of vines which could potentially yield 40-50,000 bottles.
Most of Christophe’s grapes are sold on to the bigger houses, particularly Champagne G.H. Martell. This is good for cash flow and is far less work than trying to sell 40,000 bottles
What Christophe does get around to making is good, solid stuff, mind you and his rosé is a big hit with guests at our B & B.
So this is your chance to grab a case or two of this Grand Cru rosé.
At only £22.97/bottle this is seriously underpriced.
It’s everything you’d expect from a rosé: lots of red fruity flavours and a smooth satisfying texture on the tongue. A real winner.If you have a party coming up or simply want to have some delicious rosé champagne in stock for the summer, then place your order now.
Only £137.83 per case (6 bottles) + £9.13 delivery
(£22.97 per bottle)
** If you wish to purchase multiple
cases please contact jiles@madaboutbubbly.com for price information **
