Intro to the Tasting
When you think of Champagne, innovative farming practices and minimal-intervention winemaking likely aren't the first ideas that come to mind. Characterized by the region’s famous houses that produce huge quantities of wine, Champagne hasn’t traditionally led the way in the low-intervention movement.
However, over the past decade, our Newcomer Wines journey has revealed that there are indeed growers in Champagne who embrace these philosophies, proving that the region still holds many surprises. Producers like Aurélien Lurquin, Émilien Feneuil, Flavien Nowack, Salima & Alain Cordeuil, Timothée Stroebel, and Thomas Perseval are crafting some of France's most complex and evocative wines from single-vineyard Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Thanks to these forward-thinking vignerons, Champagne’s once stagnant image is beginning to transform.
To celebrate these pioneering growers, we hosted a Champagne tasting at Harrods in London, inviting some of the city’s top wine buyers, sommeliers, and restaurant owners.
Each flight was curated to showcase the vintage, the winemaker’s unique style, or the distinct character of the varietal.
All the wines featured here are Brut Nature, with minimal or no sulfur added.
Flight 1: 2018 Vintage
Alain & Salina Cordeuil, Origines, 2018 - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Thibault Legrand-Latour, Ypresien, 2018 - Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir
Quick overview: North vs South
In the South, winemakers are more dispersed, and their wines are heavily influenced by the unique microclimates of the area. Their historical context also diverges significantly from that of the North. Historically, the larger Champagne houses in the North often sourced grapes from the South due to their lower cost. Consequently, the southern producers are not typically inspired by specific, well-known producers but are instead charting their own independent paths. This autonomy fosters the development of their own distinctive styles, often characterized by a lean profile, especially at the higher altitudes.
The North is also more interconnected, with a pronounced reliance on monoculture. The South has avoided this homogeneity, characterized instead by smaller valleys and a more diverse agricultural landscape. However, this diversity means that changes and refinements, such as the transition from crown cap aging to cork aging, take longer to implement in the South.
Alain & Salmia Cordeuil:
Alain & Salmia Cordeuil make their wines in the Cotes de Bar, the most Southern area in Champagne. While Alain’s family has been producing champagne for many years, his winemaking journey has not been an easy one. Alain’s father focuses primarily on commercially produced Champagne, so when Alain expressed interest in farming his own vineyards fifteen years ago, his father gave him the “worst” plot, which was a very old parcel of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir not producing a high enough yields. Luckily for Salima & Alain, old vines and low-yields perfectly aligned with their winemaking philosophies. They began by converting the vineyards to organics and selling the grapes, before deciding to finally make their own champagne. They only started releasing the wines 2 years ago.
“I had the chance to visit them and they are super fun and nice people. They also are super terroir driven, working parcels in different altitudes and choosing not to sulfur any of their wines.” - Christophe, Wine Buyer at Camille.
The Origine cuvée is the only Champagne they make that is made from a blend of multiple parcels. Similar to them, this wine is a bit more reserved and quiet - like an experimental track flirting with a classical refrain.
Thibaut Legrand-Latour:
Thibault is a third generation vigneron, but he is the first of the family to initiate organic conversion of the vineyards and focus on making his own wine. His father, Patrice, has always tended to their vineyards but his big passion was archeology, so for the past 30 years, Patrice has been excavating artifacts from the region and creating a museum within their cellar.
Ypresien is from a parcel that has mainly Meuiner but also Pinot Noir. Meuiner is the most important variety for most winemakers in the Valle de la Marne. This wine was aged on the cork, compared to the Cordeuil which is aged under crown cap. They try to create micro-oxidation during bottle aging as well. The style of aging is pronounced here, revealing delicate flavors of almond and bruised apple.
“2018s tends to show lots of fruit and is super ripe, but these are more precise and clean. They’re showing really well at the moment.” - Roman, Wine Buyer at CVS
Flight 2: 2020 Vintage
Thomas Perseval, Art Terre, 2020 - Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Flavien Nowack, Brut Sans Année, 2020 - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier
Thomas Perseval:
Thomas is first and foremost a farmer - he commercially sells cereals, raises cattle and sheep and preserves a complete circular economy idea.
The domain encompasses 7 vineyard Crus that are on the bottom to mid slopes, laying on a rich variety of soils and with different expositions, as the village of Chamery comes into the form of an amphitheatre. The domain is entirely certified organic since 2012, and Thomas is now focusing on making single vineyard wines, which are all aged in barrels (228l and 500l) for at least 9 months, with very minimum sulphur or none added. His style is quite unique compared to other winemakers in Champagne.
The Arterre is technically a premier cru but comes from multiple parcels. It leans on the more darker and textured end of the spectrum, which is not only the style of Thomas, but also the style of Chamery in general.
Flavien Nowack:
To better understand the wines of Flavien Nowack, we love this quote from Pascaline Lepeltier:
“But don’t try to look for perfectly plastic perfection here, as it does not make sense for these wines. Don’t worry they are absolutely sound, but you need to taste with your intuition more than your rationality. They manage to make you feel the incredible diversity of plants in the vineyards, so think less in terms of fruits than herbs, sweetness than salt, linearity than sphere.”
Flavien comes from a family that has been making wine for more than 200 years. When he took over the reins in 2012, he decided to work biodynamically and is now a big fan of the concept “agroforesting”. For his parcels that are surrounded by conventional vineyards, he has created a “green wall” of plants that act as a natural separator. From this process, he’s seen the decline of diseases in his vineyards and that the vines are adapting and getting stronger and healthier.
The Brut Sans Année 2020 cuvée is made not entirely from vintage 2020 but is combined with a small minority of a Solera blend that goes all the way back to his first vintage in 2012. It’s technically NV but it’s mostly made from 2020. Think fresh stone fruits, that ever-desired minerality, a touch of rock salt and the most enticing brioche finish.
Flight 3: Chardonnay Focus
Flavien Nowack, Les Bauchets, 2018 - Chardonnay
Alain & Salmina Cordeuil, Altitude 350m, 2018 - Chardonnay
Flavien is a very outgoing, proactive, and vocal person while the Cordeuils are a bit more quiet, contemplative, reflective. You can see these two different personalities reflected within these cuvées.
Flavien's Les Bauchets is quite evolved, with lots ripeness and a bit of an oxidative note. Whereas the Altitude 350m is more on the crystalline and delicate side of chardonnay. For us, the Cordeuils make champagne as if they are in Savoie, with lots of Alpine spring energy.
Both growers use oak barrels for aging and Flavien is a proponent of light maceration, using it only for stability and the phenolic component.
These wines demonstrate that the growers want to show who they are and what they believe in, instead of trying to rival the more polished styles of other well-known champagnes.
Flight 4: Pinot Noir Focus
Flavien Nowack, La Tuilerie, 2018 - Chardonnay
Alain & Salmina Cordeuil, Altitude 350m, 2017 - Pinot Noir
La Tuilerie is the oldest parcel from the Nowack family, which is almost 90 years old now. It is showing beautifully right now, with bright red fruits and a delicate texture.
The Altitude 320m comes from more chablis-eque limestone, which creates a more high-toned style. While it's Pinot Noir, this cuvée feels much closer related to the 350m Chardonnay than it does to Nowack's Pinot Noir.
Both winemakers speak about Massal Selection, which has created a lot of disease problems in the last 20 years. Flavien tries to use new plantations from other types of Massal Selection to create diversity with both higher producing and lesser producing cuttings, helping protect the vines from diseases in the future.
Flight 6: 2018 Vintage
Aurelien Lurquin, Les Forcières, 2018 - Pinot Noir
Emilien Feneuil, Totum, 2018 - Chardonnay, Petit Meslier
Aurelien Lurquin:
Aurélien is based at the end of the Vallée de la Marne, in the village of Romery, where he farms 2.3 ha on 15 plots, the oldest one planted by his grandfather in 1947, and called Les Crayères. Since the start, Aurélien has been working his soil with his horse and has also increased the height of the plant to allow a natural growth without cutting the apex of the vine. He is a humble and shy man who loves to be in his vineyards. He only makes 5,000 bottles a year so the quantities we receive are always minuscule.
Les Forcières comes from quite a high altitude in Romery. It’s a powerful Blanc de Noirs, with a rich texture and herbal quality.
Emilien Feneuil:
Emilien started taking over the vineyards from his farther in 2005. Initially, he was working conventionally but then was inspired by organic and biodynamic farming, and the quality level that it can produce. He first sold the grapes and then eventually decided to vinify his own wines.
As his good friends, Thomas Perseval and Aurelien Lurquin helped him in the first years in the cellar.
Totum is the only cuvée that is not a single parcel idea and uses different ripeness of grapes from the harvest. Emilien is the type of winemaker who doesn’t tell you what to taste or what the wine should be like or how it is made. He lets you experience it and go in the direction that you want to go. We encourage you to do the same here if you get the chance.
A big topic for both of these winemakers is the length of press cycles. In modern day and age, they can be very fast and efficient. But increasingly, the questions arise of separating or not separating the press must and the free run juice. They’re realising that having a certain part of the press must creates more texture and better fermentation cycles compared to just using free run juice. It imparts a bit more of a herbal element than just the red fruits and more complexity of flavour.
In the case of both cuvées, they’re aged in mostly 500L barrels.
It’s those kind of champagnes that do well at white wine temperature, so much structure and substance that they can be enjoyed over a longer period of time.
Flight 7: Aged Champagne
Thomas Perseval, La Masure, 2013 - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay
Flavien Nowack, La Tuilerie, 2012 - Pinot Noir
La Masure 2013
Comes from a parcel within Chamery, which looks like an amphitheater. The parcel is a bit outside of the village, not quite on the steepest parts close to the forest. There’s a strong Influence from the limestone and a surprising amount of acidity for something with so much age.
La Tuilerie 2012
Compared to the 2018 vintage of this wine, the 2012 is much more “classic” tasting. This vintage clearly shows how much the transition to organics and decision to move to cork aging has influenced and shaped his wines.
Flight 8: Coteaux Champenois
Timothée Stroebel, Le Vin Tranqulle Blanc, 2020 - Meunier
Emilien Feneuil, Chamery Rouge, NV - Pinot Noir
Timothée Stroebel:
Timothée has been a huge proponent of Coteaux Champenois for over 10 years now. In 2018, he made the decision to produce 5 Coteaux Champenois and even made three different still wines (White, Rose, Red), from just Meunier grapes to express the potential of this too often undervalued variety. Having studied and worked in Burgundy, for Timothée, as long as the grapes are of quality, “la Bulle est accessoire" (the bubble is secondary).
With the changes in climate and global warming, it won’t be a surprise if we begin to see more still wines coming out of Champagne.
