I have been asked not to write this post. I will not compromise, I will give you the scoop.
Champagne, as you know, is more often than not a cépage of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier. If you are a racing driver this may be news to you but you will have found that although two of these grapes are red your overalls don’t get stained when you squirt it around. Some champagnes are made entirely of Pinot Noir and others of Chardonnay: Blanc de Noir and Blanc de Blancs.
This Champagne is 75% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay and 10% Meunier, so far so normal. The grapes were picked, the vendange as us oenophiles call it, in 2017. Then it was diluted by 45% with vins de réserve from 2016, 2015 and Solera 2010. Solera is the process usually encountered in the production of sherry, Madeira and the like and I wasn’t aware it was used by Champagne houses to beef up their fizz and to provide a consistent house style for grandes marques like Krug.
The Champagne was bottled in April 2018 and the dégorgement was in December 2020. To refresh your memory, the disgorgement eliminates the deposit that has collected in the neck of the bottle as a result of the remuage process. Now you want to know what remuage means. It is turning the bottles to loosen the yeast to collect in their necks prior to disgorgement.
It has taken three years to create this Champagne. What does it taste like? The Wine Society likes it.
An indulgent yet intricate pinot noir-dominant Champagne that showed our Wine Champions tasting panel why this Montagne de Reims-based producer, with all premier cru vineyards, is becoming increasingly sought after. Generous fruit meets gentle brioche notes in a superb bottle of bubbles.
Louis Brochet makes a Champagne that punches far above its weight and sells for just over £24 a bottle if you splash out on a case of six. My friends fear that prices will go up and supplies become exhausted so pitch in before its too late.
Also in Ecueil lives Juliette Pointilllart- Leroy. I met her parents in about 1995. Their champagne is excellent. Different Blends vintages and sizes, have provided for weddings, parties and everyday consumption for my family and many many recommendees. The big advantage of Pointillart Leroy is that you have to go and pick the stuff up, and it is a brilliant road trip for a weekend especially if you take in a cemetery or two as you pass through Picardy. Take a big car.
Funnily enough the reason I know about Louis Brochet is because three friends took a white van to Ecueil to buy his Champagne. It was when he only had about 13 acres, now he has bought more vineyards and has about 33 acres so he has enough to supply The Wine Society.
A case of 6 ordered for collection from the Wine Society in Stevenage when passing on Thursday. Thanks for the prompt!