Size & Type
Other
$120
This is very, very clever winemaking. Typically blended from a couple of strong vintages separated by a few year with a good slug of reserve wine builds richness and mid-palate weight.
The cleverest play comes with the second fermentation and disgorgement: the seal used for the bottle during second fermentation allows a tiny amount of oxygen in each year. This promotes character development, harmonising the blend and layering in new elements. The beauty here is that if needed a tiny addition of sulphur at disgorging can be used to freshen up the wine, ensuring it reaches our mouths in the most delicious possible state. This technique is the premise behind ‘Late’ or ‘Recently’ disgorged fizz, offering wines that are beautifully developed yet fresh. You might have seen this pop up in Bite 3 of the Wine Decoded Tasting Revolution.
The end result is a wine with of depth & length, balance & complexity, freshness & development, fine mouthfeel, and, most importantly personality!
In stock
Having worked in Champagne, seen behind the closed doors I know a fair few of the tricks of the trade. It’s refreshing when you come across someone like Jean-Francois Clouet who will openly discuss the tricks and is willing to stand by his wines. I explore the exceptional and ugly in the Wine Bites Mag article “Vintage 1998 Champagne Devaux, Bur-sur-Seine and Les Gras et Haas, Chouilly in the Côte des Blancs”
It’s fair to say Jean-Francois Clouet was born in a bath of Pinot, suckled on Blanc de Noir, and, grew up pour it on his corn flakes! His family was making wine a decade before Möet et Chandon’s Dom Perignon. Not long ago Bollinger rang to “enquire” read complain about Clouet’s labels ripping off their designs. After a quick look it turned out to be the other way around by decades!
Classification: AOP Champagne Soil/Terroir: Chalk and Clay
Distinguishing Characteristics: Bottled in Spring 2013 with a permeable capsule allowing an exchange of 0,81 mg/L/an of oxygen to create an evolution of the wines specifically designed for the Pinot Noir of Bouzy
Blend: 80% base wine 2012 20% Grande « Solera » Reserve from tanks Zeus and Apollo (50% 2008, 37.5% 2005, 25% 2004, 12.5% 2002)
Custom tailored disgorgement: After careful evaluation of each batch of bottles and in order to propose the optimal tasting experience, disgorgement and dosage is done, batch by batch, according to the wine’s specific attributes and evolution, the season of the year, and its final destination.
Dosage: “Lifting Contour”+“Serum revitalisssant”: Barrel aged Chardonnay and refined sugar providing a structured lift, efferverscence and smooth tannins. Dosage proposed at 5 gr
Aging: 72 months on the lees
Tasting notes: Powerful nose of lightly candied fruit and spice accelerating on the palate with notes of ginger bread with sweet citrus.
Based in Bouzy with vineyards in both Bouzy and Ambonnay. The villages rest to the south of Reims and north of Épernay. Clouet is a Pinot master! Bouzy is home to many of the best Pinot growing sites in Champagne.
Click to enlarge🔎
Click on a map to enlarge🔎
Where in the world does the magic happen?
Champagne André Clouet, Rue Gambetta, Bouzy, France
You must be logged in to post a comment.