Recap - Champagne and Pizza Dinner

August 25, 2022
Edouard Bourgeois

Champagne is very adaptable when it comes to pairing with food. The naturally high acidity revives the palate and the fruity quality may provide enough power to match with hearty dishes. 

I’ve always thought that there is a true love affair between the cold bubbles and the crispy dough and tomato sauce of the world’s favorite food, pizza.  

I believe that last night’s dinner at Marta proved me right! Here is a recap of my impressions on the different cuvées.

We kicked things off with Lenoble Brut Nature, a champagne that received no dosage at all before bottling. It delivered exactly as expected with crispness and good balance of fruit (75% of Pinots, both Meunier and Noir and the rest being Chardonnay) but somehow flew under the radar a bit, maybe because it was the first wine. This first flight was completed with three Blanc de Blancs, by definition champagne made only with Chardonnay. First, the non-vintage from Henriot, served from a magnum. This is made very traditionally in a way that the complex blend of its dozen crus varies slightly according to the base vintage in order to maintain a “house style” year after year. The third champagne was from A. Margaine, a Blanc de Blancs from the celebrated 2008 vintage. Although this producer is surrounded by Pinot Noir because of its location on the Montagne de Reims, its specialty is in fact Chardonnay. Margaine uses a specific clone of over 30 year-old Chardonnay vines that does really well in their village of Villers-Marmery. No malolactic fermentation here to preserve a certain freshness. We closed the first flight with a zippy magnum of Valentin Leflaive Blanc de Blancs, Mesnil sur Oger, non vintage. With strong roots in the Cote d’Or, the Leflaive family approaches their champagne winemaking the same way they do in Burgundy, focusing on site specific cuvées. Here, this bottling showed a classic expression of one of the most respected villages of the Côte des Blancs, famous for its immaculate white chalk, Mesnil-sur-Oger.

The second flight entered the scene with a boom. Complete change of décor with four vinous, deep champagnes where Pinot Noir was the star of the show. First, a gorgeous bottle of Philipponnat Royale Reserve. It should be mentioned that this is the “entry level” cuvée of the house yet in my opinion, it displays the quality of a top champagne. The blend of 65% of Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and a sprinkle of Pinot Meunier makes for a solid wine, proudly exhibiting the style of Mareuil-sur-Ay. Note, 30% of reserve wines, aged in a solera system, are certainly responsible for the depth of this excellent champagne. The second wine in this flight was served from magnum and one of the many show-stoppers of the night. The majestic Cuvée Louis from Tarlant imposed itself, showing vinosity and savory notes from its age, being from two harvests, 1999 and 2000. Perfectly crafted blend of equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the first Cuvée Louis was created in 1982 and is always fermented in Burgundy barrels. No Malolactic fermentation and no dosage. This magnum reminded everyone that champagne is indeed wine. We continued with another magnum of producer Paul Bara, located in one of the most celebrated Pinot Noir villages of the Montagne de Reims, Bouzy. Fermented in stainless steel, this Pinot specialist works with over 30 year old vines and only uses the first and most pure juice that comes out of the press, also known as “the cuvée”. And finally, a true Blanc de Noirs by the great Eric Rodez. This bottling, Empreinte Noire 2009, is a focus of four sites, all within Ambonnay. Eric likes to identify this wine philosophically as an “anti-champagne”. What it means by that is that champagne has a history of blending grapes, sites and vintages but here, he only uses one year, one grape and one village. Again, here the oak plays a great role in winemaking, providing structure and volume and this wine was the favorite of many attendees.

While the irresistible scent of pizza filled the room, we moved on to the last flight, starting with a voluptuous bottle from Fred Savart, cuvée “l’Année” from 2011. Despite the complicated nature of the vintage, the wine’s bouquet of ripe red fruits and juiciness was quite impressive, I found. The blend, 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay, didn’t go through malolactic fermentation, was aged in large oak barrels, one of Savart’s signature move, and only received 3 grams of sugar/liter at bottling. Great performance. We followed with Pol Roger’s prestige cuvée, the inimitable “Sir Winston Churchill”. Named after the famous prime minister, known for his hedonism and wit, this champagne perfectly matched the quote Sir Churchill would use: “My tastes are simple, I’m easily satisfied with the best.” Crafted only using Grand Crus Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes across the Marne, riddled by hand in the deeper part of the Pol Roger cellars at 33 meters deep, this champagne is a classic. From the gorgeous 1999 vintage, it was full of savory notes, complex spices and a touch of smoky, toasted quality attributed to the long aging. Another prestige cuvée from one of the most recognizable names, Veuve Clicquot, “La Grande Dame” was served next, from the 2004 vintage. A beautiful bottle also made using eight Grands Crus in the Montagne de Reims and the Côte des Blancs.

We closed this champagne celebration with Delamotte’s newest addition, a delicate, lacy Brut Rosé. Vinified using a expertly managed maceration of Pinot Noir from Ambonnay, Bouzy and Tours-sur-Marne, this wine was succulent and could make you forget that Delamotte, sibling of Champagne Salon, is known to be a Chardonnay specialist!

Recap - Chartogne-Taillet Dinner

Edouard Bourgeois
July 14, 2022

Shortly after he took over the family business at age 23, Alexandre Chartogne became one of the elite Champagne growers, focusing on single vineyard cuvées that reflect terroirs with outstanding accuracy. After he interned at famed Domaine Jacques Selosse, then under the guidance of grand master Anselme, he embraced the complex (to say the least) philosophy of this guru who naturally became his mentor. Testing various vessels from concrete eggs to used barrels from his friends in Burgundy, Alexandre makes it a point to work in the most traditional way possible. While he doesn’t care about an organic certification, his farming is recognized as a model of environmental awareness and understanding of the terroir.

Merfy, the small village where he and his ancestors have been growing vines since the late 15th century, is not the most famous. Yet thanks to Chartogne’s hard labor, this commune in the Northern Montagne de Reims has been revealed through his single cuvées that savvy sommeliers around the world strive to adorn their cherished wine list with.

The expertly prepared cuisine of Momofuku Ko paired magically with these fine Champagnes.

Here are my notes:

Opening with a glass of “Heurtebise” for the “welcome glass”, this cuvée, made entirely from Chardonnay from the 2016 harvest, delivered exquisite freshness.

Festivities continued with a flight of two vintages of the blended cuvée “Sainte-Anne”. 2014 offered mouth-watering acidity with irresistible shortbread and pastry aromatics, while the 2010 vintage, served out of a magnum, seemed creamier and extremely refined. We closed that flight with “Saint-Thierry” 2016, a blanc de noirs loaded with red fruit and spices.

We moved on to the second flight with two Pinot Meunier cuvées from the sandy site of “Beaux-Sens” from 2011 and 2013. Note that this cuvée was only produced in these two vintages and also 2014. Hazelnut was the unanimously chosen flavor profile to describe these two wines. I did find that the 2011 expectedly showed the vegetal character of that difficult vintage, with notes of green asparagus. The 2013 appeared much sweeter. Two other wines were poured in parallel: “Couarres” 2017 and 2010. While the young and solar 2017 exploded with energy and panache, the 2010 revealed a hint of oxidation, tertiary aromas reminiscent of mushroom and forest floor. “Couarres” is a rich clay site planted with a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The final proportion in the wine depends on the vintage but tends to be equal parts.

Ko’s must-have fried chicken was partnered with a vertical of “Orizeaux”. This pure Pinot Noir cuvée is truly magical. Planted in 1970 on a mount that is both exposed south and north tends to produce an atypically rich wine for the village. Alexandre talks at length about the importance of working with old vines so they can dig deep to reach the chalk. In his words, the plant needs at least 15 year of age to go through the thick top layer of sand and extract the complex DNA of the terroir. “Orizeaux” 2016 was gorgeous, once again bursting with small red fruit aromas. 2012 was marked by a firm acidity and I was happily surprised with the 2011. Its complex minerality made me forget the quite unpleasant green notes the vintage often gives. Great job!

Finally, we ended on a high note with the last three wines. The oldest cuvée of the night, also the only one Alexandre Chartogne didn’t make (he was 13 years old then) was a 1996 vintage. Despite my research, I couldn’t find any information on this wine. I found it to be quite flashy and with a strong personality but quickly fading. It was not the wine of the night for anyone but certainly an interesting comparison of style. The wine of the night may have been the superb “Les Barres” 2015 which in my notes received the three-letter adjective “wow”. The ungrafted Pinot Noir from that site was planted in 1952 and clearly had the shoulders to match the juicy strip loin we served with it. It had notes of earl grey and almost a red Burgundy quality to it. Truly memorable. Finally, we went back to Orizeaux with the 2010 vintage. It appeared much fresher than the “Couarres” from the same year, served earlier that night. Although made entirely from Pinot Noir, I found aromatic descriptors I would usually attribute to a white wine such as “tarte au citron meringuée”, a shortened pastry base filled with lemon curd and topped with meringue. The acidity was piercing through a delicious, sweet core of exotic fruit.