This month we have selected a rosé champagne from Champagne M-Marcoult in the lesser-known region of Côte de Sézanne and an unusual chardonnay from Domaine La Prut in the exciting “new” wine country of Moldova.
“BKWine Tastes”. It is a collection of wines we have tasted recently. It is often samples that producers have sent us to show us what they do or other bottles that we have come across at tastings or on our tasting table in the office.
Champagne M-Marcoult Roséline Brut Rosé
This is a delicious, characterful, and unusually full-bodied rosé champagne with zesty red currants, good acidity, and a rather soft finish, produced by the couple Florence and Julien Marcoult. The grapes are 50% pinot noir and 50% chardonnay and the dosage is 8 grams of sugar.
Julien is the third-generation wine producer in the Marcoult family. Florence has a past in the hotel industry and had a great interest in wine and gastronomy even before she moved to Champagne. Their estate is in the Côte de Sézanne, a lesser-known part of Champagne that spans a little under 1,500 hectares and is located just south of the Côte des Blancs.
The Marcoults’ surface is 12 hectares and their production is 60,000 bottles. They have the French sustainability certification HVE (Haute Valeur Environnementale) since 2018 and are constantly working to improve their environmental work. They are self-sufficient in electricity, the cover crop they plant in the vineyard is organic wheat that they have produced themselves. They occasionally have sheep that graze in the vineyard.
They have enlisted the help of a geologist to better understand the interaction between vines and soil. They have plans to make their own yeast.
A producer to watch.
Chardonnay 2020, Domaine La Prut, Vin de Moldova
An excellent chardonnay with typical aromas, some vanilla, and a slight smokiness, perhaps from the oak. The fruit is dominated by melon and apricot. It is flavourful with a fresh acidity, a lovely mouthfeel, and a pleasantly dry finish. 12% alcohol.
This exciting property is located northwest of the Moldovan capital Chisinau and is owned by Austrian oenologist Wilfried Pfanner. Wilfried comes from a family that has been in the wine business in Austria since 1924. Since 1998 he has travelled extensively in Moldova and been impressed by the agriculture here. He now has a 13-hectare vineyard and 6 hectares of apple orchards located on the Prut River. Prut is a 1000 km long tributary to the Danube. It marks the entire border between Moldova and Romania. The domaine is near the river (a bit north of where the Divin dot is on the map) in the Codru IGP region.
His goal is to make the best wines in Moldova and to help bring the country’s wines to the world market. In addition to chardonnay, he grows other familiar grapes such as sauvignon blanc, riesling, cabernet sauvignon and merlot but also the local feteasca regala and feteasca neagră and saperavi, a red variety from Georgia.
Also a domaine to keep your eye open for.
