Finally. The growers from Champagne visit Stockholm again
Meeting the winemakers adds an extra dimension to the wine and the experience. It makes you better understand what they want to achieve. It gives you even more enjoyment from what you have in your glass. It is best done “on-site” on a wine tour, second-best at a wine fair. The online wine store Franska Vinlistan has an exciting – impressive – collection of champagnes in its range. Just over a dozen came to Sweden and showed their wines to BKWine Magazine’s Sven-Olof Johansson. Here you get his picks of the best champagnes.
Good god, give me patience, but please let time pass fast. You who have allowed the interest in wine to take over parts of your reason have certainly had your patience tested beyond reason. Not least by the cellaring time, which, until the drinking window opens, also gives your temples a greyer shade. We who have longed for Franska Vinlistan’s event with champagne growers have had to wait for two years. (Ed.: Franska Vinlistanm – the French Wine List in Swedish – is a Swedish internet wine shop with a good selection of champagnes. Among other things.)
But now, the producers arrived in Stockholm and opened the doors to the French Ambassador’s residence, where they served their precious drops. Thirteen growers, represented by the winemaker himself or a representative from the winery.
Jacques Selosse
Anselme Selosse and his wife Corinne are standing at a small table in the far corner. Four bottles are lined up on the white tablecloth, and Anselme looks up and exclaims, simply, relaxed and friendly, “Hello, so nice that you want to taste my wines”. A furrowed hand grabs a bottle of Initial, and the froth rushes into the glass.
Oddly enough, my first thought is, why are you here? Production is small, and customers fight for his wines, the allocation to Sweden is so tiny that buying a bottle is akin to a lottery win. On my first visit to the winery in Avize, a bottle cost 60 euros; now, the price is triple. So why is he here?
Jan Netterberg, who runs the Franska Vinlistan, also the event organiser, shrugs and asks himself the same thing but adds, “Anselme likes Sweden, and the relationship with us is long-standing. I think he simply thinks it’s fun to come here.”
We taste the VO, Rosé and Substance, all with the additional designation grand cru. It is entirely impossible to be unmoved by the Rosé Grand Cru with its incredible breadth and richness. The bottle states 90% chardonnay and 10% pinot noir, but Anselme says it is only 8%. The colour is slightly darker than a dense non-rosé Champagne and tends more towards brown than salmon pink. We finish with Substance Grand Cru, where the impressions are overwhelming on both the nose and the palate. 100% chardonnay, including wine from a solera from 1986.
Wilmart
Unfortunate, untactical and unfair, we then move to the winemaker from Wilmart, who, just as warmly, welcomes us to his table. An esteemed producer whose wines are not given a fair chance and showing the minute after sipping on the power packages from Selosse. Another reminder of the importance of drinking wines in the proper order. Possible at the dinner table but impossible here.
David Leclapart
When Franska Vinlistan had its event in 2018, a smiling David Leclapart stood at a table and served wine from a bottle with a handwritten label. I remember mumbling something innocuous like, “What a delicious wine”. To which David responded in a flash with a quick and sharp, “What’s delicious with that?” It turned out that David was a little annoyed that he had only managed to bring just very recently disgorged bottles of 2012 L´Aphrodisiaque, which demanded just that what I mentioned. Patience. Three years later, I arranged a champagne tasting with grower champagnes, where 2012 L´Aphrodisiaque was the clear winner. Of course, he is right that patience pays off.
Paul Déthune
A very talkative Sophie Déthune greets the visitors with a happy smile at the following table. When I visited them this summer, I chose not to rush for a tasting but could see that Cuvée Prestige was cheaper to buy via Franska Vinlistan than at the winery. A talented producer based in Ambonnay who sells a lot of the total of 50,000 bottles to Sweden.
Bara, Jacquesson, Legras & Haas, Mailly, Pouillon
Paul Bara was also represented this year by the wonderful Stéphanie Ducloux, Jacquesson by Benjamin Vitrac, Legras & Haas by Jérome Legras, Mailly by Xavier Millard and R Pouillon by Fabrice and Bénédicte Pouillon. Marguet had no representative this year, but if you happen to come past Ambonnay, it is worth visiting, where Native American Indian sculptures and totem poles greet you at the entrance. One of the most committed biodynamic growers I have met.
Chartogne-Taillet and Maillart
And what were the highlights of the event? One, I have mentioned above, but Selosse is terribly expensive and not possible to buy in most cases. We fell for two producers who offered a nice and fine craft while the bottles were moderately priced. Chartogne-Taillet and Maillart.
The growers produce 90,000 and 130,000 bottles per year, respectively, which is significant compared to David Leclapart, who only produces 15,000 bottles per year. Maillart 2008 Millésime 1er Cru is a fantastic food wine. Since we have touched on the subject of patience, one can mention that the bottles were disgorged in 2016, and I guess that is one of the explanations for the broad, mature and relaxed notes. Definitely ready to drink now.
One of today’s absolute top wines was, without a doubt, Chartogne-Taillet 2015 Hors Série. Incredibly fresh, rich and balanced with power and length in the taste. “You can easily age this for ten, fifteen years,” said Alexandre Chartogne. He’s probably right, but I find no reason to try patience with long ageing when all the pieces have already fallen into place. Just pull the cork.
Wine tastings where the producer himself is present are the most fun way to taste wine, after visits to the winery itself. The craftsmanship, the hardships and the joy of the result shine through when they get to talk about their products. It is not men in suits and women in white blouses who stand there. In many ways, these are people who are multi-taskers who, come rain, come shine, toil until the bottle is safely at home in our cellar.
If you like Champagne in general and grower champagnes in particular, you can look in Per and Britt Karlsson’s (BKWine Magazine) book, Champagne – The Wine And The Growers, from 2017. It is one of the most well-thumbed books at home on my bookshelf. Properly chipped at the edges by the car rides down to the region. There is a lot of useful information about smaller growers in Champagne.
We end with another word about patience, awaiting the next event that will take place in a year. You can register your interest on the Franska Vinlistan site and then count the days. You can find the Franska Vinlistan here.
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