“My friend, we are drinking stars”
"My friend, we are drinking stars." It was the toast of Dom Pierre Ruinart and Dom Perignon in the middle of the 18th century, when they came up with the definitive Eureka: how to keep the bubbles in the bottle. Now, let me share a small confession: after fourteen (fourteen already!) years traveling the world in search of vineyards, tastings, bottles, subsoils and viticulturists (never oenologists, for God's sake) honest with the terroir, the pleasure and the history, forever - forever the same scene is reproduced, in each tasting, in each restaurant: there is never a trace of champagne left in the glasses. Never.
It doesn't matter what great wines it competes with: the great reds from Bordeaux, the endless pinot noirs from my Burgundy, the depth of an old Port, the minerality of the Riesling from Mosel-Saar-Ruwer or the limestone from the Jerez framework that It has us all crazy. I insist, when a (good) champagne appears on the table, the rest of the world disappears.
Champagne and nothing else. The drink of the stars, the one of the blessed mistakes, the one of the long nights (so much...) the only possible drink of the true "bon vivant". Hell, the only possible drink. Bright as gold, dark (it grows in a basement full of cobwebs) vicious, libertine and anarchic, despite being the wine of Kings. Nobody sad with a glass of champagne in hand. Marilyn's Drink, Oscar Wilde, Bacon, Capote (“I don't think I've ever had champagne before breakfast. With breakfast several times, but never before, never”), from Chanel and even from Camba : the quintessential French wine. Cheerful, smug, loud, rowdy, womanizing, and braggart.
Marilyn Monroe doing the same
Life is better —prettier, with a glass of champagne in hand . So here is our personal selection of essential producers. Honest winegrowers, no-nonsense small winemakers, often biodynamic (we are raw foodists in this house) who live off the land and for the land, linked to a name, a family, a history and a tradition.
the golden six
JACQUES SELOSSE
Location: Warn.
Jacques Selosse and his substantia cuvée is the champagne of my life for so many reasons that it doesn't fit in two magazines. But I will say two: the wonderful color of the sun's rays and the nose, the infinite and so absolutely personal nose of this elusive jewel (bottles are rare) bred using the criaderas and soleras production method used in Jerez. Chardonnay from Grand Crus such as Avize, Cramant, Le Mesnil and Oger —pinot noir from Aÿ, Ambonnay or Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. I do not know a more memorable champagne, more resounding in memory.
JERÔME PREVOST
Location : Gueux, at the foot of the Montagne de Reims.
Young Padawan of Anselme Selosse, the heir. Of his La Closerie champagne (eye, pinot menier) only six thousand bottles are produced a year (they fly) from the Les Beguines plot, just 2.2 hectares. Prévost is a wonderful madman and La Closerie is the bottle you have to order if you find it on any menu. . Minimum yield of the vine, maximum care, infinite care (aging in wood) without fear of minerality (you have to love it!) or living outside of fashion. We love Jerome.
Georges Laval
Location: Cumieres (near Epernays)
I don't remember a champagne tasting in which Laval hasn't emerged as the winner of the evening; in a way that is as subtle as it is overwhelming, when Laval is at the table we are all happier, more so us. Five hectares of Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier vineyards and one hectare of Chardonnay , with vines between 30 and 70 years old. Biodynamic to say the least, the champagne produced by this genius on the right bank of the Marne is simply a must.
David Leclapart
Location: Trepail, mountain of Reims
This guy is the revolution in champagne, just like that. His vineyard “L’ Apôtre” produces what is probably it is the best champagne of the last thirty years (I'm not saying it, Richard Juhlin says it too) and it's that this very peculiar vigneron guides the steps of all the champagne from his throne as a prince of biodynamics. Her tricks on him? Vineyard, soil, terroir, alchemy and love . Respect for natural cycles and obsessive craftsmanship. If luxury is time and craftsmanship, there is no higher peak than Leclapart.
FREDERIC BOUCHARD
Location: Celles-Sur-Ources
Terroir, terroir and more terroir. A single payment, a single variety (Pinot Noir) and a single vintage: that is Bouchard. Inflorescence is a champagne and its most cared for parcel "d'Enfer de Creux". Perfectionist to say the least, iconoclastic and brilliant: Bouchard is the future. Fact: a couple of months ago, in our beloved Aponiente, he was the winner of this vertical of mythical champagnes. Juan Ruiz (his fantastic sommelier from him) freaking out at the big 6 : Léclapart, In Florescence de Bouchard, Laval, La Closerie de Prévost, Selossse and Boulard.
Next week, the next five. Until then, we'll toast —Of course, with the monarch of all wines. My only King: Monsieur Champagne.
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Marilyn Monroe (again and always)