Champagne Marc Chauvet — Rilly-la-Montagne
Based in the tiny village of Rilly-la-Montagne, the Chauvets have been making Champagne here since 1529. Winemaker Clotilde Chauvet and her viticulturist brother Nicolas are putting the family’s centuries years of experience into every bottle produced from their 32 acre estate on the Montagne de Reims. They produce non-vintage Brut cuvées that are generally 2/3 Pinot Noir and 1/3 Chardonnay, and vintage bottlings that are about 70% Chardonnay. The style is refined, clean, bright and intensely flavorful – like drinking great white Burgundy with bubbles!
Chauvet is one of only a handful of the top producers in Champagne entitled to produce a top-of-the-line bottling designated “Special Club”. These limited edition wines are produced only in the best vintages, and are subject to a rigorous peer review process – ensuring that a “Special Club” Champagne is a wine of the finest quality available anywhere.
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2002 Special Club $69 >>
Quite simply a mind-blowing Champagne. 70% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, representing the very best of the vintage from the Chauvet estate. Rich, intense, creamy lemon and fresh brioche – a tour de force in winemaking and a rare treat. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Millésime 2004 $55 >>
60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay, all from estate 1er Cru parcels in Rilly-La-Montagne. The dominance of Pinot Noir and the extra time on the lees gives this wine an extra dimension of body, buffered by the bright and crisp acidity, which is the preferred style at Chauvet. Malolactic fermentation was blocked for this one, so as to retain the purity and crisp feel.
N.V. Champagne BRUT SELECTION $49 >>
65% Pinot Noir and 35% Chardonnay, predominantly from the 2002 vintage. The house style of pure, lighter-bodied, bright Champagne is well in evidence here, but the flavors are more expressive and more complex, with brioche, yeast, and apple notes in the mix. This is the one to have with food (a home-run with sushi!)
NV Blanc de Blancs - Cuvée Duo $65 >>
In 2006, Clotilde Chauvet produced a limited-edition Blanc de Blancs, using fruit only from the 2006 vintage. The wine was vinified in stainless steel as is the norm at Chauvet, but then aged in new oak barrels for several months before going into the bottle for the second fermentation, and another year on the lees. The result is stunning – intense, powerful, and rich. One of my favorite Champagnes of the past several years, perhaps only 2nd to Chauvet’s amazing 2002 Special Club.
The name Cuvée Duo refers to the two different labels used for this wine – from two original paintings by Parisienne artist Nathalie Portejoie.
