NV Cedric Bouchard La Parcelle
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Bouchard NV Brut Blanc De Noirs La Parcelle L05 originates with a southwest-facing parcel whose former owner only vinified a small amount of wine for private consumption. Bouchard was so impressed with that grower’s bit of estate-bottled La Parcelle that he acquired the inventory along with the parcel itself and sold the extant bottles, then began vinifying at the previous owner’s facilities and from 2007 has done so in his own cellars. Intriguing and subtle hints of mushroom mingle with a sea breeze-like amalgam of salinity and alkalinity as well as with intimations of the fresh lemon that then brightly informs a firm palate transparent to nuances of stone and alkali that seem to positively shimmer in a terrifically persistent, juicy, albeit somewhat austere finish. This certainly shows youthfully for a wine based on vintage 2005, and I can’t help but envision it drinking well for at least another three years. Considering the passion with which – when we met three years ago – young Cedric Bouchard was still expressing his desire to showcase unjustly neglected Cotes des Bar by means of single-vineyard still wines (not to mention considering how impressively successful these were, at least aesthetically speaking), I was a bit surprised and disappointed when I showed up at his cellars this summer to learn that he had given up on Coteaux Champenoise after “I got tired of trying to explain them to people. For me,” he adds, “(making them) was an experience to understand and know my vines better.” Certainly, Bouchard’s attention to how vines and wine adapt to their soil and terrain has not flagged. And these Champagnes are designed to carry a relatively low-pressure stream of CO2, helping to emphasize their status as wine and at the same time moderate finished alcohol. From 2012, Bouchard has taken over two more parcels of his father’s – one of which always dominated his Inflourescence line – and he feels that the potential of these sites is so strong that rather than continue cropping them at around 40 hectoliters per hectare (already extremely small by Champagne standards), he’s going to start targeting 25 hectoliters per hectare as he does with his other wines, and bottle everything under the “Roses de Jeanne” label, which began with the first vintage from Ursules (a plot his father turned over to him precisely because its yields were naturally so uncooperatively low!). So we must, I fear, forever bid farewell to “intro-level” Bouchard Champagne! Asked how such low yields are going to work on a vineyard that ripens as quickly as Val Vilaine – the basis of the aforementioned Inflourescence bottlings – Bouchard points to what he’s learned about pruning in ways that retard the accumulation of sugar, and also about the need to harvest earlier to preserve acidity. So far – as with the still wines that he has now discontinued – Bouchard hasn’t put a foot wrong that I am aware. And there are nowadays three pairs of feet laboring in the Bouchard vineyards, as he and his wife of four years have recently been joined by a cousin who formerly worked with Arnaud Mortet in Gevrey. Bouchard has become convinced, incidentally, that methode champenois inherently accentuates any woody characteristics in a cuvee and he utilizes solely tanks. Lot numbers here, by the way, have always indicated the wine’s exclusive vintage of origin. But while Bouchard plans to continue showcasing a single site and vintage with each wine, he now plans – because, as he explains, he can now afford – to give them three or more years sur latte, and will hence be authorized to vintage-date. In fact, the Roses de Jeanne wines from 2008 already bear a tiny inscription on their back labels that one could miss, stating “Millesime 2008.” Importer: Thomas Calder Selections, Paris (with various importers); fax 011-33-1-46-45-15-29
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Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate
Antonio Galloni, Wine Advocate
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The NV (2005) Blanc de Noirs Inflorescence La Parcelle Cote de Bechalin blossoms in the glass with rich layers of expressive fruit. Sweet, round and layered, the 2005 impresses for its fabulous balance and class. It shows the complexity of a wine that has been in bottle for a few years, all the better to balance the intensity and vibrancy of this fruit as farmed by Bouchard. Sweet floral honey, hard candy and ripe red berries wrap around the sensual, layered finish. This big, broad-shouldered wine is stunning today. Disgorged April 2012. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2020. Cedric Bouchard remains one of the most fascinating exponents in Champagne. A visit to this tiny domaine in sleepy Celles-sur-Ource is a must for those who want to see some of the most immaculate vineyards in Champagne first-hand. As always, the Bouchard’s approach focuses on single-vintage, single-variety and single parcel wines. This year I found Bouchard’s Blancs de Noirs particularly superb. Sadly, there is no Rose in 2008. Readers might also want to take a look at my video on these four wines recently posted on our site. A Thomas Calder Selection, imported by: Polaner Selections, Mt. Kisco, NY; tel. (914) 244-0404, Farm Wine Imports, San Francisco, (CA); tel. (408) 644-2077, Vineyard Road, Framingham, (MA); tel. (508) 532-1184
The NV (2004) Blanc de Noirs Inflorescence La Parcelle is a huge, powerful wine bursting with red berries, spices, flowers and licorice. All of the elements come together gracefully in a dramatic, large-scaled wine of incomparable class and elegance as layers of fruit float across the palate. La Parcelle emerges from a parcel of 35 year-old Pinot vines in Cote de Bechalin, a lieu-dit in Bouchard’s hometown of Celles-sur-Ource. This is the first vintage of La Parcelle that Bouchard made from start to finish. Prior releases had been produced by the previous owner of the vineyard. If there is such a thing as a value wine in the lineup, this is it. Disgorged April 2011. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2016. Cedric Bouchard remains at the forefront of innovation in Champagne. Yields are minuscule, even by the most exacting definition. The wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts and are bottled unfined and unfiltered with no dosage. Bouchard is adamant that he wants to stay at a size where he alone can do all of the work, so readers should not expect production to increase in a meaningful way, at least not any time soon. There is a new Champagne in the works, though, a 100% Pinot Noir from La Proele, a tiny parcel of just 0.025 hectares (15 rows) planted with 10 different Pinot rootstocks. This is the same parcel Bouchard had used for his Coteaux Champenois Pinots, a project he has since abandoned, as he wasn’t happy with the quality of the wines. The 2007 and 2008 Coteaux Champenois Chardonnays are still in the cellar, but here, too, it appears the still-wine experiment was short-lived. I am not sure anyone will mind too much given the quality of Bouchard’s Champagnes. Bouchard plans to phase out the Infloresence brand by 2013/2014, once the ownership of the respective vineyards passes into his direct ownership. At that point, all of the wines will be sold under the Roses de Jeanne brand. Unfortunately the already tiny production is down by as much as 50% for the 2007 La Boloree, Haute-Lemblee and Creux d’Enfer because of hail damage, so the wines will be harder to find than usual. Furthermore, I was not able to taste the 2009 Les Ursules, but will report on that wine as soon as I can. Incidentally, 2010 is the last year Les Ursules will be released as a non-vintage wine. These remain some of the most spectacular wines being made anywhere in the world, and are well worth the effort of finding them. Frankly, I can’t think of too many wines I would rather drink. A Thomas Calder Selection, imported by Polaner Selections, Mt. Kisco, NY; tel. (914) 244-0404