CHAMPAGNE REDUX

REIMS Champagne, the region, is well named. Rolling fields of vines extend from horizon to horizon under a sky so wide one can track approaching rain squalls. Here and there the expanse is punctuated by villages with evocative names: Bouzy, Dizy, Cramant, Moussy, Billy-le-Grand. The River Marne flows serenely, indifferent to both the destruction history’s wars inflicted here and to the other river – that of the joyous quaff produced here.

Champagne exists on three levels. The carpet of vines (34,OOO hectares) under the broad, bright sky above is supported by an essential underpinning of chalk – massive limestone deposits laid down in Cretaceous seabeds 1OO million years ago. The chalk, which marks the vines, and through them the wines, has been excavated down 4O meters for constant-temperature (1O˚ to 12˚C), humid galleries ideal for winemaking and storage. I recently revisited Champagne.

One can dine well at relaxed Au Petit Comptoir and Le Jardin, both in Reims, at Bistrot le 7 in Epernay, at Jacques Selosse’s les Avizés in Avize, and lucullianly at the palatial, two-star Château les Crayères in Reims, where one may get tiddly musing over the pages of Champagnes on offer.

There follow my impressions from a trio of winery visits, a few meals, and a couple of wines tasted in passing. [Some officious official Champenois marketeers refuse to call Champagne “wine” preferring to set it above all others, still and sparkling.]

Founded in 1743 by Claude Moët – in production, the grandest of the grandes marques – is Moët & Chandon, producer of millions of bottles annually. It is the M in the luxury giant LVMH, which subsumes four other major brands of Champagne: Krug, Mercier, Ruinart, and Veuve Clicquot. Moët’s headquarters in Epernay resembles that of a major government department, only classier. Below ground lie 18 miles of chalk galleries, through which cellar workers travel by electric cart and bicycle.

M&C’s esteemed luxury cuvée is named after the innovative and revered Benedictine monk, Dom Pierre Pérignon, who worked in the cellars of nearby Abbaye de Saint-Pierre d’Hautvillers. The first Cuvée Dom Pérignon, released in 1936, was the 1921 vintage. The abbey and its vineyards had been acquired long ago by Pierre Gabriel Chandon, grandson of Moët’s founder, but the Dom Pérignon brand belonged to Mercier (not to be taken over by Moët until 197O). According to Tom Stevenson, Mercier presented the brand to Moët on the marriage of Francine Durand-Mercier to Paul Chandon-Moët in 1927. Dom Pérignon Brut is a blend of several grand-cru villages and one premier cru, Hautvillers. It is half each pinot noir and chardonnay, and spends about nine years on the yeasts before disgorgement. The rarer Rosé contains about 6O percent pinot noir. Richard Geoffroy, once a physician, is its chef de cave. Production figures are not revealed, but it has been estimated that 2.4 million bottles may be produced, on average, in suitable vintages. It is treated quite separately from other Moët wines.

Cuvée Dom Pérignon Brut 2OO4 Fine nose, perceptible across the table. Finely textured mousse. Delicate, yet full bodied. Complex minerality up front, then pure fruit, then toasty yeast. Perfectly elegant balance of opposing forces – a pushmi-pullyu of a wine. Very long. What a joy! $2O4

When Nicolas Ruinart exchanged the linen textile business for Champagne production in 1729, he created what is now the oldest sparkling-wine house in the region. His uncle, Dom Thierry Ruinart, was a colleague of Dom Pérignon’s. Nicolas’s grandson Irénée dug the monumental cellars in Reims. The company, directed by Ruinarts for nine generations, was sold to Moët in 1963. Its wines have always emphasized chardonnay. Characteristically, production figures are kept confidential, with one estimate as many as two million bottles. After visiting the cellars, I was afforded a tasting of the four top cuvées. The wines had to fight through a faint foreign odor in each glass, possibly the varnish or polish of wooden shelves on which the glasses had been stored upside down. The wines won.

RUINART BLANC DE BLANCS BRUT Has some color. Nose edges toward toastiness. Full body. Faint hint of pineapple. Might benefit from higher acidity. $98 RUINART BRUT ROSÉ Chardonnay 45 percent, pinot noir 55. Very pink! Hint of strawberry, but quite dry with toasty finish. $1O2 DOM RUINART BLANC DE BLANCS BRUT 2OO2 More acidity, more complex, longer finish than aboves. Dry. $175 DOM RUINART BRUT ROSÉ 2OO2 Chardonnay 80 percent, pinot noir 2O. Copperish pink. Berry fruit. Full, dry, complex, long. $3OO

Grower Champagne can be a throw of the dice. The thousands of growers who produce the lovely stuff vary widely in their results. I was lucky to receive a knowing tip from Diana Williams of The Hidden France and her consort, Alex Gambal, vigneron in Beaune. When you do find grower Champagne of quality, in addition to its individuality of style you get a break in price, usually well below an equivalent grande marque.

Such a house is Jean Dumangin, Propriétaire-Récoltant, in Chigny-les-Roses. The family were growers-only for six generations, starting in 165O; then the next five generations have made wine as well. Nine south-facing hectares in all are farmed: six on clay and limestone in premier-cru villages in the Montagne de Reims, three of chardonnay on limestone in the Côte des Blancs. Picking is generally 9O days after flowering. The entire process, even riddling, is done by hand. Each load of grapes in the slow, gentle horizontal press is limited to 4OOO kilograms, from which the first 2OOO liters of must, the “cuvée”, is used for the Dumangin Champagnes. The remaining 5OO liters, the “taille”, is sold off. Once the first fermentation is finished, the most complex operation is the blending of each final wine – a team effort. Laurent Dumangin is the chef de cave. His brother François supervises the vineyards. Their father Jean is nominally retired, but a day seldom passes without his presence. The Champagnes rest on the yeasts from two and a half to seven years in the chalk galleries twelve meters down. These cellars were dug in 1974. I was struck during my visit that a great deal of space, equipment, labor, and time are required for the 7O,OOO-bottle production. The Dumangin Champagnes are about to be exported to the US – watch for them. My rough guesstimate of price range is $44 to $56.

BLANC DE BLANCS TERROIR BRUT RÉSERVE Mainly 2OO9 and 2O1O. Comes on with fruity vinosity that fills the mouth, yet with elegance and length.
BLANC DE BLANCS EXTRA BRUT From 2OO8 and 2OO9. More subtle fruit. Very dry, fine, long. Calls for oysters.
CARTE D’OR HÉRITAGE BRUT PREMIER CRU 2OO8, ’O9 and ’1O Rich, complex, very long.
BRUT ROSÉ PREMIER CRU 2OO8, ’O9 and ’1O Made with 14 percent old-vine pinot noir. Similar to preceding, with addition of berry fruit.
BRUT MILLÉSIME PREMIER CRU 2OO6 Chardonnay 55 percent, pinot noir 45 – selections of best vats. Balanced fruit and acidity. So elegant! So long! Will live.
BRUT MILLÉSIME PREMIER CRU 1999 Same cuvée, no longer available; tasted to demonstrate aging. Broader, with fruit less prominent in favor of toastiness. Has substance and balance. Remarkably long finish.

In passing, I tasted two other Champagnes worth noting and picked up a news item.

Pricey Champagne Barons de Rothschild Brut Tastes fine in front, but, disappointingly, has no finish. $98 Champagne Vilmart & Cie Grand Cellier Premier Cru Brut, a well-respected grower Champagne I drink from time to time in Massachusetts, stands proudly near its home, tasty and elegant. $87

I was told by a vigneron in Champagne that pinot meunier is likely to lose its pinot. According to recent genetic studies, it appears not to be a member of that family.

My closing word . . . what’s better than good Champagne?