Alcohol: 12%
Grape(s): 40% Pinot Meunier, 40% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir
Localization: Champagne, France
Tasting Notes: The nose of Reserve champagne asserts a fruity richness with odors of cashew nuts, blackcurrant, stewed fruits (peach, red apple, pear). Stirring the glass gives it accents of tubers (parsnip), pineapple, lily, blackberry and candied lemon. Further ventilation reveals notes of iodine, acacia honey, snow peas, mango, peanuts, green olive, then fig, prune, pepper, and black tea infusion.
The approach on the palate is supple and fresh with a creamy effervescence. The sensation becomes pulpy on the fleshy red and yellow fruits, with a light tannic chewiness. Balance is ensured by a well-integrated acidity in saline and iodized mineral frame. The overall texture is velvety, caressing with a tasty, tender, and persistent finish, enhanced with good aromatic resonance
Description: The Blanc de Blanc is fermented 50% in Cuvee and 50% in barrel. The Champagne spends 4 years “sur lattes” before disgorgement and is finished with a dosage of 0g/l. This Cuvee comes from two parcels with light sandy/silica soils including the parcel planted in 1923. This terroir gives the Blanc de Blanc a Chablis-like minerality. Production is very limited.
The Domain: David Bourdaire farms 8 hectares situated in and around the village of Pouillon. Pouillon is one of a dozen, or so villages in the Massif Saint-Thierry, a group of undulating hills and forests that slope off toward the vast plain, northwest of the city of Reims. This Massif is the northernmost part of the Champagne appellation and is home to some 900 hectares of vineyards which are spread throughout the dozen villages. Due to the challenging climate, it is the late budding Pinot Meunier which is the favored grape type. The soils have a large portion of sandy clays which offer a distinguishing expression to the area’s champagnes.
David’s family began estate bottling their champagnes in 2001 when they left the coop that David’s grandfather founded in 1951. The vineyard is comprised of 85% Pinot Meunier, 10% Chardonnay and 5% Pinot Noir. The vines have an average age of 43 years with a few rows of Chardonnay planted at 11,000 plants per hectare that date back to 1923. David farms organically and is in conversion to obtaining certification. The vineyard is planted on low-yielding rootstocks and David cultivates natural grasses between the vine rows to further limit yields. He vinifies each parcel separately according to the specific rootstock “Porte-greffe”. After years of adjusting the dosage level with each disgorgement, David has settled on finishing all of his Champagnes with a dosage of 0g/l.
