[free] A Wine Tour Of Chouilly

The wines and places of a Côte des Blancs individual

There’s a reason I’ve left Chouilly as the last Grand Cru (apart from tiny Oiry) to cover here, and it’s a simple one; it’s complicated. It’s big, too - at 525 hectares not far behind Vertus, the largest vineyard area in the Marne. It’s varied.

For some context on the Côte des Blancs as a whole, see:

(Chouilly was Freddie Mercury, if you were wondering)

Chouilly elicits feelings. Contradictions. It has a reputation for sunniness, ease, ripeness, aided by its low-slung siting quite near the Marne river; not, at least not to me, the sort of smooth-juiciness of Vertus, but something a little more fun, golden, warm, tethered with chalky bite and sometimes a little sweet-lemony grip.

But then to take the village of Chouilly as a whole is arguably even more senseless than taking Cramant as a whole; Chouilly’s footprint actually encircles the entire Butte de Saran, at the top, South-facing to North, followed by all four exposures down around the Mont Aigu and in the undulation of Le Fond du Bateau, the ‘dip’ on the slightly North-facing backslope heading down toward the village itself, the Westerly slopes toward Cuis and the entirely separate sector heading to Épernay itself, with its own distinct characters. Lost already? Understandable. So, map needed:

Once more I’d recommend picking up a copy of Steve De Long and Charles Curtis MW’s complete map of the Côte des Blancs, which they have kindly let me use here - Six Atmospheres readers can get it all with a 25% discount with code 6ATMOS

Being on the other side of the Butte means Chouilly feels a bit separated from the rest of the Côte des Blancs, almost more like the North-facing bank of the Marne river at times (you can see Aÿ and Épernay more clearly from Chouilly than the rest of the Côte des Blancs). The basics, in terms of soil, are similar to its neighbours in terms of Cretaceous chalk of varying densities, heavier deposits in the dips and hollows and some heavier soils toward the top of the slopes.

Here’s how I’ve divided it, based on wines I’ve tried and how growers have described the village to me. It’s worth saying, here, that some parts of the village - especially those near Cuis and on the Saran itself, are much more elusive to taste, for reasons I’ll get into….

1. The ‘fond du bateau’ and the Mont Aigu

View taken from just South of the Chateau de Saran, looking East towards Oiry.

This area, to the South of the village bordering Cramant and Oiry, is the most famous sector thanks largely to the ‘Mont Aigu’, topped by the little Moët et Chandon vineyard lodge often seen on photos of the village. The Mont Aigu itself is really a little mound, around which vines sit in 360 degrees - with exposure so central to a champagne’s character there’s no sense in generalising about this area (or the adjacent Fond du Bateau) as both lieu-dits range from notably North to notably South-facing. Suffice to say that the Mont Aigu is “more compact” in chalk than some parts of Chouilly according to Guiborat’s Richard Fouquet, and seems to yield wines with a magical combination of ripeness, sometimes quite exotic aromas and age-worthy firmness.

You can find parcellaire wines around the Mont Aigu from Pertois-Lebrun (brisk, bracing in build but aromatically complex, actually from Derrière Le Mont Aigu, which is the mostly South-facing part ), Pierre Gimonnet ( the Special Club Chouilly, rich and golden-fruited in style amongst the Gimonnet single village wines), Guiborat (who blend in a little Caurés from a cooler exposition to cut their East-facing Mont Aigu intensity), Roland Champion (quite a broad, open and oak-influenced style with the Champion parcellaire wines), and Mathieu Cugnart (although I haven’t tried this).

Pertois-Lebrun make Le Fond du Bateau as well, which is a little more discreet and tensile in style next to the Mont Aigu release (and has repeatedly been my favourite from this producer). Sometimes Phillipe Lancelot makes this too, but I haven’t tasted it. It’s worth realising, too, how close this area is to the parcels of Le Bateau, Terre de Buissons and Buissons du Levant in Cramant - really regarded as classic Cramant terroirs! There are lines, and there are wines….

It’s also an area with quite a lot of court-noué virus, which arguably contributes to the general sense of concentration and aromatic generosity here. You can see the prevalence of the yellowing leaves on the below photo:

…and looking upwards to where the previous photo was taken, just to the left of the Chateau where the village Boundary with Cramant sits.

That this area was known for its maturity and quality historically is confirmed by Phillipe Lancelot, who reports that the Mont Aigu was known as a Pinot vineyard “equal to Aÿ’ until the beginning of the 19th Century.

2. Around the Saran and towards Cuis

Chouilly actually steals the whole encirclement of the top of the Saran hill from Cramant. The Moët family have deep history in this area, and today Moët Hennessy own a huge amount of the Saran hill - pretty much the whole upper slopes facing Cramant, and of course the Chateau de Saran itself. There used to be a Moët ‘Vignes de Saran” from the Chouilly part.

The truth is I have never tasted either a Champagne or a base wine from this part of Chouilly. Apparently J Vignier makes one from ‘Longues Verges’, which borders the Cramant plot with Westerly exposure. As with the rest of the Côte des blancs, these upper slopes under the woodland tend to both exaggerate exposition with their steepness, and feature less overtly-strict, chalky presence thanks to the richer soils (and indeed almost complete absence of chalk at the very top).

3. The heart of the village, and the North-facing slope

The heart of Chouilly descends in bumps and gentle folds down from the Butte de Saran toward the village itself, often slightly Northerly but certainly not entirely so - there are notable dips and bowls around the wonderfully-named ‘Pisseloups’ and “Caures” which create both Easterly and Westerly exposures too.

There aren’t a lot of ‘parcellaire’ wines from this sector, most of which appears to be blended; perhaps it’s fair to say that, in general, this part of the village didn’t historically excite quite as much thanks to its Northerly exposure? My sense from my time in Chouilly is that the wines around the dip (or “the pit”) where the soils are deeper, and indeed going up to the properly North-facing slopes of the Saran hill are not so highly-regarded. But there’s clearly a lot of diversity here - just not diversity it’s easy to discover, for now.

AR Lenoble’s ‘Les Aventures’ comes from mid-slope sector, though - I haven’t tasted it in a few years, but it was always quite a glossy, mature style with its oak influence. I did recently taste Roger Coulon Haut Partas 2018, which was very demonstrative and mature - the vintage and the house style at play, too, but certainly not a classic nervy blanc de blancs style! Richness is evident, too in Vazart Coquart’s AD 191, from the parcel Cerisière right by the village.

4. The Épernay sector

The giant winery of Nicolas Feuillate dominates the hillside of Chouilly as it meets Épernay, but there’s an interesting zone of vineyards here that constitute some of the later-ripening sites in the village. Jérôme Legras and his brothers, Legras & Haas, makes their cuvée Les Sillons - most years at least - from Derrière Partelaine, with Northerly exposure.

I tasted a base wine (blind) with Vincent Chaperon of Dom Pérignon from Partelaines last year, and found it strict and mineral, yet not chalky/intense - I didn’t place it in Mesnil/Oger, but found it a bit confusing, thinking it may have been something like the back side of Cramant. There’s sometimes more mist here, and it’s later-ripening - Jérome reports a two week difference in harvest date between his parcel and the warmer parts of Chouilly (although the actual ripeness is equivalent). Having said that it didn’t behave well in 2017 (the moisture of the river Marne nearby perhaps?) and Les Sillons comes from Mont Aigu in this vintage.

Pierre Legras Idée de Voyage is the other top wine from this sector, and it’s lovely - there’s a bit of drama and complexity here, but it has than open, smooth, suave Chouilly character rather than anything nervy or tense. It is also from Derrière Partelaines, although the last vintage I tasted was 2012 (a very mature, intense vintage which probably played down some of the later-ripening characters here)

Roland Champion have bottled Le Montmarne and Partelaines in their new-ish parcellaire project, although so far I have found them a bit of a work-in-progress in terms of the right balance with oak/oxidation next to the blended wines of the village.

Many of the slopes here are actually fairly Easterly, as they ascend up to the ‘Mont Bernon’ in the cru of Épernay itself. It’s here, in Plumecoq , that the CIVC have their research vineyard (which I’m excited to be visiting in November).

Wines of the village

Fortunately there are plenty of wines available blended from all around Chouilly which offer a good picture of the character of the village as a whole. There are some fine values to be found too, especially compared to the grower domaines in the main Côte.

If there’s a weakness in Chouilly, it is that the wines can sometimes - sometimes - veer into being a rather sunny and easy (something exacerbated by hot vintages and extraction of tailles, I think). But that’s a personal thing; it’s a great village to explore if you find blanc de blancs generally a bit austere or strict. These are blanc de blancs that welcome you with a bit of warmth and a smile.

The top producers in the village include:

Legras & Haas - Visions, Evidence (a little more precise in style) and the Millésime are all 100% Chouilly. The vintage bottling in particular can be very rewarding - 2018 is approachable, creamy and fully of golden fruits.

Roland Champion - a nice clear, fresh and pure take on ripe Chouilly fruit here. The glossy Special Club bottling is a favourite, but snappy Éclat de Craie is usually a fine entry point.

Pierre Legras - Coste Beert is an affordable, sunny and creamy intro in Chouilly friendliness. Monographie is a little more serious and chalky (my favourite is Idée de Voyage, though).

Vazart-Coquart - there’s always a nice substance and Chouilly-esque bite in these wines, without ever showing austerity. They do offer some bitter citrus/herb characters sometimes - these aren’t really the creamy/glossy style for me, but a little more chewy and rounded, without being strict or bracing. Special Club tends to show well, with a little openness creaminess, but Extra Brut and indeed Brut Zero show how well this terroir can do with very low dosage (something not always the case in the heart of the Côte des Blancs)

If you enjoyed this please do check out some of the other villages: