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Beyond the great houses: Grower Champagne in the fields
Agrapart Les 7 Crus 1er Cru Blanc de Blanc ($34.99)
Forget for a moment, the Doms, the great ladies and the chandelier bottles of the tetes de cuvee. The true marque of the Champagne connoisseur is the label of a small artisanal grower not a big house with a steady style and heady marketing. Independent growers tend smaller, precise plots of Chardonnay and Pinot, blended and bottled according to their own taste and terroir, not house wishes.
Mind you these are pure Champagne, from the right grapes and the delimited area of the cold chalky north, yet they have personal style, purity and freshness that delivers more excitement for the money than label status. The flavors range from brisk and mineral to creamy and opulent, just like the big boys. Grower prices are great value too: Even vintage bubbly and old-vine Mesnil can be half the show-off bottles. Production is limited but B-21 has wise buys from favorite growers like Agrapart, Egly-Ouriet and Saint-Chamant.
Ranger Rhett’s warning: “Chill out.”
“Keep it cold, very cold”, B-21’s Rhett Beiletti warns this holiday season. He’s insistent on this, “The bottle should be burn cold to the touch.”
How to get that cold?
1. After 3 hours on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator place in the freezer for another 20 minutes before opening.
2. Take time to make a bucket with 2/3 ice and 1/3 water to keep completely chilled.
“It is an action that will be completely rewarded. Sante,” Rhett says.
Brrr, and don’t forget to put out the fire before going to bed.
1 Comment to Beyond the great houses: Grower Champagne in the fields
Great call on the Agrapart Chris! Just saw a New York Times article that picked this wine as the TOP VALUE among a number of other producers…..what is more impressive is the wines that did not make the list!!! Veuve Clicquot did not make the cut, nor did Charles Hiedsieck or Duval Leroy!!! Its about time people get real with some of the scams going on out there!
I had a glass of Clicquot at a swank hotel last week….drinkable but one glass exhausted me. I have enjoyed the Agrapart you write about…….it is another league for sure.
December 30, 2009