A pure Pinot Meunier from a special site in Damery is Telmont’s successful first foray into single-plot winemaking, says Anne Krebiehl MW.
It all started in 2011, with the arrival of seven large foudres in Champagne Telmont’s cellars in Damery. Each of them holds 5,000 liters of wine and, says cellar master Betrand Lhôpital, presented him with “a great opportunity for specific winemaking.” In September, Lhôpital was in London to present Champagne Telmont’s first single-plot Champagne, a pure Pinot Meunier from lieu-dit Sous Adrien, also in Damery.
“Obviously,” he says, “it was a great opportunity. Single-plot winemaking was evident.” He lost no time. For the 2012 harvest, he says, “I determined four different plots in Damery and further plots from grape growers.” He vinified them separately in the foudres. “My idea was to understand the terroir. Why? Because it is the elementary part of blending. A blend is like a sports team: If you want the team working together, you need to understand the individual players and their personalities. I needed to understand,” he explains. But tasting the different base wines from these single plots was not enough to build his understanding. “I needed to go forward in bottle,” he says—meaning that he also wanted to see how the different plots would turn out after the second fermentation. Each of the barrels was thus bottled separately and aged under natural cork. “We did seven different bottlings: two of Meunier, five of Chardonnay,” he says. The Pinot Meunier from the
This Article was originally published on World of Fine Wine
