Champagne Alfred Gratien - Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs 2009

A crisp, clean, long-finishing style with mineral and citrus notes.

Small in vineyard area (less than 2 hectares) but great in quality, this unassuming producer—owned by the same proprietors as Gratien-Meyer (Crémant de Loire)—has the appealing character of a sure bet. Winemaking takes place exclusively in barrels, and malolactic fermentation is halted to preserve the wines’ extra liveliness. It is the quintessential connoisseur’s champagne. At Alfred Gratien, the vintage cuvée is always older than the year of the “Paradis” prestige cuvée: 2004 versus 2008. Both are magnificent, and the 2004—full-bodied and intense—is actually still very young, but one must tip one’s hat to the 2008 “Paradis,” which will go down in history. The 2007 “Paradis” rosé also shines!

A house founded in 1864 by Alfred Gratien, acquired in 2000 by the German group Henkell & Co, which has brought together numerous European sparkling wine brands. It has retained its cellar master, Nicolas Jaeger—the fourth of his name to work for the brand—who upholds its traditions (no malolactic fermentation; aging of the base wines in reused Champagne barrels).

This low-key house, which continues to age its “vins clairs” in barrels—producing dynamic, complex champagnes with a predominance of Chardonnay—has been owned since 2000, like its parent company Gratien-Meyer in Saumur, by a major sparkling wine group based in Wiesbaden, Germany. In historic buildings in the center of Épernay, cellar master Nicolas Jaeger—who took over from his father and grandfather—refines an artisanal method of champagne production that has been gradually streamlined but remains limited in volume. Nearly all of its grapes are sourced from within a 40-kilometer radius of Épernay, producing champagnes that soften and add complexity to their naturally high acidity (since malolactic fermentation is blocked) through barrel aging. Vintage wines are aged in the cellar under cork. The proportion of Meunier has decreased in recent blends in favor of Pinot Noir.