Champagne Alfred Gratien - Brut

Bettane & Desseauve

About the wine:

Beautiful body, full-bodied, lively, and intense, with a lovely finish, vinous, and featuring enticing citrus and mineral notes.

About the estate:

Small in vineyard area (less than 2 hectares), but big on quality, this discreet house, owned by the same proprietors as Gratien-Meyer (Crémant de Loire), has the welcoming face of a sure bet. Vinification systematically takes place in barrels, and malolactic fermentation is blocked to maintain extra vibrancy. It's the archetype of a connoisseur's champagne. At Alfred Gratien, the vintage cuvée is always older than the prestige cuvée, Paradis: 2004 versus 2008. Both are magnificent, and the vinous, intense 2004 is still remarkably young, but the 2008 Paradis deserves high praise—it's a vintage that will be remembered for years to come. The 2007 rosé Paradis also shines!

Guide Hachette des vins

About the estate:

Founded in 1864 by Alfred Gratien, the house was 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 that name to work for the brand and to preserve its traditions (absence of malolactic fermentation, aging of base wines in reused Champagne barrels).

Robert Parker - Wine Advocate

RVF - La Revue du Vin de France / Guide des Meilleurs Vins de France

About the wine:

With its lovely character, this Brut—a blend dominated by Chardonnay—offers a palate that is both supple and lively on the finish. A beautifully balanced wine.

About the estate:

This discreet house, which perpetuates the tradition of crafting still wines in oak barrels—dynamic and complex Chardonnay-dominant Champagnes—has, like its parent company Gratien-Meyer in Saumur, belonged since 2000 to a major sparkling wine group based in Wiesbaden, Germany. In historic buildings in the center of Épernay, cellar master Nicolas Jaeger, who succeeded his father and grandfather, perfects a handcrafted Champagne-making process, gradually streamlined but still limited in volume. Almost all of his grapes are sourced within a 40-kilometer radius of Épernay, resulting in Champagnes that soften and enhance their naturally high acidity (since malolactic fermentation is blocked) through barrel vinification. The vintage wines are aged in the cellars under cork stoppers. The proportion of Meunier grapes is reduced in the latest blends, giving way to Pinot Noir.