Zoom Event--Benoit Dehu of Champagne Dehu & Brad Baker--Saturday, May 16th @ 10AM PT / 1PM ET

We’re continuing our Champagne series, as many of you have attended and enjoyed these events over the past month. We’re going to move away from the Montagne and Vilmart, and venture west towards another producer of Pinot Meunier, to meet and hear about the work of Benoit Dehu. He is situated in the village of Fossoy, using biodynamic practices to farm mainly Pinot Menuier, but has now added Pinot Noir to his portfolio.

For those of you who have been part of our ongoing Champagne series, here is a Google Map link to help you with geography. You will note Fossoy is well west of Epernay, at the very west edge of the Valle de la Marne. Google Maps.

Of note, the oak that Benoit uses, some of it comes from the village’s forest, which I find unique about the ‘local’ focus of Benoit and his cooperage program. We can talk about cooperage, as well as the larger family operation that I believe is still farmed more traditionally. I am sure Brad will guide us through another terrific discussion, to help us meet Benoit and understand his vision.

For those of you who buy from Envoyer or Lopa, you may have already tried Benoit’s wines and have them in your cellar. I have a few notes in CT on the wines too, and will be opening a bottle of the 2014 La Rue des Noyers for the event

We are excited to meet Benoit, hear from Brad, and continue our Saturday series.

Stay safe everyone, and keep finding and sharing joy with each other.

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TO BE PART OF THE EVENT, PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING. THANK YOU.

Date/Time: Saturday, May 16th @ 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 1700 Paris

Theme: If you own Dehu, open one. Or, you can choose to open another Champagne as you may have done during Vilmart, Mousse or Marie Courtin, and enjoy the event.

How To Connect: To get the Zoom link to connect to the event, send a private message to Frank Murray III. I will then send you the link in a private reply. Once you receive the link, please do NOT forward it.

We’ll be muting everyone’s audio so we can eliminate background noise. You’ll also be optioned to turn on your camera if you like…just come to learn, share and be part of the fellowship we are creating.

Sounds great!

This is going to be a fun event. Benoît Déhu has only been doing his own thing since 2011, but he is already a star. Prior to 2011, his family (and he) made their wines at the local cooperative, but Benoît always had the desire to do more. He spent some time working at Bollinger and combined what he learned there and from others in the region to form his ultimate vision of how to work the vines and make the wines. He started following organic and biodynamic principles in a small section of the family’s vineyard holdings and, in 2011, Benoît finally decided that his work in the La Rue des Noyers plot was good enough to give his own wines a go.

At this point, he separated his vision from his family’s and began down his own path with a pure Pinot Meunier blanc Champagne. Over time, he has slowly expanded adding from the same vineyard a Rose Champagne, a special pressing/barrel selection wine, a still white and a still red. All Pinot Meunier and all from La Rue des Noyers. Additonally, he has slowly expanded the family vineyard area he is working and added to the range with an entry level blend ‘Initiation’ and a Pinot Noir called L’Orme… plus he has lots more new stuff aging in the cellars. He uses a range of different barrel types - different ages, different sizes, and different woods including a large amount of barrels made from the local forest of his village Fossoy. La Rue des Noyers is also planted in three sections with different clones - those are all being bottled separately too. The story behind where he has been, where he is, and where he wants to go is fascinating and inspirational.

He is an amazing guy with a great vision and passion making great wine. Quantities are small, but quality is high. I hope you can spend some time with Benoît and us this coming Saturday.

This is excellent, Frank and Brad. I just took delivery of a few Dehu and it will be great to open one. Frank, I think I will open the same as you, 2014 La Rue des Noyers. Again, thank you for putting this together.

For those who have joined our previous Champagne events, in Benoit we have selected a smart, energetic producer, and we’re working on a plan with him to show you his biodynamic plots right from the vineyard, as well as taste with him and learn his range, as well as his journey to grow from a small producer to someone who is producing precise, terroir driven wines that are growing in popularity and demand.

I’ve caught up all the PMs for those who have requested the link.

Of note, I will adding some more photos tomorrow to give you some more visual sense of Benoit’s work and his canvas on which he works.

Hi everyone. PMs are caught up again. If you would like to attend this Saturday AM, please PM me.

Benoit was kind enough to give me some more photos today to share with you. These give you a deeper visual sense of his work in Fossoy (pronounced Foo-swah). Click on the photos to expand them and make them clearer.

The plan is to have him start the session on Saturday in his vineyards, both in La Rue des Noyers and l’Orme. This can give us a sense of the soils, the vines, the layout and exposures of his plots. We’ll then have him come back to the winery in Fossoy and we’ll explore the winery, along with talk about his biodynamic range of cuvees.

Enjoy the photos, and see some of you this Saturday with Todd, Brad and I.

I’m in. I have no Dehu but I will be sipping one of Brad’s recs from the last go: Huré Frères.

Maps and photos plus the producer info is really appreciated as well as all of the coordination, time and energy Frank, Brad and Todd put out- much gratitude to you guys. I love the increase in the learning curve about all things champagne.

Getting ready for tomorrow’s Zoom. I gotta say, this 2014 from Benoit reminds me of the work that’s being done by Laurent at Vilmart. A bright acidity that also has a lemon curd type of impression on the palate and the influence of the barrel elevage really makes for a delicious Champagne here. Looking forward to our session tomorrow and thanks for the people that have pm’d me and we’ll see you in the event in the morning.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Opened my first Dehu tonight - an Initiation - I’m a fan. Beautiful underlying red fruit with balance. I saved half a bottle for tomorrow’s zoom along with a chilling La Rue des Noyers.

Lee, is the Initiation 2015 or 2016? And, what vintage of La Rue des Noyers are you doing? I’ve enjoyed about a 1/3rd of my bottle (see above) and it’s showing excellent. Give the Noyers some air, as it really did the trick.

Both appear to be recent releases: 2019 disgorgement for the Initiation and 2018 for La Rue des Noyers.

Frank - I just reread your post. If I understand the notations on the bottle correctly. The Initiation is a 2017 and the Noyers a 2015.

Lee,

The vXX on the back label is key to the base vintage or vintage year (we will talk about whether the wines are 100% vintage or not with Benoit tomorrow). The XX represents the last two digits of this year. So v14 means 2014, v15 means 2015, v16 means 2016, etc…

The funny thing about the Initiation is that it is meant to be an ‘entry level’ wine, but drinks way above that stereotype. It isn’t quite Rue des Noyers, but it is damn tasty.

Thanks guys for another great Zoom session.

Good work again. Benoit was very generous with his time.

I have a question about some of the wines that were talked about towards the end. I don’t remember hearing what the Taille and Pythilie(?) bottlings were. What selection are those?

Rock and JC, thanks for coming on today. I enjoyed the event and learned things too. The piece about the three root stocks in La Rue des Noyers, and him vinifying them separately, and then tasting them all after fermentation and noting the distinct differences in the terroir, that was fascinating to hear. I’d love to try those separate bottlings but if I heard correctly, the quantities are so small I doubt they will ever make it to the US.

As for La Pythie, I believe this is the cuvee from the taille pressing from La Rue des Noyers. That would make it all Pinot Meunier. Brad can correct me if I am wrong.

I’ve yet to try La Pythie and since he doesn’t make much of it, who the heck knows when I would have it my glass until I can get over there and visit, then bring some back.

My TN from the nearly finished bottle (the last glass goes down with dinner tonight!)

• 2014 Benoit Dehu Champagne Cuvée La Rue des Noyers Extra Brut - France, Champagne (5/15/2020)
  100% Pinot Meunier, no dosage. Disgorged August 2017. This is the second of two bottles that I bought together. This bottle is showing really killer. The acidity is bright, a pomelo and lemon profile, that mixes with the texture and provides a bit of a lemon curd note. The barrel elevage gives the wine a toasty note, the sense of old wood that I find a bit in Marie Courtin as well as Vilmart. The texture on this is expansive, with a good spine of structure. And, in looking at Derek’s note below, his reference to cranberry is a great call out, as I can see how this is present in the wine. Overall, this is the best of the two bottles, really energized and good…with air and a retaste the following day, the wine picks up an apple note, yet still retains the bright acidity. There is also a faint hint of something savory. Overall, this turned out to be a terrific bottle of bubbly, and cemented for me the work of Benoit and my plan to keep adding his craft to my cellar.

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