Apparently Louis Roederer is debuting two new Coteaux Champenois based on the 2018 vintage, one 100% Charonnary from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and the other 100% Pinot Noir from Mareuil-sur-Ay. I saw that William Kelley had a chance to review them, and so am curious on his (and our other Champagne experts like Brad’s) views on:
I’ve had some of Romain Henin’s MPQR (Maceration Pinot Quroum Romani) which is still Pinot that he was releasing while he waited for his first sparklings to be ready for release. I feel I’ve had 1 or 2 more when I was in France but I did not have them in CT. I’ve found them to be lighter, easy drinking and if you find the still wine from Champagne aspect appealing then go for it.
I have a bottle of 2016 Tarlant in my cellar I plan on drinking this year. Olivier Horiot makes still dark rosés but I’m not sure if he also does full blown reds.
He does. They are good. But the Rosé des Riceys are very special.
The other one I recall having now is the Bollinger La Cote aux Enfants still Pinot Noir from Ay. It was served at World of Pinot 2020 at a Bollinger side tasting event.
Pretty sure Vilmart does (or did) one and I think we had a Philipponnat at a tasting the other night (I wasnt paying too much attention).
Champagne first gained its fame for its still wines. Bubbles came later and elevated the region to another level. For a long time, even after it became Champagne as we know it, still wines were quite common in Champagne. Most of the time the still wines were made from excess grapes and not top quality - many times labeled as a wine for the ‘workers’, but it was there. For most of the 1900s, it was produced as ‘Champagne Nature’ (or something similar) and gave growers/producers an output for their grapes that went above the Champagne appelation yield limit. Some producers focused on quality, but few did. Towards the last two decades of the 1900s and first few years of the 2000s, still wines from Champagne really disappeared, but over the last 15 or so years have started to come back. Producers are focusing on making good still wine and treating the vines and winemaking differently than they would for Champagne. Climate change has also helped as the grapes are getting riper now. In my opinon, most still wines from Champagne are still quite expensive from a QPR standpoint, but there are some very, very good ones being made. The biggest uptick in quality recently has been in the whites.
As to Roederer’s wines, I have had the chance to taste the current release and some previous trials. The wines are good and Roederer is still learning. I don’t think they are worth the price based on quality, but quantities are limited and if you want the experience of these wines then you should try them. I’m more excited about future vintages than this first release, but, to be honest, and I am biased, I would rather have a bottle of NV Brut Premier.
Interesting timing for this thread since I opened up my first ever Coteaux Champenois today, 2018 Bérêche et Fils Coteaux Champenois Ormes Rouge Les Montées. I enjoyed this a lot, but maybe I was fortunate to pick a good one? The high price and low availability of most Coteaux Champenois have been what’s put me off until now (I’ve never seen Bollinger La Cote aux Enfants below triple digits when it is available around these parts), but as a fan of the Bérêche style and ethos, I opted to give this a try.
2018 Bérêche et Fils Coteaux Champenois Ormes Rouge Les Montées
75% Pinot Noir/25% Pinot Meunier; 18 months in oak (not sure how much is new). First Coteaux Champenois I’ve ever had. Served with a light chill.
Nose starts out full of flowers – roses, carnations, and freesia – with minerals, raspberries, coconut, vanilla, and moist earth, picking up some spices with air. Light-bodied, focused, fleshy, mineral-driven, with cherries, raspberries, vanilla, and subtle herbs. Definitely richer two hours after opening. I’ve read some notes mentioning some stemminess in other vintages, but did not notice any here.
I haven’t tried the Bereche red IIRC but I really enjoyed the white last year. 2016 Les Monts Fournois.
I’ve tasted some interesting reds over the last few years from Bara, Bollinger, Egly, and Gatinois in addition to Horiot. Those are the ones that come to mind. Except for maybe Horiot, I wouldn’t put them in a QPR Pinot category, but they are decent wines. I don’t recall preferences well except I think I quite liked Bara.
Brad’s post above nicely covers the history and trends, so not much to add there. You should certainly expect to see more of them.
Regarding the Roederer wines themselves, they are quite fine-boned, pretty, delicate wines with bright acid spines that are not aspiring to be Burgundy lookalikes. And I think by virtue of the press coverage they’ve received they’ve certainly drawn a lot of attention to the category (I even had messages from one or two people who didn’t know Champagne produced still wine until they saw the Roederer news). They are, however, quite expensive - I just saw a bottle being offered for more than the price of a bottle of recent release Cristal…
Anyone who is not very familiar with Coteaux might consider looking at a few other examples from other producers before diving in with the Roederer wines, to get a feel for the range of styles.
The best to me is a ripe year, like 2003, Egly-Ouriet Coteaux Champenois. All grand cru fruit. Beautiful wines although they might not be everyones cup of tea. FWIW.
We sell Tim Stroebel’s, he prices them more highly than his champagnes and says they get all the best fruit.
They aren’t an easy sell though and thats to a very highly informed (generally) customer base.
La Côte aux Enfants and the few others (like Egly-Ouriet’s Covée des Grands Côtes) are outliers. Normally Coteaux Champenois tends to hover around 15-30€ and quite often is either the cheapest wine or among the cheapest wines a producer makes. For the most part demand for Coteaux Champenois has been very limited and that is reflected in the price.
I think you are a few years out of date Otto, thats all changed at a few conscientious addresses.
It might be, I haven’t bought any Coteaux Champenois in the past year or two, apart from one bottle ordered directly from the producer last fall. Cost me 15,60€.
But checking out what’s available currently, I’d say the prices are still pretty much on par with the cheapest NVs of the houses, for the most part.
For example here’s a good selection: Achat Champagne | Plus de Bulles
Sure, the prices have risen from 30€ to 35-40€, but still I’d say the demand is pretty small and the prices are quite reasonable.
However, the reasonability of the prices is quite relative - 35-40€ for a Champagne isn’t much. 35-40€ for a simple, light-bodied and often quite lean Pinot Noir or Chardonnay might be quite pricey for some.
Check Lurquin, Stroebel, Bereche, Dufour, Horiot.
Marguet, Déhu, Pascal.
Nice post, Brad.
What is a “white wine”? 
A few at the table called this still champagne. Brilliant. There’s a huge matchstick aroma flying out of the glass. Interesting that this doesn’t use sulfur? Pure reduction? I love the aromas. That had me leaning towards burgundy which is chardonnay but it wasn’t obvious and then when others called coteaux I got on board, makes sense. Middle palate was a touch light but I enjoyed this very much.
Great blind wine because this is 100% Pinot Noir yet it’s a “white wine”.
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We’re definitely not seeing Coteaux Champenois at these prices over here, or I certainly would have tried some sooner.
I think the point is that some producers are focussing on these wines and increasing the prices correspondingly.
Many are just making the same boring versions to sell to the tourists who ‘don’t like fizzy wines’.
Is it because the selection emphasizes only the expensive producers or because you’re just being charged exorbitant prices? Or is there for reason bigger demand than on this side of the pond?
Even at the prices shown in the site I shared I’m not always sure whether the Coteaux Champs are really worth the prices, as they can be quite simple little wines. At noticeably higher prices they really don’t make any sense.
Otto, how many of the list I posted have you tasted before you decide they don’t make any sense?