“Éclats Rosé” Édition Speciale Extra Brut NV

Thanks to the Champagne winegrowers, more and more of whom are setting out to define their own style and to work out what is special about their local sites, you can still discover corners of Champagne that you had never heard of before. One of these is the Vallée du Petit Morin, with the village of Talus Saint Prix, home to a hundred people. The commune has just 39 hectares. It lies more or less in the middle of nowhere, southwest of the Côte des Blancs and north of the Côte de Sézanne. And yet very distinctive champagnes come from the valley. This is due to the special terroir. A hard limestone prevails here, which is also used in house and wall construction. The sharp-edged stones look like fragments of a millstone. Hence the name Éclats des Meulières. In addition, there is an icing on the cake that can hardly be found anywhere else in Champagne - high proportions of flint. The climate is somewhat cooler than in the Marne Valley, for example. Especially at night, cold air from the surrounding heights flows into the valley of the Petit Morin. Although these are the best conditions for fruity-aromatic grapes with a stable acidity, i.e. perfect for Champagne, this also means a risk of frost in spring.

This microclimate and the peculiarity of the soils have led the winegrowers in Talus Saint Prix to plant more than 70 percent of their soils with Pinot Meunier. The Meunier, or "miller's vine", is so called because the leaves and shoot tips are clearly white-haired, as if the miller had sprinkled flour on them. This makes the Meunier particularly frost-resistant, and late frosts occur from time to time in the valley of the Petit Morin.

Cyril Jeaunaux, whose grandparents started growing grapes in the 1950s, is one of these winemakers. He himself joined his parents' business in 1999 together with his wife Clemence and directly joined the association of independent winemakers. In the course of the following years, he fundamentally questioned the traditional work in the vineyard as well as in the cellar and changed it in a planned way. In 2002, for example, he acquired a second classic Coquard press and began to age the base wines in used wood as well as stainless steel. Cyriel quickly recognised the value of intensive work in the vineyard and removed all chemical agents from the winery in 2005. Not least through the intensive exchange within the winegrowers' group "Terres et Vins de Champagne", which he joined in 2009, he began to look into biodynamic methods. Since 2010, he has been using corresponding preparations and in 2015 he began the official conversion to organic viticulture.

Cyril's champagnes are fruit-driven thanks to the Meunier, but always reflect the specificity of the place and its soils. This is also noticeable in the single-varietal Chardonnay. With their spicy and round character, which always oscillates between fruit and refreshing bitterness, his champagnes are very gastronomy-friendly and gain even more by accompanying dishes.

60 % Meunier, 30 % Pinot Noir and 10 % Chardonnay including 15 % red Pinot Meunier Côteau Champenois from the 2016 and 2017 vintages. The soil contains marl, chalk and the typical millstone limestone. The wine was aged in stainless steel and in wood for 2.5 years, with a dosage of 4.5 grams.

Intense rosé with violet reflections, concise and delicate mousseux.

The 2017 Éclats Rosé "Edition Speciale" Extra Brut fascinates with spicy notes and small berry fruits, wild raspberry, blackberry, as well as apple, apricot and grapefruit, intermingled with notes of hay, wheat, dried pastry and soy sauce. A hint of flint and of light, noble tobacco rounds off the fascinating olfactory picture.

The wonderful tension of the nose continues on the palate. The pleasant spiciness and the dry impression on the tongue in combination with the wonderfully stimulating carbonic acid not only invigorates the taster fantastically but also makes him want to accompany culinary delights. A real umami experience is created and not only the long reverberation ensures that this rosé champagne will be remembered for a long time.