versions of liqueur de dosage, and dosages of zero to 12g/l, so 36 samples of each. Classic Cuvée used to have 8g/l, but there’s no drive to go lower. “We’re trying not to let cellar palate lead us too far.” Première Cuvée, however, is just 1.8g/l. “I never thought I’d
make a wine at that. People often like more. Should we go higher for Classic Cuvée? Blind tastings of English sparklings can suggest that more generosity is a good thing.” Première Cuvée, with five or six years on the lees, is more vinous, tense, and toasty; crunchy, savory, salty; utterly pure and precise. It’s a beauty. There is also a Classic Cuvée Rosé, deep and compelling.
“My wife and I never drink any pink wine except this—or [Bollinger] Grande Année for the birth of our first daughter. There are only so many alcoholic units you can consume, and it’s a waste to drink still pink when you can drink red or white. Pink sparkling is less vibrant, less tense, less of everything, so we made a drier, crisper style.” It’s the only wine they make that he’d like to release earlier, he says: “I like it at 22 months.” A saignée Zéro Dosage Rosé, intended to be made in the best years only, should also have been launched by the time you read this. It’s also the product of the team, just as much as of the place. “I want to create an entity,” says Kellett. “There has to be a continual journey of the same team over decades. We all work together, we take the same days off […]. I’m trying to create a winery team over time that is consistent, reliable.” Jestin is the only consultant, and Kellett did all the vineyard himself, choosing the plots and the rootstocks. He built the winery in conjunction with Jestin, in six weeks before the 2011 harvest, the first two vintages having been made elsewhere, and Kellett didn’t want to launch from that. “Hervé came on day one, picked up a broom and started sweeping.” There is also Felix Gabillet, winemaker, and Tobias Tullberg, operational winemaker, who was at La
Opposite: The top NV wines, Première Cuvée and Première Cuvée Rosé. Above: One of the vineyards, all planned by Ian Kellett, in the 2021 vintage.
Gaffelière in Bordeaux and wanted to work in Champagne; he knew Jestin, and Jestin sent him to Kellett for a harvest. “He can work closely with Hervé here. Hervé teaches us what he knows.” They do all the blending in French. “We all speak French, and we can get more out of Hervé if he thinks in his mother tongue. “Assemblage is a year’s education in a week. Hervé has a process he goes through, and I’ve thought about it a lot in case he gets hit by a truck.” There’ll be about 200 wines at the vins clairs tasting, “and he picks the ones for the first blend. From there, I understand the process. But how do you pick the first wines? I listen and watch.” Tullberg points out that making the cut at the press at the right moment is the crucial thing, and Jestin can explain why; but, says Kellett, “learning how to do that first pre-blend would take another ten years to learn.” Though he reckons that “if the truck should hit, the saignée Zéro Dosage would be the easiest to make. He has a recipe of how much Chardonnay to red.” Yet to come, truck or no truck, is that 2018 Blanc des Blancs:
“It will be the pinnacle. We’ll make it every five or seven years.” There’ll be a Blanc de Meunier, and a Blanc des Blancs Non-Vintage Classic Cuvée, too, perhaps in 2023 and 2024 respectively. “We’re filling out the range. The difference between Pinot Noir and Meunier is that some wines are concert pianists and a bit febrile, and some wines are rugby players.” In Champagne, Meunier tends to get the lower slopes and the deeper soils, not necessarily on the best chalk. “Here,” says Kellett, “in a cooler climate, with 6 inches [15cm] of topsoil, we’ve put some Meunier in some of the best exposures. If you took Meunier and put it in the best terroir, what then?” But, he says, “I’m not going to be distracted from the pursuit of Chardonnay and blanc des blancs. And we’ll do Vintage in great years only. We won’t be pressured into doing it all the time, or every three years, like Champagne.” Eight chefs, a £25-million investment, and a young family— pressure? What pressure?
THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023 | 153
Photography (left) © Sebastien Baert; (right) © Kimberley Garrod
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