Vanessa

9.3

✨ Cheers to treasures of the Côte des Blancs!

🥂 Allow me to introduce Champagne Agrapart & Fils, a fourth-generation grower-producer based in the Grand Cru village of Avize – right in the heart of the Côte des Blancs region, where Chardonnay reigns supreme.

🍾Pascal took the helm of his family’s winery in 1984 and is now joined by his son Ambroise, carrying on the family tradition of meticulous winemaking to craft exceptionally beautiful champagnes that offer an authentic sense of place.

🌿 In support of this aim, Agrapart pursues an ancient approach to farming the family’s 12 hectares of vines, in harmony with nature, according to the natural rhythms of the calendar, trading chemicals for compost, and working the land by hand.

🍇 In the winery, Pascal & Ambroise allow fermentations to happen naturally through ambient yeast found in the surrounding environment & on the surface of the grape skins. They neither fine nor filter their wines, and riddling is done by hand – a rarity in this day and age given efficiencies that can be gained through mechanization (e.g., gyropalette).

👉 Here we have Agrapart’s “Terroirs” bottling made with 100% Chardonnay from a blend of vintages and vineyard blocks from the Grand Cru villages of Avize, Cramant, Oiry, and Oger. It’s extra brut with 5 grams of sugar / liter in dosage.

😍 It is a stunning Blanc de Blancs expression giving voice to the Côte des Blancs.

👌 This wine is focused, nuanced, & elegant with perfumed aromas of lemon meringue, lemon pith, crisp apple, star fruit, white tea, blossom, oyster shell, salinity, toast, smoke, chalk, river bank, frozen pie crust, and blanched almonds.

On the palate it’s bone dry and laser focused with an electrifying acidity that is balanced by a creamy mousse and concentrated flavors consistent with the nose.

💫 Cheers to delicious wines of authenticity & soul! — 5 days ago

with Deked1

Gor

9.2

Opens up with air to complex nose of green apple, quince, white pepper, River stones, Meyer lemon and hint of oyster shell. Mineralilty and concentration prevail. Long finish. Great stuff but clearly could benefit from even more time given structure and backbone.
— 3 years ago

Erik Longabardi

9.1

Long Island fruit, and it shows. Lovely sea breeze aroma and tropical notes on nose and pallet. Structured. One of their best wines they made. — 4 years ago

Vanessa

9.4

Depth & personality abound as this wine gives a sensory voice to the left bank (‘rive gauche’, south side) of the Marne River, which meanders its way through the Vallée de la Marne region of Champagne…

It’s not very common to find a mono cru (single village) from this part of Champagne, so it was exciting to sip & explore it with intention🥂

It was made exclusively from Meunier (the king of the Marne Valley), grown on old vines (54+ years in age) in the village of Mareuil le Port, made into a blend of the ‘Maisoncelle’ & ‘La Côte aux Châtaigners’ vineyards, in particular.

As a vintage wine, it aged 36 months (disgorged by hand in November 2023), adopting quintessential autolytic notes of pastry, graham cracker pie crust, bread dough, almond paste, nougat, and toasted hazelnut.

The aromas & flavors have notably autumnal characteristics resembling apple cider, cinnamon apple crumble, red apple skin, baked pear, nutmeg, cardamom, white blossom, lemon zest, fruit cake, & cherry preserves. These are balanced by a chalky, mineral spine of wet stones, saline, & oyster shell.

Despite its confectionery qualities, this wine is totally dry; it’s extra brut with only 2 g/l of dosage (added sugar) with a mouth-watering acidity, adding lift, cutting through the creamy mousse, with a persistent & polished finish, performing a series of pirouettes before its final plié.

Cheers to wines with soul & authenticity! — 3 months ago

with Deked1

Brian Hearty

9.1

2023. I was not prepared for the deep color of this wine, so I had to check out the D&G website “While it is a white variety for which we immediately direct-press the grapes, the resulting juice and wine are always orange. This doesn’t appear to be true in Grecos found in Italy, but seems to be the result of the unique clone, or the terroir of the vineyard. This results in a little bit of a head-scratcher of a wine. While it looks like an orange wine the aromatics and flavor profile are much more similar to a white wine.” I agree, fruit and floral forward aromas and flavors with bracing acidity that paired well with oyster chowder. — 10 months ago

Jason Brater

9.3

Nose of oyster mushroom, water chestnut, and white peach. At PnP tastes of herbal green notes, but opened over time into unctuous deliciousness. Tastes of red grapefruit, toasted coconut, butterscotch candy. Absolutely layered complexity. Even greater on day 2. — 4 years ago

with Heather and Randall

Lena Melendez

9.3

Wow Maine! — 4 months ago

Bob McDonald

9.4

We had this earlier in the week to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Barb isn’t a huge fan of bubbles so this was the right choice - a Premier Cru from Meursault from a good white burgundy vintage. See previous Delectable notes. River gravel and grapefruit with a small hint of oak - largely integrated. A touch of smoke - even a little oyster shell. Quite delicate and refined on the light to medium weight palate. Lemon and citric acid. In summary Citrus, grapefruit and mineral. Lean in profile. Very good Meursault. — 8 months ago

Bob McDonald

9.5

Another modern style Chardonnay like the Nanny Goat from Otago had a few days ago. The 2nd of 2 premium Chardonnays from Xanadu - the other being the Reserve. Glenn Goodall the winemaker says the main difference between the 2 is that the Stevens Road has an “oyster shell “ character which I get. Also a saline, mineral note. The next night some delicious white peach notes. Oak is perfectly balanced (25% new Barriques). Could cellar for another 5 years if so desired. — 2 years ago

Daniel Bloom

8.9

N:.Fairly mute, pears, stones
P.Soft and saline, River water, oyster liquor. Easy going quite refreshing..
30% skin contact and Amphorae, s bit of a tactile grip on the finish. Chalky quality. — 3 years ago