Recoltant Manipulant/Farmers Fizz Reccomendations

[Corylax18]

I have recently been experimenting with some RM Champagnes and have enjoyed those I've tried very much. The selection of grower champagnes is not huge in the states, but is ever changing and appears to be growing.

I enjoy the crisp, mineral, cirtus/fruit tartness of the Pierre Gimmonet Y fils Blanc de Blacs and the L Aubry Fils Brut.

Does anybody have recommendations on similar Growers Champagnes?

[Nrengle]

Not champagne but a cider done in the style of champagne, Michel Jodoin outside of Montreal is phenomenal. I recommend it immensely.

[NapaNolan]

The golden standard to me is Pierre Peters. The basic Cuvee de Reserve is wonderful stuff. Blanc de Blancs, Les Mesnil-sur-Oger. Some disgorgement dates are better than others, a quick google should point to the better ones. They do a vintage Les Chetillons that is wonderful, too. More in a clean, light, racy style with bright acidity.

With a different style, a bit richer and a good table mate to Dom Perignon would be Gaston Chiquet. Their basic Brut (olive green label) is really good. They do a few others bottlings, Blanc de Blancs, Special Club... but they're all good.

Both of these producers are relatively easy to find, I find each market has huge differences in RM producer availability.

I mentioned it in the Gaston Chiquet blurb, but check out any champagnes marked Special Club. It's a group of growers who make special wines only in the best vintages. I generally find that a producer's Special Club is my favorite in their portfolio, but that's by no means a rule.

The rules to label as RM can be a little tricky, there are also some wonderful small producers that are labeled as NM but are nowhere near as boring as Clicquot, Moet, Taittinger, etc...

Larmandier-Bernier, Jean Milan, Henri Goutorbe, Rene Geoffroy...may or may not be labeled as RM but are small producers doing good work.

[Corylax18]

Thanks for the Awesome info Nolan, I will look around for Pierre Peters and Gaston Chiquet. I know of 4 stores in my Area (south Denver, CO) that carry a decent selection of RM/Smaller NM stuff, but I know there must be more. This is one of those things were google can only get you so far, the best RM selection I've seen here in Denver isn't even mentioned on the stores website.

I will look into the "special Club" selections, that not something I have seen yet. I've seen Rene Geoffroy wines a few times now I may just have to grab a bottle. 

[NapaNolan]

Any updates to your quest?

[Ken Gargett]

On 5/24/2016 at 3:08 PM, NapaNolan said:

The golden standard to me is Pierre Peters. The basic Cuvee de Reserve is wonderful stuff. Blanc de Blancs, Les Mesnil-sur-Oger. Some disgorgement dates are better than others, a quick google should point to the better ones. They do a vintage Les Chetillons that is wonderful, too. More in a clean, light, racy style with bright acidity.

With a different style, a bit richer and a good table mate to Dom Perignon would be Gaston Chiquet. Their basic Brut (olive green label) is really good. They do a few others bottlings, Blanc de Blancs, Special Club... but they're all good.

Both of these producers are relatively easy to find, I find each market has huge differences in RM producer availability.

I mentioned it in the Gaston Chiquet blurb, but check out any champagnes marked Special Club. It's a group of growers who make special wines only in the best vintages. I generally find that a producer's Special Club is my favorite in their portfolio, but that's by no means a rule.

The rules to label as RM can be a little tricky, there are also some wonderful small producers that are labeled as NM but are nowhere near as boring as Clicquot, Moet, Taittinger, etc...

Larmandier-Bernier, Jean Milan, Henri Goutorbe, Rene Geoffroy...may or may not be labeled as RM but are small producers doing good work.

nolan. agree re pierre peters. had a visit there a year or two ago. terrific wines. the Les C is a wonderful wine.

curious about the comment about some disgorgement dates better than others. with more limited resources, certainly the base wines might have more variation than the big houses, wouldn't it depend more on the base wines than the date of disgorgement? it would not all necessarily be uniform? not sure if i have explained the query as well as i wanted to. 

agree with the gimmonet and aubry. 

the special club wines are a definite find. jose michel - has a focus on pinot meunier (but they can age brilliantly) - is worth chasing.

among small growers, selosse is a star but expensive and people either utterly love or hate the wines. 

L-Bernier is terrific. egly ouriet another. rene geoffroy way better now than in the past.

i mentioned Ulysse Collin. huge fan of those wines. tracked him (olivier - he named the estate after his father) down for a visit a while back. had to be on a saturday as he sees no one during the week as he does absolutely everything himself. fascinating bloke. put himself through law school so he could fight a big producer to recover the family vineyards while working at selosse. 

about the only thing i would argue against is the dismissal of the big guys. i think they are doing better than ever. moet especially is making champagnes better than ever. ditto a lot of the big guys. i suspect that a lot of people think of these guys as boring (not saying that this is the case for you) is because the concept of non-vintage is that the wines should be identical every time. 

i've not seen goutorbe or milan here so will have a look. 

[Ken Gargett]

whoops, thought i had mentioned Collin. definitely worth chasing. also, this a good piece on growers.

 

http://punchdrink.com/articles/champagnes-next-revolution-is-now/

[NapaNolan]

Ken, blends vary wildly by disgorgement dates with Pierre Peters. Some have been single-vintage while most are multi-vintage. 

[Ken Gargett]

58 minutes ago, NapaNolan said:

Ken, blends vary wildly by disgorgement dates with Pierre Peters. Some have been single-vintage while most are multi-vintage. 

hi nolan,

understand that but the variation would surely be due to the original base wine rather than the disgorgement date? they would not necessarily disgorge all of the wines from a blend at the same moment (actually, i suppose they could, but it would not be that common). 

[NapaNolan]

Well you can track the blend based on the disgorgement date, using it like a lot number or a serial number. I think I'm answering the question?

[Corylax18]

On 6/5/2016 at 8:53 PM, NapaNolan said:

Any updates to your quest?

Nolan, No Updates as of yet. I have spent the last few weeks travelling for work and haven't had much time to go "hunting". I will certainly be looking for Pierre Peters and some "Special Club" selections.