CHAMPAGNE : LA SELECTION

David Bourdaire is warm, talented, passionate to highlight all the specificity of the Pinot Meunier (who deserves it), and pursues a real qualitative policy that pays off. What is nice in his cuvées is to discover all the facets of this Pinot Meunier, which brings floral nuances to him.
"Tenth generation of winemakers but only the third to produce Champagne wines," he says. It is Robert Massonnot, my grandfather, who elaborated himself his first Champagne in 1951 following the creation of the cooperative of Pouillon with 2 other vine growers of the commune. My parents, who began their activity in 1973 on small acreage (my father was employed elsewhere until 1988), actually started their wine business full time in the 1980s, in parallel with my grandparents.
Following a BTA and BTS Viticulture-oenology at the Viticultural School of Champagne Avize, I settled in my turn thanks to the recovery of vineyards rented in the town of Villers-Franqueux and the retirement of my grandparents. parents who give me some leases when they transfer their farm to my parents. I become Harvester-Manipulant and Independent Winegrower from the 2002 vintage and enjoy the pleasure of vinifying, tasting and creating his own wines. The use of phyto-pharmaceutical products is ultra-moderate and reasoned (practice of underdosing and only if necessary) thanks to the use of pneumatic equipment considerably reducing the use of products and the consumption of water per hectare. This approach extends to winemaking where the use of CO2 significantly reduces the use of sulphites (SO2) for the protection of wine oxidation.

The year 2017 was complicated for David Bourdaire: start of the early vegetation then freezing (-5 to -95%) in April, end of the summer dry then rains in August from where beginning of rot causing a fragile health state, triggering early harvest, big work of sorting but impeccable quality. The paw of the man was primordial for this vintage.
Its Champagnes for sale in 2018: Brut 100% unsweetened Meunier, non dosed Rosé 2014, Prestige 2012 not dosed, Blanc De Blancs 2013 not dosed, Reserve 2012 unadjusted, 2007 vintage not dosed.
His conversion to Bio was validated in 2017, and, for 2 years, he practices a contribution of vegetable compost under the ranks of the vines.

Here is a remarkable Champagne vintage 2007, always very typical terroir, of a very beautiful color, associating charm and framework, all in structure and perfumes, with the nose of small fresh fruits, a non dosed vintage, dense and very persistent, very fresh and perennial at the palate. The 2006, of light and abundant foam, of a beautiful harmony, a wine with delicate aromas of narcissus, honeysuckle and quince, with, on the palate, shades of ripe fruit, linden and toasted, is really very charming as its vintage 2005, a beautiful length, very fine, intense mousse, with connotations of flis, almond and toast, a beautiful expression, combining elegance and vinosity. All in nuances, its raw rosé Champagne, also unmeasured, is very floral, with this touch of pleasant nervousness, subtly spicy, seductive by its delicacy of aromas, that can lead to tartlets with seafood or Caribbean crab. Beau Champagne Blanc De Blancs Brut 2013, part of which is vinified in barrels, blends musk, pippin apple and hawthorn, very seductive nose and mouth, with hazelnut notes in the final, perfect, for example, on jellied oysters or marinated raw salmon.
Beau Champagne Prestige 2011, unmatched, 40% Pinot Meunier, 40% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir, from rich silty soils, which develops delicious buttery aromas, lively, fine and complex palate with fresh citrus flavors, where we find nuances of ripe grapes and nuts, all flavors. Its Champagne Tradition, 100% Pinot Meunier, is a great success, a fresh vintage, elegant mousse, while the final, a very salty Champagne that makes salivate.
Taste the raw Reserve (very pretty screen-printed bottle), suave, subtle, with connotations of flowers and toast and this hint of freshness on the palate.