2015 Blanc de Blancs La Haute Lemblé

Cédric Bouchard turned out a stellar set of wines in 2020. As Vinous readers know by now, 2020 was not an easy vintage in Champagne. Many wines show vegetal notes that can be distracting. Not here. Bouchard clearly made the right choices in the vineyards, and it shows. Single-variety, single-parcel and single-vintage wines remain the rule. All the Champagnes are done entirely in tank and bottled with no dosage, choices that amplify those three dimensions of nuance. These remain some of my absolute favorites in Champagne. Readers will not want to miss them.

Cédric Bouchard’s 2016s are stellar. The wines are remarkable for their finesse, energy and delineation. Frost was not an issue, while the rest of the year was relatively uneventful. That effortless grace is evident in stunning Champagnes that dazzle throughout this range. As always, the wines are done in steel and bottled with no dosage, but they are never stark or austere. Meticulous work in the vineyards yields Champagnes with tremendous natural depth and intensity. Bouchard is famously stringent with his selections. There is no Creux d'Enfer Rosé in 2016. “I was not happy with the quality of the fruit in the vineyard. For me, its either yes or no. There is no ‘maybe’ in my vocabulary,” he told me.

These new releases from Cédric Bouchard are off the charts great. There is not much more to add than that. Stylistically, Bouchard's Champagne represent the deconstruction of the basic tenets that have informed Champagne from the very beginning; most importantly the key principle that blending grapes, sites and vintages produces the most complete wines. All of Bouchard's Champagnes are single variety, single site and single vintage wines. Low yields, fermentation and aging in tank with indigenous yeasts, very fine mousse and bottling with no fining or filtration allow the purest essence of grape variety, site and vintage to come through with a level of precision that is uncommonly rare in Champagne, and, more broadly, in wine. These are some of my very favorite wines from any region in the world. I rarely pass up a chance to drink them, and neither should you.

In a world in which so many things are increasingly standardized, Cédric Bouchard's Champagnes remain deeply personal, almost private, wines of great personality. Bouchard is content to stay at a size where he can personally oversee all of the work in the vineyards and cellar. As always, the wines are made from painfully low yields, fermented in steel with indigenous yeasts and bottled with no dosage. These remain some of the most compelling, deeply moving wines being made anywhere in the world.

Cédric Bouchard's new releases are all over the place. To start, the Val Vilaine and the Côte de Béchalin, wines that are often overlooked in this range, are both terrific, partly because the vintages are strong. The 2011s, on the other hand, are awkward. Intense reduction, volatility and lack of focus - qualities I have rarely, if ever, seen here - make an appearance to various degrees. I tasted a number of the 2011s more than once and found them quite variable. Historically, these wines always need time in bottle to fully blossom, but I have never seen a vintage here start so unevenly. Readers will have to be especially selective this year.

Cédric Bouchard remains one of Champagne's most mysterious and reclusive figures, even in Champagne, where he keeps a low profile. In the end, though, the wines speak for themselves, and do so with great eloquence. Readers will note that all of the wines are now labeled under one name, Roses de Jeanne, which makes things a lot easier. Bouchard fans will also note the addition of a new Pinot Noir, Presle, which emerges from a steep hillside parcel planted with 15 different clones. As always, farming rules the day. The wines are done quite simply, all in steel, bottled with less sugar and lower pressure than is the norm and finished with no dosage. Cédric Bouchard is a dreamer, and the world needs dreamers. Readers who can find these Champagnes should not hesitate, as they are magnificent.

It's all about the journey with Cédric Bouchard. One of the most inquisitive, searching winemakers in Champagne, Bouchard is driven by a relentless sense of curiosity. Every time I visit, there is something new going on there. One of Bouchard's newest projects is a sparkling wine he is making with Bill Wenzlau and Justin Tyler in the Santa Rita Hills. As for Bouchard's own wine, well, they are pretty special. Tasting these wines many times over the years has taught me that the 100% Pinot Blanc La Bolorée is the most special wine in a portfolio of memorable Champagnes that challenge the traditional boundaries. The Bouchard Champagnes are all single-vintage, single-variety and single-parcel, and are bottled with no dosage. For more readers might enjoy this short video and this recent retrospective. Sadly, there is non Ursules until next year, when the wine will formally be a vintage Champagne.

Cédric Bouchard remains at the forefront of innovation in Champagne. Yields are minuscule, even by the most exacting definition. The wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts and are bottled unfined and unfiltered with no dosage. Bouchard is adamant that he wants to stay at a size where he alone can do all of the work, so readers should not expect production to increase in a meaningful way, at least not any time soon. There is a new Champagne in the works, though, a 100% Pinot Noir from La Proele, a tiny parcel of just 0.025 hectares (15 rows) planted with 10 different Pinot rootstocks. This is the same parcel Bouchard had used for his Coteaux Champenois Pinots, a project he has since abandoned, as he wasn't happy with the quality of the wines. The 2007 and 2008 Coteaux Champenois Chardonnays are still in the cellar, but here, too, it appears the still-wine experiment was short-lived. I am not sure anyone will mind too much given the quality of Bouchard's Champagnes. Bouchard plans to phase out the Infloresence brand by 2013/2014, once the ownership of the respective vineyards passes into his direct ownership. At that point, all of the wines will be sold under the Roses de Jeanne brand. Unfortunately the already tiny production is down by as much as 50% for the 2007 La Bolorée, Haute-Lemblée and Creux d'Enfer because of hail damage, so the wines will be harder to find than usual. Furthermore, I was not able to taste the 2009 Les Ursules, but will report on that wine as soon as I can. Incidentally, 2010 is the last year Les Ursules will be released as a non-vintage wine. These remain some of the most spectacular wines being made anywhere in the world, and are well worth the effort of finding them. Frankly, I can't think of too many wines I would rather drink.

This wine was tasted over dinner at Marea, New York, in October 2011

The hand-crafted Champagnes of Cedric Bouchard remain some of the most fascinating wines to emerge from the region. I have been drinking last year's releases over this past year and the wines have never failed to deliver immense pleasure. All of the Bouchard wines are made in a strictly non-interventionalist method. The organic vineyards are farmed to very low yields. The fruit is hand-harvested and the grapes are crushed by foot and fermented with indigenous yeasts. The wines are aged in stainless steel and are bottled unfined and unfiltered with no dosage. The estate offers two ranges; the Inflorescence wines are made from vineyards owned by Bouchard's father, while the Rosés de Jeanne wines are made from Bouchard's own vines. These remain some of the most vivid, eloquent Champagnes readers are likely to come across and I can't recommend them highly enough. Readers should note that the US bottles of these wines do not carry vintage, lieu-dit or disgorgement date information, as that space on the bottles is taken up by the importers' labels. I am told this situation will be resolved by next year, but in the meantime, readers seeking these wines should consult their merchant to make sure they are indeed receiving the current releases.

The gate opens to reveal a dilapidated villa worthy of a Romantic opera. It is easy to imagine what the building must have looked like in its prime. We are in Landreville, a few kilometers from Celles-sur-Ource, in the Aube. In the middle of nowhere. Literally. An abandoned residence is off to the left, but it is the cellar in the center of the small property that brought Cédric Bouchard to this spot. We descend into the cave through a wobbly freight elevator and it is clear why Bouchard is attracted to his new winery. The cellar is cold. Frigid, actually. Just the way Bouchard likes it. In front of me is Bouchard's entire library, all the way back to 2000. Just a few bottles of most of his wines. “You choose what you want to taste,” Bouchard says, and he starts preparing the bottles. Every year it is pretty much the same. Given the tiny production of these wines, I usually focus on those I haven't tasted in a while. I am curious to see how long I can handle the Siberia-like conditions. But, then again, these wines have a way of channeling my focus. Over the last dozen years, Bouchard has essentially deconstructed Champagne. His wines are single-variety, single-parcel and single-vintage, essentially everything Champagne on a broader scale is not. But it goes beyond that. Bouchard is an atypical winemaker in that he never tastes his Champagnes before they are disgorged and only rarely once they are released. Bouchard idolizes Anselme Selosse, but makes no effort to meet him because he wants to maintain the spirit and emotion of anticipation. Over the last few years, Bouchard has begun spending time in California. I wonder how many Champenoise have visited Saxum and Abreu, and can talk about the wines? Not too many, I think. Bouchard's latest project is a sparkling wine he is making with Bill Wentzlau and Justin Willet from Wentzlau's vineyard in the Sta. Rita Hills, one of the most promising sites in Santa Barbara. This is Cédric Bouchard. From a technical perspective, it all starts in the vineyard, where yields are ridiculously low. Farming is as hands-off as is practical. The wines are all made in stainless steel, using indigenous yeasts. The Rosé de Saignée Le Creux d'Enfer, one of Bouchard's signature wines, is crushed by foot and fermented entirely with stems. The wines are bottled with less pressure than most Champagnes, around 4.5 atmospheres versus the more common 6 or so, which is part of what gives the Bouchard Champagnes their nearly imperceptible bubbles. Some of the early wines were dosed, but today all of the wines are bottled with zero dosage. Although they weren't a part of this tasting, Bouchard also makes a set of Champagnes under the Inflorescence label that emerge from vineyard sites Bouchard does not control. All of the Roses de Jeanne Champagnes are made from vineyards Bouchard owns and farms himself. Having seen all of those sites, I can say they are truly a wonder to behold. Cédric Bouchard's Champagnes remain some of the most unique, personal wines being made anywhere in the world. Readers might also enjoy taking a look at this video covering current releases.

Cédric Bouchard is one of the most promising emerging young growers in Champagne. At their best, Bouchard's Champagnes are exciting, viscerally thrilling wines that will challenge readers' perceptions about what Champagne is and can be. The house style emphasizes single-vintage, single-vineyard, single-variety wines made in strict accordance with a natural, non-interventionalist approach in the vineyards and cellar. While these principles are not uncommon in the production of still wines, they are quite revolutionary in Champagne, where the vast majority of wines are built through the art and craft of blending across vintages, grape varieties and sites. Many of Bouchard's wines do not spend enough time on their lees to be formally declared as vintage wines, even though they are all single-vintage Champagnes. Production is tiny, and averages just a few hundred bottles for the top selections.

Bouchard finds most of his inspiration in the wines of Burgundy and likes to say he doesn't make Champagne, but rather makes wines from Champagne (the region), which pretty much sums up his approach. Bouchard's passion and relentless pursuit for excellence are admirable and can only lead to one question; why aren't there more Cédric Bouchards in the world of wine? The answer is of course simple, as there are very few people, in any field, who put excellence and perfection in their work above pure monetary gain. Readers who haven't yet experienced these magnificent Champagnes owe it to themselves to do so, as these are some of the purest and most profound wines being made anywhere in the world.

The winery is located in sleepy Celles-sur-Ource, a tiny village in the southern district of the Aube, far from the higher-profile, better known towns of the Cȏte des Blancs and the Vallée de la Marne. The non-descript building sits a stone's throw from the impeccably tended vineyards, many of which are located in the slopes above Celles. Bouchard spent a number of years working in the family business but fundamentally did not share his father's decidedly commercial approach to making Champagne, so in 2000 Bouchard began working on his own with tiny plots of land and equally small quarters carved out of his family's cellar. The ‘tasting room' is minimalist, to say the least. There are no chairs or tables, just bottles lined up on a dirt floor. Bouchard says he wants no distractions when it comes to tasting his wines. Fair enough, although with wines like these, it's hard to see a table and chairs offering any kind of competition!

Bouchard's approach begins and ends in the vineyards, where a maniacal pursuit of low yields and natural farming are the rule. That philosophy carries through to the cellar, where the wines are handled as little as possible. Fermentations are carried out with indigenous yeasts and temperature is not regulated. The wines go into bottle with no cold stabilization, fining or filtration, all techniques common in commercially made Champagnes. The liqueur de tirage contains about 16 grams of sugar per liter, which results in a lower-pressure style of 4.5 to 5 atmospheres (versus the more conventional 6 atmospheres) and a mousse that is incredibly finessed, with tiny, slow-moving bubbles that literally caress the palate like silk. The wines are bottled with no dosage.

Among recent vintages Bouchard cites 2001 and 2007 as among those he likes best, which will come as a shock to readers familiar with vintages in Champagne, as these are universally regarded as the two weakest years in recent memory. But then again that is Bouchard, a man intrigued and fascinated by everything that is a challenge and bored by things that are too easy. He remains skeptical about 2009, a vintage that many of his colleagues are much more excited about.

The Inflorescence line consists of négociant wines made from vineyards Bouchard does not own. Yields are relatively high for the house's standards but ridiculously low for Champagne, at around 50 hectoliters per hectare. The Inflorescence Champagnes emphasize supple fruit and are accessible, open wines meant to be enjoyed upon release. The Blanc de Noirs Val Vilaine is made from a plot owned by Bouchard's father, which constitutes the winery's largest source of fruit, with 1.49 hectares under vine. The Blanc de Noirs La Parcelle is produced from a site Bouchard purchased in 2007, but the wines that are in the market today were already in bottle when he bought the property. According to Bouchard La Parcelle had always been farmed naturally and he was attracted to the vineyard because the wines were very high in quality and shared a similar aesthetic with his.

The top of the line Roses de Jeanne Champagnes are made from sites Bouchard owns directly, with the exception of Les Ursules, which is controlled through a long-term lease. Many of these sites were planted by Bouchard himself. Yields average a measly 26 hectoliters per hectare for Roses de Jeanne, a level unheard of for most still wines, let alone Champagne, where yields can easily be more than three times as much. These are serious wines loaded with fruit, structure and character. The wines are incredibly appealing upon release, but are also proving to have the ability to develop beautifully in bottle.

This wine was tasted during the La Paulee Gala Dinner in New York City, 2009.

The explosive, kaleidoscopic Champagnes of Cedric Bouchard are some of the most compelling wines coming out of the region today. Quite simply, this set of new releases left me speechless and literally shaking my head in awe. Readers should do whatever they can to experience these magnificent wines. Bouchard farms just under three hectares of vineyards. There are two ranges; the Inflorescence wines are made from vineyards owned by Bouchard's father, while the Roses de Jeanne wines are made from vineyards Bouchard owns himself. The vineyards are cropped to yields that would be considered miniscule in any region in the world, but are shockingly low compared to the average in Champagne, where high yields are prevalent. Because of the low yields, the wines reveal a very fine and subtle mousse. The wines are made from hand harvested fruit, crushed by foot and fermented with natural yeasts. Bouchard prefers stainless steel, as he believes the neutrality of steel allows for the maximum amount of expression of his philosophy, which is single-vineyard, single-vintage and single-variety bottlings. The wines are neither fined nor filtered and are disgorged with no dosage. Unfortunately the wines do not carry a disgorgement date on the label, although I am told that will be changing next year.