2012 Pehu-Simonet "Fins Lieux #3 Les Poules Mailly" Blanc de Noirs Extra-Brut, Champagne, France

ABOUT THIS WINE

The Mailliard reaction is a complex series of molecular interactions between sugar and proteins that result in the evolution of flavors over time. It’s more common and quicker in meats and baking (think seared steak and brioche bun) due to higher temperatures, but it can occur in Champagne too! It can only happen in Champagnes that have been disgorged for a while and dosed with sugar. This wine has been disgorged for well over two years now, and was given a 1.5-gram dosage at the beginning, so this combination has resulted in a beautiful evolution of nuanced flavors in the form of brioche, toasted pastry, caramel, smoke, vanilla bean, and other exotic spices. Furthermore, it also bursts with aromas of dried plum, red apple, redcurrant, Rainier cherry, apricot, crushed chalk, red flowers, and damp herbs. On the palate, the thundering intensity of Grand Cru Verzenay is still on full display.

100% Pinot Noir from Mailly Grand Cru/Les Poules. Vineyards are planted in clay in loam over limestone. No malolactic fermentation occurs. Fermentation is completed in barriques and the wine is aged sur latte for 84 months. 

The Pinot Noir releases dense, highly energized red fruit that melds with a fierce backbone of crushed minerals and laser-beam acidity. 

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

David Pehu, the fourth generation to lead this estate produces wines that are quite different from Lallement’s in every way except basic essential flavor. Verzenay is, after all, Verzenay. But David’s wines are rather more glossy and fleshy, and correspondingly less sleek and filigreed. He has 7.5 hectares of which 6 are Grand Cru. The balance is Chardonnay in premier cru Villers-Marmery, but Pehu wants to bottle only Grand Cru Champagne and so this Chardonnay is sold off. His vineyards are a remarkably ecumenical group: Verzy, Verzenay, Mailly, Sillery and Le Mesnil-sur-Oger!

The terrain of Verzy is made up of belemnite chalk and two varieties of micraster chalk, made up of a variety of Cretaceous echinoids. Verzy’s parcels form an extension of the famous vineyards at Verzenay on the northern slopes of Montagne de Reims. The best exposed slopes are those at an altitude from 150 to 200 meters (492 to 565 ft.). Oddly enough, Verzy was formerly a chardonnay village. It is today famous for its peppery, virile Pinot wines. With those of Verzenay, the pinot noir grapes here form the base for the finest Champagne vintages. A stony and gunpowder edge can be detected in the aftertaste, just as at Verzenay.

Vinification is either in tank or in barrel, depending on the particular wine. Pehu, who studied oenology in Burgundy, has been using barrels since 1988, and while most of his barrels are purchased second-hand from Burgundy, he’s experimenting more and more with local oak from Verzy, coopered by the Tonnellerie de Champagne in nearby Cauroy-les-Hermonville. Pehu strictly avoids the malolactic for all of his wines, including the red wines used for making rosé, as he believes that blocking the malo better preserves the finesse and expression of fruit in the long run.