Champagne Carré Frères - Le Champ Jeanvrai 2022
Champagne Carré Frères, with Le Champ Jeanvrai from the 2022 vintage, presents a rare single-vineyard cuvée from one of the most interesting sectors of Trépail, a Premier Cru village in the Montagne de Reims. Édouard and Victor Carré, heirs to a long family history in Champagne, embody a new generation of winemakers attentive to the precision of the sites and the vitality of the soils. Their estate covers about twenty-one hectares, spread between Trépail, Villers-Marmery, Verzy, Essoyes, and Les Riceys, with a strong sensitivity to single-vineyard vinifications. Le Champ Jeanvrai perfectly illustrates this approach, giving voice to a unique Chardonnay plot planted in 1964. This cuvée highlights a very singular facet of Chardonnay from the Montagne de Reims, broader, more chalky, and more structured than some expressions from the Côte des Blancs. The generous and luminous 2022 vintage enhances the wine's depth while maintaining remarkable tension. It is a terroir-driven Champagne, confidential and gastronomic, intended for lovers of precise, dry, and strongly identity-driven Blancs de Blancs.
The cuvée is made exclusively from Chardonnay, a grape variety that finds in Trépail an expression that is both energetic, ripe, and mineral. The plot, planted in 1964, brings naturally more concentrated matter, with greater density and depth. The chalky terroir supports the wine's balance and gives it that saline verticality that extends the palate. Barrel vinification adds structure, volume, and discreet complexity without seeking to dominate the fruit expression. The long aging allows the bubbles to gain finesse and the wine to settle into a more vinous dimension. The Extra-Brut dosage highlights the precision of the Chardonnay and lets the character of the place express itself directly. The result is a demanding, dry, and deep white Champagne, both ample in its matter and very restrained in its energy.
In the glass, this wine reveals an intense, chalky, and gastronomic Blanc de Blancs profile. The nose evokes ripe lemon, pear, yellow apple, white flowers, and white-fleshed fruits, with a slightly smoky nuance and a touch of fine brioche. The palate is ample, straight, and structured, carried by a fine bubble that accompanies the density of the Chardonnay without weighing it down. The balance rests on a very clear chalky tension, which restores verticality to the richness of the vintage. The finish is long, saline, and persistent, with notes of citrus, fresh almond, and wet stone. This Champagne can be enjoyed today after slight aeration, but it also has the necessary depth to evolve for a few years in the cellar. It will ideally accompany scallops, langoustines, a noble fish, creamy poultry, mushroom risotto, aged Comté cheese, or gastronomic cuisine around seafood products.
Grape variety: 100% Chardonnay
