Didier Mariotti the eleventh chef de cave of Veuve Clicquot, probably essentially the most icnonic Champagne home of all occasions.
Didier is a gentleman of Corsican and Burgundian origins issued from a household of winemakers. A professional agronomist, he moved to Champagne the place he obtained a level in Enology from the College of Reims. With such background, he went into champagne making for a number of main homes, finally becoming a member of Veuve Clicquotin in 2019 to switch long-serving Dominique Demarville. Together with his distinctive aplomb and smile, he explains how advanced and detailed is the making of Veuve Clicquot champagnes, and significantly of Yellow Label–among the many hottest champagnes in any market–which ought to all the time be of the identical top quality and distinctive style, yr after yr.
How do you outline the Veuve Clicquot model?
I outline the Veuve Clicquot model with that of Yellow Label, our brut non-vintage champagne which embodies the id of the home. It has fragrant complexity, some notes of evolution, and a whole lot of liveliness, for a lightweight, refreshing model that makes you wish to come again to it.
In the course of the tasting, you respect its white and yellow fruits and when the wine opens within the glass you understand delicate notes of dried fruits, hazelnuts, praline, a little bit of nougat and honey that come from the reserve wines, particularly the older ones. All this with all the time a whole lot of freshness. That’s the Veuve Clicquot model: generosity with pep.
That’s the Veuve Clicquot model: generosity with pep.
Inform us concerning the mix of Yellow Label and the position of reserve wines.
Yellow Label is manufactured from 50-55% pinot noir–the emblematic grape of our home which dominates all our cuvées with completely different expressions of depth and complexity–that offers it construction. Chardonnay (28-33%) brings class and finesse, and a low share of pinot meunier (15-20%) completes the mix. The grapes come from 50 to 60 completely different vintages.
Yellow Label is our flagship wine and should due to this fact all the time be the identical, with the identical degree of high quality, and this isn’t all the time simple, particularly with tough harvests. To attain this consistency, Yellow Label incorporates between 30 and 45% of reserve wines relying on the profile of the bottom yr. It then ages within the cellar for at least three years earlier than disgorgement and receives a dosage of 10 g/l.
Our assortment of reserve wines is probably the biggest in Champagne. Between the wines of the yr and the reserve wines now we have practically 1,000 wines that we style recurrently.
Our assortment of reserve wines is probably the biggest in Champagne. We have now practically 1,000 wines that we style recurrently.
The work begins when all of the wines of the classic are famous very exactly in keeping with 10 standards. Upon this, we resolve whether or not to make use of them within the blends of the yr or to maintain them as reserve wines.
All our reserve wines endure MLF and are stored individually, unfiltered, by grape selection, cru, and classic. We style them each six months to research their profiles and attempt to anticipate their improvement, perceive their getting old potential and get a extra exact concept of every considered one of them.
We divide our reserve wines into three varieties: younger wines between 1 and three years previous which symbolize the majority. Then the mature wines which can be between 4 and 10 years previous, which nonetheless symbolize a major quantity. And at last, the wines which can be older than 10 years (as much as 1988), which we name “spices” since you don’t want a lot so as to add one thing to the mix. It’s like cooking: spices are a contact that makes all of the distinction.
In Yellow Label 50-60% of reserve wines are younger, 40-45% of wines are extra mature, and 1-3% are “spices”. However for every mix, we alter in keeping with the harvest of the yr. With ripe and wealthy harvests, we’ll embrace youthful wines to revive the mix, and all the time embrace the spices in small touches. However with reasonably contemporary harvests, we’ll embrace extra mature wines.
Due to this work of precision, we handle to precise the Veuve Clicquot model reasonably than the classic for a Yellow Label constant in model and high quality, with a sure complexity however all the time contemporary and lightweight.
However for customers in search of extra vinosity, construction and complexity, we provide Veuve Clicquot Réserve Cuvée Brut, a Yellow Label with one yr of extra cellar getting old and one yr after dosages as a substitute of six months, with a liqueur of dosage that comes with a little bit of oak so as to add a little bit of construction and complexity.
In 2017 you launched Further Brut Further Previous (EBEO), a champagne made solely with reserve wines. What’s the genesis of this revolutionary cuvée?
The id of Veuve Clicquot is strongly anchored in its historical past which is the premise of our line of conduct. On the identical time, the home all the time has an open ear for what’s going on on this planet. When Madame Clicquot invented rosé champagne by mixing, she innovated. When she invented riddling, she innovated. Because of this we’re all the time given the prospect to attempt new issues, and that’s what we did with EBEO, but in addition with La Grande Dame, our préstige cuvée that now we have relaunched.
We’re all the time given the prospect to attempt new issues, and that’s what we did with Further Brut Further Previous, but in addition with La Grande Dame that now we have relaunched.
In EBEO the mix is just like Yellow Label, with pinot noir dominating (50%) and roughly the identical proportions for chardonnay and meunier, however we solely use reserve wines, with the youngest wine from 2010 and the oldest from 1988, and in EBEO 2 we go from 2012 again to 1990.
The youthful wines of the mix should be saved for at least 3 years in stainless-steel vats plus 3 years in bottles getting old within the cellar.
This cuvée receives a dosage of three g/l as a result of the wine has a lot construction and depth that it wants little or no dosage.
I like this cuvée, with much less freshness than Yellow Label however riper fruits, and even aromas of spices, with a really elegant evolution that offers complexity to the wine.
What’s your philosophy on dosage? Can we think about EBEO brut nature sooner or later?
Dosage is essential as a result of it’s the final second you work together with the wine. An important for me is the wine you utilize to make the liqueur de dosage, which impacts the champagne. What issues is the wine, and the ultimate contact represented by dosage might be omitted in some wines, however not a priori. I all the time wish to have the liberty so as to add dosage if I have to. I hearken to the wine and resolve the right way to categorical it greatest, with the correct amount of sugar and the best reserve wine to make the liqueur de dosage.
I all the time wish to have the liberty so as to add dosage if I have to. I hearken to the wine and resolve the right way to categorical it greatest.
Together with your meticulous use of reserve wines, you’ll be able to produce non-vintage champagnes of constant top quality through the years. Nonetheless, many BSA champagnes made by growers are much less constant, however that doesn’t stop them from being appreciated. What’s your tackle that?
Our precedence is to ensure to our customers the identical model and high quality yearly. That is significantly true for Yellow Label. The method to attain that is extraordinarily rigorous and we grasp it.
Our precedence is to ensure to our customers the identical model and high quality yearly.
With their BSA, winegrowers usually categorical the traits of every harvest as a result of they embrace little or no reserve wines. I discover this strategy intellectually attention-grabbing as a result of is classic champagne just for nice years? Every harvest has completely different expressions and a few homes have achieved lovely issues in tough years.
I believe that in Champagne we should all the time attempt for excellence, seek for high quality and perfection whereas leaving room for everybody to precise their model and concepts.
Your predecessor, Dominique Demarville, additionally introduced his concepts by enhancing La Grande Dame. Inform us about your status cuvée and the way it differs out of your Classic.
I thank Dominique as a result of he dared to significantly improve the proportion of Pinot Noir to 92% on this cuvée with the 2008 classic (the remaining 8% being Chardonnay). It’s a change that makes all of the distinction.
What we’re in search of with La Grande Dame, is a fragile, very exact, very chiseled wine, with stress, vitality, liveliness. For this, many pinots noirs come from the Montagne de Reims north, particularly Verzy and Verzenay. They bring about this stress, this salinity, with class and pep.
What we’re in search of with La Grande Dame, is a fragile, very exact, very chiseled wine, with stress, vitality, liveliness.
Classic is a “southern” wine, hotter, extra joyful, rounder. Right here, the pinots noirs make 65% of the mix. They arrive from Aÿ, Bouzy, and Ambonnay whose wines are bolder, with texture and physique.
There can be some variations in every classic, however general, that is our strategy for La Grande Dame and Classic, with two fully completely different expressions of pinot noir. For me, Classic is to be loved mendacity on a settee, with a dish. But when I want one thing that tones me up, La Grande Dame offers me that vitality.
Classic and La Grande Dame are additionally out there in rosé, and also you even have Rosé brut. Inform us about your rosés.
In 1818, Madame Clicquot was the primary to mix white wine with purple wine in Champagne, so rosé champagne is embedded in our historical past and our DNA.
In 1818 Madame Clicquot was the primary to mix white wine with purple wine in Champagne, so rosé champagne is embedded in our historical past and our DNA.
In Champagne, some make mild rosés and others a lot stronger rosés.
Our Rosé (brut) is a sharing cuvée, with a refreshing aspect. It’s the identical mix of Yellow Label with 12% purple wine added to it, which we produce in Bouzy through the use of Burgundy-type maceration. These purple wines are 90-98% pinots noirs with some meuniers.
Then again, in Rosé Classic 2008 we use 61% pinot noir, 34% chardonnay, and 5% meunier. Pinot noir purple wines from Bouzy full this cuvée. Classic Rosé is highly effective, with roundness; it’s a rosé champagne for meals.
And La Grande Dame Rosé 2008 continues to be made out of 8% chardonnay and 92% pinot noir, however right here 14% is vinified in purple. These pinots come from Clos Colin in Bouzy, one of many historic plots of Veuve Clicquot’s winery. It is a extra elegant rosé. Ans since 2008 we additionally embrace a tiny little bit of wines fermented in oak casks (5%), which stay very discreet as a result of for me wine is a query of concord. Wooden is the contact of man, so we should add it whereas respecting the wine.
Wooden is the contact of man, so we should add it whereas respecting the wine.
Recently, the Champagne area has been implementing extra attentive viticulture practices. On this context, natural farming is increasing, though stays very marginal (3% of the winery in 2020). Can we think about a 100% natural Champagne winery?
I like natural, I purchase natural merchandise, however natural is tough in Champagne, given the climatic hazards and vagaries that have an effect on our area. We frequently have very low temperatures, frost, and a whole lot of rain.
I discover it very impactful for the land, for our winery, for our heritage, to convey 100% of the Champagne area in the direction of a viticulture that’s extra respectful of the setting. On this regard, Veuve Clicquot has already stopped utilizing herbicides and has applied a pricing coverage with premiums for grapes from vineyards with out herbicides or licensed for sustainable viticulture.
As soon as the entire area achieves this, will probably be a lot simpler to maneuver in the direction of natural viticulture. We should get there step-by-step.
Veuve Clicquot has stopped utilizing herbicides and has applied a pricing coverage with premiums for grapes from licensed sustainable viticulture.
What’s champagne to you?
Earlier than arriving in Champagne, I thought-about champagne the way in which most customers do: a festive wine to have fun the joyful moments in life. That is extraordinary.
However right here I found that champagne is a superb wine with such a variety of expressions within the vary of every home, and between homes, and with an awesome capability to age due to its effervescence.
Champagne is a superb wine but in addition a magical product, which brings a whole lot of pleasure. We wish to have fun all the fantastic thing about life with a glass of champagne.
So champagne is a superb wine but in addition a magical product, which brings a whole lot of pleasure. We wish to have fun all the fantastic thing about life with a glass of champagne. Champagne is a second of sharing. I can drink wine by myself, however champagne by myself, by no means!
