Wine Review: Perrier-Jouët Cuvée Belle Époque Brut Champagne 2013

“You do not need to wait for a celebration to pop Champagne” – Liz Palmer

Perrier-Jouët released the 2013 vintage of its prestige cuvée, Belle Epoque mid 2021.

Blend
Made from a blend of 50% grand cru Chardonnay, 45% grand cru Pinot Noir and 5% Meunier, the 2013 vintage embodies the delicate floral style that has come to define the house.

2013 Weather
2013 was a cool year, with late flowering in July pushing back the start of the harvest to September 30. It was a particularly good year for Chardonnay.

Severine Frerson, Perrier-Jouët’s first female cellar master describes the Champagne as “pale gold in colour, with subtle glints of apple green”, and notes of “ripe pear, grapefruit zest, ginger, tangerine and a hint of green pepper”.

“Lime blossom expresses the character, personality and texture of the 2013 vintage”, she said, adding that the fizz has a “delicate salinity” to it.

Serving and Pairing
Perrier-Jouët recommends serving the Champagne at 12°C and enjoying it as an apéritif or paired with the likes of Dover sole and grilled turbot.

Bottle Design
Features its distinctive “anemone” flower motif, the Belle Epoque bottle design was created in 1902 by Emile Gallé, a prominent player in the Art Nouveau movement.

Founded in 1811 in Epernay, Perrier-Jouët is known for its elegant, floral Champagnes that celebrate the delicacy of Chardonnay. The house owns 65 hectares of vineyards, including 55ha of grand cru sites. Its prestige cuvée, Belle Epoque, launched in 1969 at Maxim’s in Paris with the 1964 vintage. The debut vintage of Belle Epoque was practically a blanc de blancs, composed of 90% Chardonnay.

Tasting Notes
Pale gold, clear and luminous with aromas of ripe, juicy pear, hints of citrus and green pepper; a subtle salinity; generous, lively attack with a lush, creamy texture; beautiful floral notes of blossoms, complemented with pear, mandarin, and some grapefruit zest through to a long, expansive finish.

94 points

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Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte and CRVC merge to form “Terroirs et Vignerons de Champagne”

This week documents were signed for the merger of Nicolas Feuillatte and Coopérative Régionale des Vins de Champagne (CRVC) with closing on December 31.

The combined entity will be known as “Terroirs et Vignerons de Champagne”, and is projecting 2022 turnover of €287 million ($322m) on volume of 20 million bottles (1.7 million cases)—including 14.3 million bottles of its own brands—and brings together approximately 6,000 wine growers and 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) spread over the entire appellation, representing nearly 9% of the Champagne vineyard area.

Terroirs et Vignerons de Champagne’s brand stable includes Feuillatte’s namesake label, the Abelé 1757 brand Feuillatte acquired in 2019, and CRVC’s Castelnau brand, each of which will constitute a “profit center” with direct responsibility for commercial revenues, economic performance, and development, according to the company. Feuillatte president Veronique Blin and CEO Christophe Juarez will hold the same titles at Terroirs et Vignerons de Champagne.

“The creation of this new group is a reflection of the continued consolidation of more and more players in Champagne as well as the need for a restructuring of the cooperative model. It is a response to the downward spiral in vineyard sales observed since the last crisis in Champagne in 2008 where the appellation saw the loss of 40 million bottles on the French market,” Blin said in a statement. Juarez added that the newly enlarged group will strive “to meet the various segments of the market by preserving brand equity, focusing on the international market and not giving in to the pressure of commercial promotions.”

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2021 Champagne Shipments are back to pre-Covid Levels

Champagne shipments for 2021 are expected to reach 305 million bottles, a total that takes the market not only back up to pre-Covid levels, but beyond them, reports Reuters last week.

The forecast comes on the back of surging post-pandemic Champagne demand in markets such as the US, UK, and Australia.

If last week’s projection comes to be true this will take Champagne close to its 2017 levels, and this means 2021 could represent a four-year high for the region – see figures below.

Champagne shipments (bottles) 1999- 2021 with totals:

2021: estimated 305m

2020: 245.0m

2019: 297.5m

2018: 301.9m

2017: 307.3m

2016: 306.1m

2015: 313m

2014: 307m

2013: 305m

2012: 309m

2011: 323m

2010: 319m

2009: 293m

2008: 322.5

2007: 338.7

2006: 321.8

2005: 307.7m

2004: 301.4

2003: 293.5

2002: 287.7

2001: 262.7m

2000: 253.2m

1999: 327.0m

 

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Mumm 2021 Harvest – Part lll – “Only the Best”

Mumm 2021 Harvest – Part lll – “Only the Best”

The region’s harvest officially started September 6th this year.  The Comité Champagne announced that as much as 60% of the yield was lost due to poor weather conditions where the grapes succumbed to botrytis and mildew.

The grapes are picked around 100 days after the vines have flowered and when they are the ripest. As required by The Comité Champagne, picking is exclusively by hand, vineyard parcel by vineyard parcel, bunch by bunch. Maison Mumm employs around 1,000 grape pickers for this three-week period.

Prior to picking, MaisonMumm sends a Collard machine down the rows.  This will do some partial trimming to make it easier for the grape pickers. Once the grapes are picked, they are placed in yellow bins. Laurent Frenet [Chef de Cave of Maison Mumm] strategy is not to keep the grapes too long before pressing – once the bins are full, they are rushed off to the press houses. Mumm has seven traditional presses ‘Coquard presses’, near its vineyards.

The grapes are sorted at the vineyard level and as per Georges Hermann de Mumm’s maxim “Only the best” bunches are picked.

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Mumm 2021 Harvest – Part ll – Regenerative Viticulture

We joined Bernard Pineau (Sustainable Viticulture Manager at Martell Mumm Perrier-Jouët) in the vineyards. Bernard took us to some of the north-facing slopes in Verzenay and Mailly.

Not only is it harvest time, but it’s also the end of a very difficult growing season. The Champagne region was hit with spring frosts, and heavy summer rains which has led to mildew fungus.

The Chef de Caves Laurent Frenet, who also joined us later, says ‘The best areas are the north and south of the Montagne de Reims, especially the black grapes.” and “…the best quality and quantity are coming from Verzenay, Verzy, Ambonnay and Bouzy this year..”

G.H Mumm currently owns 215 hectares of vineyards in some of the finest terroirs in Champagne which are rated 98% on the champagne quality scale. These micro-terroirs are located in Aÿ, Bouzy, Ambonnay, Verzy, Verzenay, Avize, Cramant and Mailly-Champagne. Mumm makes arrangements, each year, to purchase grapes from independent growers to meet their needs.

Bernard, who heads up the sustainable development objectives for 2030, explains that he has moved away from chemicals “weed control and systematic treatments are over…It’s now all about observation.” He has set up experimental programs in regenerative agriculture in some of their vineyards.

Bernard goes on to say, “we’re looking at the best that can be found among organic, biodynamic and agroforestry techniques.” He wants to reduce chemical inputs without “restricting to organic farming, which is too reliant on copper.”

Bernard goes on to explain that regenerative viticulture has shown to improve sub-surface microbial life, and root health and having a complex system of cover crops with grass and clover ensures that “weeds don’t get a foothold”. These plant covers are planted just after the harvest by direct drill. Bernard goes on to say “This reduces the carbon footprint and keeps carbon in the ground ..keeps the nutrients in the ground.”

“The ground is the motor, and you have to fuel it with (this) with energy”

Bernard and his team’s strategy:

  1. Fertilizing the ground with natural oils and other natural processes – no herbicides have been used for the past three years;
  2. Use AI [Bitobot – atomatic care of the grass]; and
  3. Adapting the ground to global warming.

Bernard Pineau (Sustainable Viticulture Manager at Martell Mumm Perrier-Jouët) clearly states: “Regenerative viticulture is the best model – we are convinced” “It is already working for potato and the cereal industry.”

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