Photo Courtesy of Vouette & Sorbee

Back Vintage Vouette & Sorbee
Champagne Deliciousness

Champagne Vouette & Sorbee from Bertrand Gautherot is one of the most dynamic properties in the Aube. Certified organic and biodynamic, Gautherot’s Champagne are among the area's finest and are the result of Gautherot’s love and admiration for nature and farming foremost.

“The champagnes of Vouette et Sorbée are uncompromisingly original, possessing deep, vinous aromas and assertive personalities, and their intensity of character makes them more suitable to contemplative drinking or to accompanying food than to casual sipping.”
– Peter Liem, Champagne Guide.net & co-founder of La Fete du Champagne

Inspired by his friends Anselme Selosse, Jerome Prevost and Pierre Larmandier, Bertrand Gautherot set out to create his own Champagne house, breaking the tradition of the family to sell their grapes to the larger negociants and farming for large yield with chemical fertilizers. In the mid-1990s he began the conversion to biodynamics and in 1998 achieved Demeter certification and released his first Champagne in 2001.

Situated in the Cotes de Bar, this portion of Champagne has more in common with Chablis than the heart of Champagne itself. Here the soil is denser, more compact and composed of Kimmeridgian (in Chablis they call this chalk) and Portlandian limestone and clay soils much like the Grand Cru of Chablis. This soil composition is vastly different from the chalk of northern Champagne that is frail, brittle, and frankly chalky. The mineral intensity of Kimmeridgian is more fossilized and transmits a more dramatic feel and aroma compared to the refined character in the north. This combined with the clay yields wines of greater texture and power typically but most importantly permits for a longer vine hang time that ultimately does not require the Champagne to need a dosage.

Fidèle is 100% Pinot Noir mainly from the lieux-dits of Fonnet and Briaunes that are based on rocky Kimmeridgian and Portlandian limestone clay soils. Everything is hand harvested and fermented with natural yeast in French oak barrels with minimal SO2. Fidele is then left 20 months sur latte before disgorgement without any dosage. The results are deep colors, distinct red fruit profiles that are forward and lush. The Champagne is typically vinous, lively, and dangerously tasty.

Blanc d'Argile is mainly from a small parcel of Chardonnay in Briaunes. Here the site is clay atop Kimmeridgian limestone. Blanc d’Argile typically only sees 18 months on the lees before disgorgement without dosage. Much smaller production in volume now, Blanc d’Argile has been the harder Champagne to secure in quantity over the years but luckily is set to increase when the young vines in Vouette begin to bear acceptable fruit. Mineral is always the first descriptor for Blanc d’Argile that is engulfed with nougat, salt, citrus peel and tart green apples. The texture is bold yet piercing and the finish just seems to extend for minutes. Grand Cru Chablis with bubbles just might be the best way to describe Blanc d’Argile.

Cheers,
Jeremy