Champagne Study - Aurelien Suenen

There's a great deal to admire in the Champagnes and ethic of Aurelien Suenen. His wines combine beautiful fruit with a frank minerality in a graceful way. This results from conscientious farming (Suenen has been in transition to organic certification since 2009) and deft work in the cellar (native yeast fermentation, natural malolactic fermentation, moderate use of sulfur, and dosage determined by blind tasting trial). Blessed by an array of well-situated parcels in the grand cru villages of Cramant, Chouilly, and Oiry (the latter of which he bottles as a single village wine), his progress as a grower has been inspiring to watch. Year after year his wines display greater precision, energy, and verve, even in difficult vintages. The wines are filigreed expressions of the different characters of chalk between Oiry and that of Chouilly and Cramant. Oiry is the brighter and lacier of the two cuvées, displaying brisk acidity, hints of lemon oil, and a crystalline finish, while C & C is equally chalky with more breadth and suppleness to the palate, with flavors of orange peel and salt spreading out on the broad powerful finish. The contrasts between the two is fascinating and a delicious exercise in tasting for lovers of terroir driven Champagnes.

-John McIlwain