Champagne Suenen - Nature, Vision, and Precision
8/17/2024
I’ve had enormous shoes to fill over the last couple of years, stepping into an interim role keeping Champagnes stocked at Chambers Street and maintaining our dedication to grower Champagnes from producers who, in the shadows of industrial negociants, focused on terroir and minimal intervention, and paved the way for an artisanal wine movement in the historied region. To some degree, I have been on “auto-pilot,” as most of the producers we carry have poured their wines at Chambers Street and have been on our shelves since we opened in the early 2000s, or for newer estates, since they started making wines. This is also the world of allocated bottles that are astronomically overpriced on the grey market (and by some retailers who arguably shouldn’t be profiting that much off the hard work of these vignerons), so my job has been mostly to stick to the Chambers Street “program,” say yes to the allocations, and try to discover some new talent when I have a chance.
Between the allocations that rarely grace our website (sometimes by request of the producers) and the household grower Champagne names on our shelf, there is one producer who stands squarely in the middle. The quality and precision of Aurelien Suenen’s wines is comparable to big names that are highly allocated, the wines get better every year as Aurelien hones his skill and refines his style, and the wines are available! To be fair, the shipments that Suenen’s importer receives each year are tiny, but due to our longstanding support of his wines, we are usually able to offer them to the public and put some bottles on the shelf too! I have not tried the 2017 single vineyard wines from Suenen, but I have had both the C+C and the Oiry from the 2020 base, and they are the best Champagnes I’ve had so far this year. They have that level of excellence that reminds us of why we love Champagne, and to be completely honest, the joy that Aurelien’s wines brings (through elation and gustatory impressiveness) is worth the price.
-Eben Lillie
Today's offer features the aforementioned Grand Cru Champagnes, C+C and Oiry, both from 2020 base, and the limited release single vineyard wines that Aurelien started producing in 2012 (with Les Robarts), all from 2017 vintage. We also have the unique Oenoteque wines available, offering a view of the domaine before Aurelien took over in 2009, and before the Grand Cru sites were bottled as single vineyards. I asked Aurelien about these wines as we have never sold them before and in fact only his US and South Korean importers received the wines, in tiny quantities.
As Aurelien explains: "Ce n’est pas vraiment un projet, simplement une volonté de présenter l’évolution du travail plus classique qui était réalisé dans le passé au domaine avant les évolutions culturales et la création des vins de lieux-dits. Il y aura environ 90 bouteilles sur chaque Millésime de 2006 à 2010."
"This is not really a project, simply a desire to present the evolution of the more classic work that was carried out in the past at the estate before the cultural developments and the creation of the lieux-dits wines. There will be approximately 90 bottles [released] of each vintage from 2006 to 2010."
To borrow from our esteemed colleague, John McIlwain: "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 crystaline 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
Aurelien Suenen and his US importer, Transatlantic Bubbles, both provided many detailed files with technical data, philosophical approach, pruning choices and site specific terroir analysis. If any of you out there want to deep dive into the mind and passion of Aurelien Suenen and his wines, please feel free to email us for these files. I will provide his notes on the single vineyard personalities, but there is truly too much information to include in this "sales offer" that is more of a love letter.
Les Robarts wines express themselves in depth. The complexity of this terroir through a dense matter is balanced with chiseled acidity. The energy brought by the salts makes the mouth feel light through silky bubbles. With time, the finish lengthens on the mineral and its iodine expression.
The wines of Mont-Aigu express themselves in generosity thanks to the southern exposure of the plot combined with low yields. The whiteness of the soils, which reflects the sun’s rays and rejects the heat accumulated during the day during the night, allows great ripeness. The richness of this terroir through a dense and finely iodized matter is balanced by delicate bitters. The energy of the limestone makes the mouth feel more chiseled through a creamy bubble with marine accents. Of a great aromatic persistence.
The wines from La Cocluette express themselves with finesse. The complexity of this terroir through an airy, finely iodized matter is balanced by fine bitters. The energy brought by this calcium-rich terroir makes the mouth feel richer trough a silky bubble. With time, the finish lengthens on a salivating mineral vibrancy.
La Grande Vigne wines express their finesse through the combination of the south-facing exposure of the plot, low yields and low maturity for this vintage. A refreshing, lightly iodized body balances the finesse of this terroir through fine bitterness. The complex clay composition provides a long, chiseled aftertaste.
