R. Pouillon et Fils: Terroir and Tradition
7/6/16 -
Witnessing the growth of a vigneron is one of the great pleasures of working in wine. When a domain makes a jump in quality, from very good to excellent, it’s akin to a small epiphany, like discovering an extra layer of meaning in a one of your favorite books or watching ‘like’ turn to ‘love.’ One such grower is Fabrice Pouillon, whose Champagnes have become even more distinct and compelling as a result of his dedicated work in the vines. Since starting at his family’s estate in 1998, and taking over fully in 2004, Fabrice has prioritized organic farming: planting cover crops, utilizing organic composts and biodynamic preparations, and plowing, rather than using herbicides. With time, the efficacy of this work has resulted in vibrant, beautiful vineyards with lower yields and more vivid expression of terroir. To highlight this distinctiveness, individual parcels are pressed in his traditional wooden Coquard basket press and vinified separately. Primary fermentation for the vins clairs is with indigenous yeasts, in a mixture of tank, foudre, and used barrels, and all wines undergo malolactic fermentation.
The wines are rich and powerful without sacrificing precision, as befits a domain nearly 2/3 of whose holdings are in the calcareous clay soils of La Grande Vallée de la Marne. Pouillon has vines in both Aÿ and Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ, villages on south-facing slopes just to the east of Epernay. The grand cru Aÿ has been famed for its fine, pale, Pinot Noir since the Renaissance. Immediately to the east is the premier cru Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ, which contains some of Champagne’s most famous and terroir-specific vineyards: the precipitous south-facing, deeply chalky Clos des Goisses, and the limestone clays of Clos St. Hilaire. Both villages are notable for the robust, textured character of their wines.
Over the past few years, Pouillon has released a series of vintage-dated, terroir-specific Champagnes from individual lieu-dits in Aÿ and neighboring Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ. The 2008 Grand Cru Les Valnons Blanc de Blancs Extra-Brut displays the breed, power, and stony complexity of Aÿ. Its counterpart is the 2008 Les Blanchiens Brut Nature from a single vineyard in Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ. Composed of equal parts Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, this wine reveals an even greater sense of mineral cut, with profound umami character and savory soil notes underlying its fruit.
Perhaps the most striking of Fabrice Pouillon’s wines is the 2008 Chemin du Bois Blanc de Noirs from the eponymous lieu-dit downslope from Les Blanchiens. This Champagne is a striking expression of exceptionally ripe Pinot Noir grapes grown in Mareuil-Sur-Aÿ’s calcareous clays. It is also distinctive for Fabrice’s use of chilled, un-sulfured, unfermented grape must from his vines for both the liqueur de tirage, as well as for the dosage, rather than cane sugar or MCR (moût concentré rectifié or concentrated grape must). His idea is that unadulterated grape juice from local vineyards and its native yeasts will impart more specific terroir to the finished wine than the addition of sugar from the tropics or concentrated must from Languedoc. The finished wine is soulful, vinous Champagne, which seamlessly combines floral aromas and rich red fruits with a distinctly sapid earthiness. John McIlwain
