Champagne Savart & Drémont Père & Fils Noir et Blanc Éphémère 025 Brut Nature Grand Cru

This is a wine shrouded in appeal – sitting pretty on some of the world’s best wine lists, like Saison and Eleven Madison Park in the States, Trivet in London, and Alchemist in Copenhagen – and hardcore Champagne devotees are simply ravenous for the elusive Éphémère micro-production collection… ourselves included. Undoubtedly, a huge part of that is the name, Frédéric Savart – the winemaking wizard behind the curtain for this exciting project.

Apart from his day job, crafting rare Champagnes under his eponymous label, Frédéric Savart started this project in 2014 to highlight and feature some of Champagnes' less famous sites. Vineyards that were underachieving – according to him, at least – and in need of a skilled hand and a branding nudge. He partnered with Phillipe Drémont – a small house with holdings in the Grand Crus of the Côte des Blancs (Avize, Oger, and Le Mesnil) and they began scouring properties willing to allow this new team to make a one-off production of Champagne, from these unique sites, in extremely limited quantities (only 9,986 bottles of this cuvée) to be labeled and sold under the name Éphémère. Each cuvée gets a number, identifying this bottling as the 25th release under this partnership.

Fred consults on the farming and the harvest – guiding the fermentations to achieve the maximum quality. The aging occurs in the Drémont cellars in Sillery, in the Marne Department, where careful aging over the years is determined on a case-by-case basis – through rigorous tasting and dosage trials by the team. For this cuvée, the wine is based on the 2018 vintage, with 74% Chardonnay coming from Cramant, Mesnil, Avize, and Oger Grand Crus, and 26% Pinot Noir from Ambonnay and Bouzy Grand Crus. The wine is aged on the lees for a full 48 months, with no added dosage.

The result is one of the more unique wines I’ve tasted from Champagne – in the best possible way! Pale yellow straw in color, the perlage is subtle and soft, yet persistent, and the aromas enter with fresh-cut grass, chamomile, and some orange blossom and coriander seeds. The mouthfeel is broad and expansive – with crisp, citrine flavors of Eureka lemon, Valencia orange, oyster shells, raspberries, and black cherries. There’s a piquant spiciness on the finish – somewhere between Szechuan peppercorns and chipped flint. This is very elegant, with both the Chardonnay of the Côte de Blancs and the Pinot Noir of the Montagne de Reims standing out as individuals that nevertheless come together to create something synergistically more marvelous than either component could achieve on its own. Extremely quality stuff, and impossibly hard to find, especially at this price. Don’t hesitate to make this cult-y cool Champagne yours!