Champagne Fluteau Coeur de Cuvée Extra Brut NV (375mL)
The heart of the blend -- 94 Point Grower Champagne from Fluteau!
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Why We Love It...
For four generations, the Fluteau family has crafted wines from their own estate vineyards, in their original winery. Neither rigid to traditional methods nor endlessly seeking the newest fads – these under-the-radar wines have struck an impeccable balance… a melding of time-honored techniques with the integration of the newest technological advances in an effort to make this spectacular portfolio of small production cuvees. The Côte des Bar is home to a new wave of avant-garde grower producers that are raising the bar of what it means to be Champagne, and yet, while Fluteau can stand proudly as a peer – it is nevertheless important to recognize that the region would scarcely have any grower producers at all if not for the pioneering efforts of the regions early houses like Fluteau. This area wasn’t even considered as Champagne before 1927, thanks to the 1911 classification. When the great houses of Reims at long last acquiesced to include the region, they ensured that neither Grand Cru nor Premier Cru status was granted to the vineyards and villages of the Côte des Bar. It was a place to source fruit for furtively blending, sure, but no great wine could be actually produced there. My, how times have changed!
This remarkably bubbly is based off the 2018 harvest, with 50% of the estate’s solera-style reserves rounding out the blend. The fruit is all from the sloping parcel known as Les Evallons – where 60-year-old vines of pinot noir grow on the region’s famous Kimmeridgian soils. Bright and complex aromas of Meyer lemon, fresh hay, and golden apples mingle with a salty sea spray minerality, plus plums and pluots, with grassy herbs – like pineapple sage and lemon verbena, and a final kiss of fruity sweetness that evokes golden raspberries. For a tiny bottle, there’s so much going on here – and all of it good! Only 4 grams dosage keeps this percolating and fresh, and perfect for a bite of food. I’d humbly suggest some vibrant and soulful bouillabaisse!
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Technical Details
Champagne Fluteau