For four generations, the Fluteau family has been crafting wines from their estate vineyards and original winery in the charming village of Gyé-sur-Seine. Today, Jeremy Fluteau oversees winemaking, while his sister Adeline manages administration and sales. The Fluteau style blends time-honored techniques with the latest technological advances, creating a spectacular portfolio of small-production cuvées. Jeremy Fluteau is a practical winemaker, focused on reacting to, preventing, and minimizing the challenges faced by Champagne growers each season. Despite his stoicism, the wines he produces are expressive and a joy to drink, striking an impeccable balance that makes them truly under-the-radar gems.

The Côte des Bar is now a hub for innovative Grower Producers who are redefining Champagne. Fluteau, a peer among these avant-garde producers, also played a pioneering role in the region. Before 1927, this area wasn't even recognized as Champagne, thanks to the 1911 classification that excluded the entire Aube region. This forced local producers to label their wines as "Champagne deuxième zone," essentially "second-class Champagne." When the major houses of Reims finally agreed to include the region, they deliberately withheld Grand Cru or Premier Cru status from the Côte des Bar vineyards and villages. They viewed it as a mere source for blending fruit, believing no great wine could truly be produced there… but they were profoundly mistaken!

This 93-point "Rétrospective" bottling is a precise and intense cuvée, blending 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay. Primary fermentation takes place entirely in 228-liter French oak barrels, with the base cuvée from the 2019 harvest and 10% of the estate's perpetual reserve completing the blend. The lightly golden wine offers an explosive aromatic profile: golden apples, apricots, and highly perfumed lilacs and peonies. On the palate, Japanese Umeboshi plums lead with a slightly oxidative, very umami character, followed by white peach, nectarines, red cherries, saltwater taffy, and cider apples. The finish is long and precise, uplifted by bright, salty seaspray and a slate-y, river rock minerality, with spice accents of clove and nutmeg. This compact, vinous wine benefits from aeration in Burgundy bowls for optimum enjoyment – a savory wine for the sentient, undoubtedly!