Truly, less than 5 cases is what we could get of this, and we fully expect it to be gone in a blink. Le Clos l'Abbé is located just outside of Epernay, near Hautvillers where the Marne Valley meets the Côte des Blancs. The estate belongs entirely to Hubert Soreau, following his parent’s purchase of a parcel in 1993, and his purchase of the remainder in 2003. These are old chardonnay vines planted on clay and silt above Cretaceous era limestone chalk.

Hubert Soreau is known as a quiet and thoughtful man, who walks among his vines as though he strolls through a garden. Each vine is known and regarded in turn, with thoughtful pruning (in the Chablis-style), and no use of herbicides or pesticides. All the fruit is hand harvested, as they were a thousand years ago, vertically pressed, and fermented in large oak barrels cut from the nearby forest in Hautvillers. The wine is aged on the lees for over 8 years, and quite uniquely, spends that initial bottling under natural cork, instead of the far more popular crown “soda pop” caps used by most every house today. The wine is Brut Nature – meaning that no added sugar is introduced after the time on the lees, just topped off as needed with enough Champagne to ensure the neck is filled before the final corking. For tasting notes, we’re going to mix it up a bit – this is coming from a friend of Hubert, who is responsible for the house’s unique website. We collectively loved it, and thought you might too.

“It looks great in the glass: pale, shiny and golden colored, small bubbles regularly rising to the surface. It's almost ruminant… By the way, I poured it into a wine glass and not into a Champagne flute. The latter is perfectly adapted to sparkling wines that want to emphasize the splendor of their bubbles. But it's far too small and tight for wines with a complex bouquet. Those wines deserve better, they need space!

The Clos l’Abbé gratefully fills the entire space I’ve offered to him with the smell of ripe peaches and pears, as well as with aromas of hazelnut and butter. After a little while the wine has opened up a little, adding white pepper and dried apricots to its bouquet. Despite the fact that my nose would love to hang on a little longer, my palate insists to taste and drink at last. The straight minerality of the wine surprises at first, but it rapidly melts away amongst the mellow and smooth mouthfeel. The fine bubbles are perfectly integrated, and delicate fragrances of almonds and blossoms enrich the aromatic final.”