One of the most exciting wine regions in France, Champagne lies just to the east of Paris. As with all […]
Keep ReadingOne of the most exciting wine regions in France, Champagne lies just to the east of Paris. As with all of the regions of France where vines can be found, wine has been produced here for millennia. The two major cities of the region, Reims and Troyes, were founded by the Romans in the 1st century AD, and where the Romans went, they brought viticulture. Champagne became a center for wine production and developed a reputation that would outlast Gaul’s Roman occupation. Despite being repeatedly devastated by war – unlucky is the region that stands between Paris and the border with Germany – Champagne has always rebuilt, replanted, and thrived.
Today, the vast majority of Champagne is bottled by large negociants who purchase grapes or wines from many smaller growers. These negociants may or may not have a say in how the grapes are grown or how the wines are made, and their ideal end-product is one that tastes the same year after year without accommodations made for terroir or vintage character. Grower champagne is typically from a narrower definition of terroir and often varies from year to year, showing the “flavor” of a unique place in Champagne. Roughly 2% of the Champagne exported to the United States comes from growers who grow their own fruit and make their own wines.
A model for the future of small, artisanal Champagne houses, Dosnon is the brainchild of Davy Dosnon who grew up in this beautiful region of rolling hills, wheat fields, and champagne vines. Davy studied viticulture and worked in top Burgundy wine houses before moving back to the village of Lingey in the Côte des Bar region of Champagne for the peace and quiet and to begin to reassemble his family’s vineyards.
The Côte des Bar is located in the southernmost area of Champagne in the Pays d’Aube. Politically and geologically, this sub-zone is as far as you can get from Reims and Épernay. When Champagne’s original borders were drawn, there was a lively debate on whether or not the Aube should be included. Here the terroir is starkly different from northern Champagne and its famed chalky soils. In the Aube, the terroir resembles that of Chablis – clay over Kimmeridgian and Portlandian limestone. These soils produce wines of great delineation, power, and purity.
Davy farms 7.5 hectares of vines around the villages of Avirey and Lingey, just half an hour north of Chablis. He owns just 2 hectares himself, and he rents the rest. The patchwork nature of the vineyards – intermixed with forest and fields of grain – shows the centuries-long work of identifying the rockiest and most suitable places to grow vines. Davy is descended from these pioneers, and he preserves many of their tools and records at his cellar.
The wines of Dosnon are masterfully mineral, vinous bottlings of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Fermenting entirely in former Puligny-Montrachet barrels, the champagnes might as well be Chablis with bubbles for all their mineral-packed goodness. Dosages are very low (if at all), and the wines benefit from the restraint. None of these wines are fined or filtered.
CloseView of the Côte des Bars from a vineyard south of Avirey-Lingey. Unlike the rest of Champagne. only the best Kimmeridgian and Portlandian soils are planted with vines.
Pinot Noir a few weeks before harvest, August 2015
The Côte des Bars has soils that are nearly identical with those in Chablis and Sancerre – quite distinct from the chalkier soils of the rest of Champagne. This is why the Pinot Noir from this region is so highly regarded.
Davy Dosnon discussing the geological processes that created his terroir with a fairly large sample.
Chardonnay right before pressing
The press at Champagne Dosnon – only the first pressing is used. The taille is sold and the must is sent to the local distiller
The small barrel cellar at Champagne Dosnon where the base wines are stored. The reserve wine is stored in tanks and foudre.
The small barrel cellar at Champagne Dosnon where the base wines are stored. The reserve wine is stored in tanks and foudre.
The small barrel cellar at Champagne Dosnon where the base wines are stored. The reserve wine is stored in tanks and foudre.
Separated by a few kilometers the smaller Ligney is home to Champagne Dosnon.
The larger village of Avirey with a prominent church indicating the historical wealth of this part of France.
The sleepy lane in Lingey infront of the entrance to Champagne Dosnon.
The 17th century cluster of buildings that houses Champagne Dosnon and Davy Dosnon's young family.
A large fossil found by Davy in one of his vineyards.
The harvest notebook of the estate dating from 1915-1967 and started by Davy's great grandfather. This entry is for 1939 where the last entry laconically remarks, "War was declared on Germany."
The Pays d'Aube, where the Côte des Bars is located, has it's capital in Troyes – a beautiful medieval town with several gothic churches, half timbered houses and an imposing cathedral. Troyes was founded by the Romans and was for centuries the seat of the Counts and Dukes of Champagne.