Jerome Coessens Largillier Exogyre Extra Brut Champagne

Solera. This is quite a wonderfully singular wine from a site that Jerome normally releases as a single vintage. Backing up a step or two the Coessens family has been down in the Aube for five generations. Jerome started his career as a large Champagne group where over the course of seven years he worked his way up to Chef de Culture. At the age of 28 in 2006, he decided to return to the family plot and produce Champagne in a decidedly Burgundian vien. While the Coessens name may not be familiar, those that follow Champagne in the Aube may already be acquainted with his land: Largillier. (As a side note, Guillaume Selosse produces a lieu diet from this plot that goes for borderline bonkers prices in the 600 plus range these days.)

This is a single contiguous plot of Pinot Noir that is a monopole of the Coessens family, the soils have a high clay content with bands of marine fossils. It is from these marine fossils that this cuvee gets its name. As mentioned in the upfront, this is a solera from the Largillier site that is a blend of every vintage that Jerome has made from when he started in 2006 through 2015. While this may have only spent 25 months on its lees this wowed us when we tasted it with a deep sense of structure, walnuts, dried stone fruits, sugar plums, pastry and a sense of clay minerality. The palate is profound and our wine buyer stated that it called to mind tasting a flight of Roses de Jeanne in the spring. Michael Kennel, D&M