On the Trail with Le Brun de Neuville
Champagne Le Brun de Neuville is secreted away in a hidden valley. The village of Bethon is tucked away at the end of a long plain, full of wind farms and crops like wheat and colza. When you make the turn to descend into it, you are greeted by chalk hillsides, vines, and a beautiful old church. It is something to see and worth going out of the way for.
They were founded in 1963 by a group of growers who wanted to take control of their own production. Over time, they have invested and invested again in better and better equipment: state-of-the-art Coquard diagonal presses, small tanks for parcel-by-parcel fermentation, and beautiful foudre. To me, the best investment that they have made is the investment of time. They only keep 30% of their production for themselves, selling off the rest in bottles or as vin clair. The wines that they keep are gifted with long ageing—the youngest that we have in stock has spent 5 years on its lees before disgorgement, and the oldest 23 years. Additionally, they prioritize their reserve wines above everything, preferring to keep the best that they have for future blends. They have reserve wines going back 12 years, and a perpetual blend that goes back 10 vintages. This is the secret to their superlative quality and peerless texture.
Scotty and I tasted with Justine and Agathe from their sales team as well as Damien Champy, the president of the company and Gilles Baltazart who has been the chef de cave here since 1986. We started by tasting the five components of their blanc de blancs: four 2019s, one with malo, one without, one fermented with indigenous yeast, and one fermented in large oak as well as the blend of reserves. Afterwards, we tasted the finished blend, which will be bottled later this year. All the samples were fantastic, but the blend was greater than the sum of its parts, and surprisingly, at least to me, this final blend had a longer finish than any of them individually. This is a skilled team!
Afterwards, we went up stairs and tasted eight finished Champagnes, including a wonderful bottle of 2002 from their vinothéque that was full of warm-bread richness. These wines are capable of fabulous development after their long ageing on the lees. Ever since we first received it, I have been recommending the Le Brun de Neuville Authentique Assemblage as one of the top values for money at K&L. The current batch, which is based on the great, clean, even, and cool 2014 harvest is better than ever. The wine is composed of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir, all from their top sites in the Sezanne. It is aged for five years on the lees on a cork instead of a crown cap, so the cork that you take out to open it is the second one that has been in the bottle. This Champagne has the perfect, silky texture and ultra-fine bead that is usually only found in the best tête de cuvée offerings. I can’t think of anything else we stock that has this sort of finesse under $149.99 in the store, but I can think of many at over that price that aren’t as supple in the mouth. This nutty, creamy, deftly balanced Champagne is true affordable luxury.
We also have some new treats coming from them later in the year, including their tête de cuvée, the Lady N, which is based on 2007. More on that later. Stay tuned to the blog—we have many adventures in Champagne to come!
A toast to you!
- Gary Westby