New Champagne Discovery: Cordoin Didierlaurent
Even though I have been travelling to Champagne two to three times every year for 23 years, there is still so much to discover. This May, one of the biggest discoveries I have had in a long time came in the sleepy Marne River town of Port-a-Binson at Champagne Cordoin Didierlaurent. There I met Pierre-Emanuel Cordoin, vine grower and winemaker for this 21-acre estate and tasted his fantastic wines. Pierre-Emanuel is a believer in small, old oak barrels, and everything he makes is barrel fermented and aged in barrel for about six months. Currently, he sells 35% of his production as still wines to negociants, and only keeps his best 65% for himself. His wines have more depth and power than most, but they never come off to heavy or vinous, thanks to his extremely deft hand with the winemaking, and his luck with the vineyard that he has inherited in the central Marne villages of Port-a-Binson and Leuvrigny. His 300-year-old cellar is a bit narrow and tricky to work in, but provides him with perfect cool, consistent temperatures.
The Cordoin Didierlaurent Brut Réserve Champagne $39.99 is a great introduction to Pierre-Emanuel’s style, and the current batch is entirely 2019, which is a vintage to watch for the future. It is composed of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Meunier and in a seamless style with hidden concentration—I wrote in my notebook at the time “like a top class Blanc de Blancs with an extra dimension.” That dimension is fine, subtle spiced pear on top of a frame of baguette toast. It is very special to me to offer a wine of this class, all barrel fermented at under $40!
With its super gold embossed label, the Cordoin Didierlaurent "Louise Antoinette" Blanc de Blancs Brut Champagne $49.99 looks like it is ready for the night club, but the wine inside is ready for your very best lobster recipe. The nose is loaded with cream and vanilla and even smells a little toasty sweet, but the full bodied, luscious Chardonnay inside is as dry as it is complex. This comes entirely from Chardonnay on the banks of the Marne in Port-a-Binson.
I haven’t tasted another single-vineyard Champagne as good as the Cordoin Didierlaurent "Les Grands Champs" Champagne $79.99 that I tasted in May. Unfortunately, we were only able to get 60 bottles of this 100% Meunier nectar from Pierre-Emanuel for this year. It comes from a plot named Les Grands Champs, literally “the great field,” in the village of Leuvrigny, planted 80 years ago. This less-than-one acre plot is highlighted on the map on the front label and is located in the heart of the best terroir in the world for this grape variety. I wrote in my notebook “one of the top wines of the trip,” and this was my very last appointment. Top class Meunier does its best when barrel fermented, and this is one of the few wines that remind of the great Réne Collard wines of the past with not just depth, but also freshness on the top level. It has a white gold color, aromas of white truffles, subtle tarte tatin and a great line of lengthening acidity which carries of the super minerality of the finish. A grand Champagne.
A toast to you!
- Gary Westby, K&L Champagne Buyer