Westby on the Champagne Trail at Louise Brison

On Monday, Scott and I started our journey in Champagne down south in the Aube department. Driving to Noe-les-Mallets is a wonderful journey into the French countryside and one of the most serene places in Champagne. Champagne Louise Brison is almost the only thing in town—there is not even a baker in the village.

Delphine Brulez, the owner and winemaker, took us on a tour of the winery and showed us the new press that she installed for the 2019 harvest. She now has two—one traditional Coquard basket press, and, now, also a pneumatic press. She told us that the extra capacity was more than a convenience, and that having the ability to press two “marc” of 4000 kilos at the same time has increased quality by decreasing the time that the grapes spend in bins after being picked.

At Champagne Louise Brison, everything is grown organically, and all her wine is barrel fermented in used oak from Burgundy. Our next stop was the barrel room where we tasted her 2019s. Most everyone in Champagne had a full-sized harvest in 2019, after a bigger than full sized harvest in 2018. But because hail damaged the wood of her vines two years ago, Delphine only got half of a normal yield. Hopefully 2020 will be better—or our glasses will be empty! The quality, however, was superlative. The wines are full bodied and ripe, with an average of 11.8% potential alcohol, a gigantic number for a place at Fargo North Dakota’s latitude. Her Chardonnay from the 40-year-old “le Cabin” plot stood out as amazingly complex and Corton-Charlamagne-like with layers of nutty aromas and precise minerality.

This year was so ripe and rich that she will make Côteaux de Champenois red and white wine, without bubbles as well as her normal range of Champagne. These still wines were in the middle of malo, so we did not taste them, but I am looking forward to checking them out when they are ready. Afterwards, we did a dosage trial for her 2015 vintage that will be released at the end of this year. We tasted the same Champagne at four different levels of dosage, starting at zero, and all of us seemed to like the version at 2 grams per liter the best. It is incredible to me that the 15s are ripe enough that just 2 grams is enough to make a balanced brut! The wine was open, with savory red cherry and fresh-baked baguette aromas with plenty of body and richness. It will be great to have this next year!

The star of the show for me was the 2014 Louise Brison Brut Champagne. Composed of half each Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and dosed at 3 grams per liter, it comes across as drier than the 2015 did even at zero dosage. This vintage, which had a cool, long, even growing season, is an endangered species in a warming region. The Chardonnay minerality of the Aube is strong in this wine, with clean earth like the best of Chablis. It also has a great Rainer cherry component and subtle sourdough toast aromas. This is lovely, lively, long finishing Champagne that tastes great now, but will age effortlessly for decades. When I get back, I am putting some in my cellar!