A Much-Awaited New Cuvée from Ruinart
This Wednesday I was invited to dinner at Selby’s by Louise Bryden, head of research and development and part of the winemaking team at Champagne Ruinart. She is touring the West Coast for the release of the Ruinart Blanc Singulier Brut Nature, the first new cuvée to be released by Ruinart since the non-vintage blanc de blancs over 20 years ago. It was a fantastic evening, and we were even served by the Ruinart Challenge winner—Lindsey Young from Selby’s—who had taken the prize that very morning in San Francisco!
Having Louise present this wine was ideal, as she is at the forefront of Ruinart’s efforts to battle the effects of climate change and keep the freshness that is the trademark of their Champagnes. She is responsible for a 100-acre parcel in Taissy, on the north side of the Mountain of Reims, where Ruinart is reintroducing biodiversity. They have already planted close to 20,000 trees surrounding this vineyard, as well as 4.5 kilometers of hedges. This project started in 2021, and Louise herself has been surprised by how quickly the positive results have come. The protection is already giving these vines an advantage of freshness, and the trees will only grow in the future. I hope one day to taste a single vineyard cuvée from here, but at the once per two-decade pace that Ruinart adds new wine to their line, I won’t be holding my breath.
Louise says that the Ruinart Blanc Singulier is a way of accepting the challenge of hotter vintages. This is a present reality in Champagne, and not just a threat in the future; she explained that there have been seven harvests that started in August in the past 20 years, something that used to be a real rarity in the region. It is now happening nearly every other year! The wine is made by blind tasting selection, searching out parcels that can come together to make a cuvée that does not need any sugar. The current batch is based on 2018, the hottest vintage of all time in Champagne, which is fermented in stainless and backed up by 20% reserve wines, half from giant foudres of 5000 liters and half from stainless steel tanks. The dosage is zero, and the wine is in perfect balance without sugar.
I had the wine with Osetra caviar and deliscious truffle pasta, both of which were heavenly pairings, but this wine was rich enough to have on its own as the aperitif as well. It had an open, expressive nose of melon and fresh baguette, and in the mouth, it was super saline and balanced by more white fruit. The finish was quite long for a zero-dosage wine, with lots and lots of chalky minerality. This is a great success and a completely different expression of the Ruinart style. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a little allocation… All we can offer right now is a waiting list!
A toast to you!
- Gary Westby, Champagne Buyer