Elite Traveler Spring 2024

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elite traveler SPRING 2024 42

Wine by ElinMcCoy

Champagne without bubbles Picture a glass of champagne, the tiny streaming bubbles giving the wine a unique shimmer and sparkle . That famous e ff ervescence is why everyone pours it for celebrations and romantic dinners. Bubbles seem to make us and our lives sparkle too. So it may seem surprising that the region’s latest trend is making wines without that trademark fi zz. But climate change, which is upending many wine traditions, is behind a rush of new still-wine projects. Grandes marques Louis Roederer and Charles Heidsieck have debuted bubble-free chardonnays and pinot noirs, the region’s main grapes, as have cult grower producers Jacques Lassaigne and Marie Courtin. Grower Benoît Déhu released several micro-cuvées from red Meunier grapes, while Drappier’s Trop m’en Faut white is Pinot Gris. Theo ffi cial label term for these wines? Coteaux Champenois. Long ago, all the chilly region’s wines were no- fi zz, but they often weren’t successful. Some years were too cold to fully ripen the grapes and give the wines su ffi cient fl avor concentration. The discovery of how to put bubbles in the bottle — adding sugar and yeast so the wine ferments a second time — was a godsend. It transformed tart, acidic wines into a more palatable style. Blending di ff erent grape varieties and vintages helped.

TAKETWO// COTEAUX CHAMPENOIS 1. 2019 LOUIS ROEDERER HOMMAGE À CAMILLE BLANC COTEAUX CHAMPENOIS The second vintage of chardonnay in Roederer’s collection of still wines is stunning, with lemon and hazelnut aromas, shimmering citrus and chalk fl avors, and a lush texture. It’s from a tiny plot in the Les Volibarts vineyard, and named for Camille Olry-Roederer, who ran the Maison from 1932 to 1975. $200, louis-roederer.com 2. 2020 EGLY-OURIET AMBONNAY ROUGE COTEAUX CHAMPENOIS CUVÉE DES GRANDS CÔTÉS This family-run organic grower producer is a still-wine trailblazer. For decades it has made this superb pinot noir from old vines in grand cru vineyards in Ambonnay. This vintage brims with rose petal and spice aromas and berry and mineral fl avors and has a silky, velvet-like texture. $325, skurnikwines.com

Still wines were quickly sidelined, except in the village of Bouzy and area of Rosé des Riceys, whose pink wines were appreciated by Louis XIV. The few modern trailblazers included Bollinger’s red La Côte aux Enfants, around since 1934. Then, over the past two decades, came climate change. The temperature in Champagne has risen around 2° Fahrenheit in that time — grapes ripen earlier and better, and winemakers started experimenting. One of them is Jean-Baptiste Lécaillon, chef de cave at Louis Roederer (maker of Cristal), who observed that his shift to organic and biodynamic farming, plus climate change, produced riper fruit with the emphatic fl avors expected in still wines. After replanting a few special plots with vines from Burgundy, he let grapes get riper than he would for sparkling wines. With the 2018 vintage, he was fi nally happy enough to release the fi rst two. You might expect all these wines to resemble red and white burgundies, but they have their own style: lighter, tangier, more lively and vivid, with less richness. They’re expensive, but delicious. Most producers now make at least one, says Peter Liem, authorof Champagne: The Essential Guide to the Wines, Producers, and Terroirs of the Iconic Region .Andas the climate keeps changing, there will be even more.

Louis Roederer vineyards