Les Ports Complantation, zero dosage 2022

A Champagne that draws its strength from fruit and acidity rather than sugar: bottled with zero dosage, fresh, energetic and unobtrusively fruity. Pure and tonic, with a perlage that carries rather than pushes.

Vincelles lies on the southern bank of the Marne, about 20 kilometres west of Épernay. The Blin family has grown vines there since 1671. Jérôme Blin took over the estate in 2007 and began the conversion in 2012; today he farms six hectares according to biodynamic principles. Two Comtois draft horses, Naya and Quartz, plough the vineyards, while the sheep Chouquette keeps the grass short. The plots are spread across numerous lieux-dits with clay, limestone, sand and flint, and are vinified separately.

The Les Ports plot was planted in the 1970s as a complantation, a field blend: 90 percent Meunier, with Petit Meslier, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris, grown and harvested together. The base wine of the 2022 vintage was aged in barrique. Tirage took place in March 2023, disgorgement in April 2024 with zero dosage. 2,925 bottles, 12.0% ABV.

On the nose, smoke and liquorice over lemon and lemon zest, mellow apples and crisp red berries, along with toasted bread crust and brioche with almond cream. With air, crushed limestone and graphite emerge. The palate brings peach, apricot, yellow plum, greengage and a touch of pomegranate, carried by crisp acidity and a finely integrated perlage.

A field blend is a rarity in Champagne. Every Champagne from the estate comes from a single plot and ferments spontaneously with wild yeasts, often from old vines. The colour of Les Ports is very faintly rosé, the perlage fine.