Olivier Horiot
Olivier Horiot farms around eight hectares in Les Riceys on the Côte des Bar, the only village in Champagne permitted to produce three appellations: champagne, still wine, and rosé des Riceys. His family has grown vines here since the 17th century. In 1999 he took over his father Serge's estate and converted it to organic farming immediately; since 2010 he has worked biodynamically, ploughing the soils with horses. All seven grape varieties permitted in Champagne grow in his plots, including the rare Arbane. Each plot is harvested and vinified separately, and every champagne is bottled without dosage.
Les Riceys on the Côte des Bar
Les Riceys lies on the Côte des Bar and is the only village in Champagne permitted to produce three appellations: champagne, still wine, and rosé des Riceys. Kimmeridgian chalk underlies the plots, giving the champagnes their pronounced minerality. The Horiot family has grown vines here since the 17th century. In 1999 Olivier Horiot took over his father Serge's estate and converted it to organic farming immediately; today his wife Marie runs the cellar. Olivier Horiot is a member of the winegrowers' association Terres et Vins.
Seven grape varieties
Olivier Horiot vinifies all seven grape varieties permitted in Champagne. Pinot Noir forms the main part at 75 percent, Chardonnay accounts for 10 percent, alongside Pinot Meunier. He also tends Arbane, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Gris; together these four varieties make up less than one percent of Champagne's vineyard area, and Arbane had nearly disappeared. In the cuvée 5 Sens, all seven varieties come together in a single wine.
Biodynamic work in the vineyard and cellar
Olivier Horiot has worked biodynamically since 2010. He ploughs the soils with horses, and no synthetic inputs enter his plots. Each plot is harvested, pressed, and vinified separately, since soil structure changes over small distances and each site has its own microclimate; the base wines turn out correspondingly different.
The cellar holds numerous Burgundy barrels, each housing its own cuvée. Fermentation proceeds spontaneously with wild yeasts in used barriques, the wines remain unfined and unfiltered, and sulphur use is kept low. The cuvée Envol, made from Pinot Noir, is produced entirely without added sulphur.
Soléra, Sève, and Métisse
The cuvée Soléra brings together old and young vintages of all seven grape varieties in a barrel system whose oldest barrel dates from 2007; complexity and patina come from this blend. The Sève Blanc de Noirs comes from the single vineyard En Barmont in Les Riceys, where Pinot Noir grows on red clay over Kimmeridgian limestone; the base wine ages in wood on the lees, followed by more than four years of lees ageing, and the dark Pinot fruit meets the coolness of the limestone soil. The Métisse Noirs & Blancs combines Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc and shows this lineage as mineral and lean, while the cuvée Ailleurs is composed solely of Chardonnay. All the champagnes are disgorged without dosage and contain zero grams of residual sugar, making them correspondingly chalky and precise.