Quattuor IV, Extra Brut

The Quattuor IV Extra Brut favours spice, tension and savour over sheer volume. Four grape varieties in equal parts produce a Champagne of distinctive stature: structuring acidity, restrained mousse.

The grapes grow in Urville on the Côte des Bar, on upper Kimmeridgian limestone that lends the wines a mineral edge. Beneath the estate lie vaulted cellars built by the Cistercians of Clairvaux in 1152, bought back from the commune by André Drappier in 1950; the bottles age there at a constant 10 degrees.

25 percent each of Arbanne, Petit Meslier, Blanc Vrai (Pinot Blanc) and Chardonnay. Pressing is mechanical at low pressure, using only the first pressing (cuvée). The must flows into the tanks by gravity, clarification happens naturally with minimal use of sulphur. The wine ferments for two weeks in stainless steel at low temperature, followed by complete malolactic fermentation. No filtration or cold stabilisation. After blending comes the second fermentation in the bottle, where it ages for two to three years, dosed at 4.2 grams of sugar.

The bouquet is dense: white flowers, lemon cream on warm pastry with almond slivers, along with mirabelle plums, tender apples, ripe pineapple, quince and a hint of honey. Complex, spicy and savoury, with a dynamic arc of acidity that exerts pleasant pressure. Subtle mousse, light autolytic notes, bright fruit, long finish with precise structure.

Sardines in spiced olive oil with crusty country bread, warm, spiced rabbit terrine with green pepper and blanquette de mer.

Three of the four varieties are among the vanished grapes that Michel Drappier began replanting more than twenty years ago. In 2016, Drappier became the first Champagne house to achieve climate neutrality; 17 hectares are organic-certified, with more in conversion. Antoine Drappier ploughs the biodynamic parcels with a draught horse.