Triologie KM-1 2022

A Brut Nature made from pure Pinot Noir, bottled without any dosage: dry, lean, carried by saline tension. The fruit stays cool and red, the bead is fine, and 13.0% vol. carries the wine without any heaviness.

The Côte des Bar lies in the southern part of Champagne; the vines root in Kimmeridgian marl and Portlandian limestone from the Jura, both rich in fossilized marine shells. That's where the minerality and saline undertone come from. Clandestin is a micro-négoce: Benoît Doussot buys grapes exclusively from eleven organic growers in southern Champagne, supports them through conversion, and pays fair prices. Bottling takes place in Buxières-sur-Arce, while the work itself happens in his own cellar in Landreville, built on two levels for gravity-flow vinification without pumps.

Pinot Noir, spontaneously fermented, with temperature-controlled fermentation onset. The base wines age twelve months in wood; Doussot chooses barrels of 500 to 600 litres, as they keep the wines leaner and require less sulphur. A winter en masse in tank follows; after bottle fermentation, the Champagne rests at least 15 months sur lattes. Dosage: none.

Wild strawberry and red cherry, alongside floral notes and delicate spice. The acidity runs straight through, the minerality stays saline, and the finish is dry and long.

Benoît Doussot graduated from the Lycée Viticole in Beaune, trained under Jean-Philippe Fichet in Meursault, and started out in 2015 in the converted barn of Bertrand Gautherot (Vouette & Sorbée). All of Clandestin's cuvées remain undosed.