Champagne Vouette et Sorbée Saignée de Sorbée NV (Base 19. Disg. 18 Nov 2021)

Saignée de Sorbée is a thrilling, idiosyncratic, sappy, stemmy, peppery rosé that can be thought of as a delicious light red as much as a rosé Champagne. The Sorbée plot is a little plateau above the slope where Vouette sits and is almost pure Portlandian limestone—something very rare in Champagne. The site is almost flat, with a slight exposure towards the southwest. Gautherot harvests here in multiple passes, with only the smallest bunches and ripest fruit making it into his Saignée.

Sorbée is the vineyard that gives Bertrand the least amount of stress. The vines here are between 32 and 50 years old and were planted with an old massale selection from Domaine Lafarge in Volnay. The soils have been cultivated since at least the 1860s, with no herbicides ever used. Gautherot feels that this made it easier to transition this site to his biodynamic practices.

Uncrushed whole grapes were macerated in an open wooden vat before pressing. Vinified entirely without sulphur, the wine was then aged for 10 months in 400-litre barrels before being disgorged without any dosage. It’s a vibrant, red-fruited, bunchy and light-bodied sparkling red. Crushed wild strawberry, nettle and an earthy, complex lick that I assume comes from the no-sulphur aging.