An Obscure Region & Ancient Grape Varieties: Meet Olivier and Marie Horiôt
5 Sens Brut Nature 2016 Base
The 5 Sens is comprised of biodynamically farmed Arbanne, Petit Meslier, and Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Blanc (a particularly successful variety in the Aube. Boasting suave fruit and a fine bead and deft mineral cut, this will shimmer at the holiday table.
Rosé des Riceys En Barmont
Though there are fewer than 20 growers of Rosé des Riceys, we tend to think of the wines as a coming from a single terroir. By separately vinifying two different lieux-dits, Olivier Horiot shows the possibilities of expression within the appellation. En Barmont is a warm site, whose southerly exposure and marls interspersed with Kimmeridgian limestone produce a ripe Pinot Noir with a broader, more generous character than that of nearby En Valingrain. Red fruits and roses define the nose and a supple succulence mark the palate.
Sève Rosé de Saignée
With every release we grow fonder of the the quietly elegant and vinous Sève Rosé from Olivier and Marie Horiot. The Sève is a Rosé de Saignée, from the warm, single vineyard site of en Barmont, where the ripeness of the exposure is balanced by the limestone marl soils. Four days of semi-carbonic maceration highlight fruit and floral aromas and lend lift to this particularly ebullient Champagne.
NV Champagne "Métisse" Brut Nature (2018 base)
Comprised of organically farmed Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc from 8 different vineyards in Les Ricey. The varieties are fermented separately with native yeasts in barrel and bottled with Zero dosage. Métisse is perfumed in the glass with lovely aromas of apple blossoms, pear skin, wet stone and rainwater. The palate is supple and lithe, with ripe stone fruit and beeswax notes astride a firm, decidedly mineral core.
NV Champagne 'Soléra' 7 Cépages
Equal parts Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Arbanne, Meslier farmed biodynamically and fermented separately in barrel and aged on its lees before blending in a perpetual soléra. This bottling shows perfect balance between fine-grained minerality and burnished character from the reserve wines that make up the perpetual cuvée. We love the tension here and the the nose keeps beckoning us back to the glass.
2017 Champagne Envol'
Is the inaugural release from the Horiots. 100% Pinot Noir vinified without sulfites in a single concrete egg.