N.V. Champagne Cazé-Thibaut, Brut Nature Champagne “Crayère” Châtillon Sur Marne, France.
New to me, the all organic and nature, Cazé-Thibaut’s gorgeous Meunier driven, vividly dry and luxuriously elegant Crayère is a sexy grower producer style Champagne that delivers complexity and pleasure in the glass, with this impressive effort rivaling some of my favorites! The near perfect vibrant small beading creamy mousse carries the just right amount of lift and still carries an impactful rich and chalky palate of baked apple, Bosc pear, quince, earthy melon, brioche, hazelnut, lemon curd, pineapple, wet stones and minty herbs. This Brut Nature opens nicely and allows for a lot of textural roundness, while staying crisply focused and vigorous, it will be a clear winner with those that love the new generation of Meunier lovers and especially those that go for super dry Extra Brut styles of Champagne. This bottling will thrill for many years to come, but it is fabulous now and great with food, it is wonderfully expressive and flexible with cuisine options, easily going with a variety of dishes on the night I tried it. Still under the radar, winemaker Fabien Cazé is a recent inductee into the progressive group of Champenois known as Terre et Vins and is fast developing a serious following.
I am really excited about Champagne Cazé-Thibaut and can’t wait to discover more from Fabien Cazé, who’s a ten generation vigneron that committed to sustainable farming with full organic methods and, as he says, a hands-off approach in the cellar. Cazé has isolated 2.66 hectares in small plots, of his family’s holdings, for his own label, going for sublime quality and ripeness of fruit. The Champagnes are hand-crafted in his underground cave with slow and cold native yeast fermentations, with Fabien looking to produce precise, terroir-transparent wines from vines in the villages of Châtillon-sur-Marne and Vandières on the western side of the Vallée de la Marne. This 2023 disgorgement of the Cazé-Thibaut, Brut Nature Champagne “Crayère” came from 2018 and 2019 vintages, along with a proportion, about 40% of Vins de Réserve that adds complexity and depth, as seen here, and was fermented naturally in old casks, Fût de Chéne, from 55% Meunier and 45% Chardonnay. This non dosage cuvée is from prime parcels in Vallée de Mame, Rive droite, Chatillon sur Marne and Reuil, capturing some distinctive mineral and chalky driven flavors. A big thank you to my friend and wine professional Alex Lallos, who is a huge talent spotter of small production Champagnes, for introducing me to Fabien’s absolutely excellent wine, that I highly recommend, especially at this incredible price point for such an effort.
($60 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive