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standout spectacular, serious range of wines

about working with vineyards from three villages south of Reims—Ecueil, Villers-Allerand, and Bouzy—Nicolas Maillart has been making wine on his family estate since 2003. He farms all of the three main Champagne varieties, making single-varietal expressions which could come from Burgundy. He also, very unusually, makes a single-varietal Petit Meslier. Vinification is in used oak barrels, with ten months maturation before bottling. These are serious, sophisticated wines.

wines tasted

“Platine” Premier Cru Extra Brut NV ($84)

54% Pinot Noir, 26% Chardonnay, 20% Meunier. Comes from all of the three villages Nicolas Maillart farms. 1g/l dosage—seems insigificant but gives the wine a gentle richness. Racy, tingling acidity, with red fruit, red apple, toast, spice aromas.

“Mont Marin” Premier Cru Extra Brut 2019 ($158)

Solely from the village of Villers-Allerand and all Meunier, planted in 1972. 1g/l dosage. One of the best single-varietal expressions of Meunier tasted: fruity and fresh, but deep, concentrated, and long, with racy acidity. Tasting this blind, one could confuse it with Montrachet.

“Jolivettes” Grand Cru Extra Brut 2019 ($183)

Solely from the Grand Cru village of Bouzy and all Pinot Noir, planted in 1987. No dosage: this is a weighty style that doesn’t need any sugar. While the Meunier tastes like Chardonnay, this, less confusingly, tastes like red Burgundy even though it’s white. Drying acidity, red fruit, strawberry aromas, very fresh despite its weight. Blanc de Noirs can sometimes seems a bit obvious: this isn’t.

“Les Coupés - Franc de Pied” Premier Cru Extra Brut 2018 ($305)

All Pinot Noir from a single vineyard north of the village of Ecueil. The vines were planted in 1973 on sandy soils, and are ungrafted. There’s a richness and weight to the wine, with red and stone fruit aromas, balanced by racy acidity and an integrated lees texture. Dosage varies from year to year, but is always minimal. A serious, vinous example of Blanc de Noirs.

“Chaillots Gillis” Premier Cru Extra Brut 2014 ($155)

Unusually for Montagne de Reims, this is all Chardonnay for a much more delicate, lean style than Maillart’s other wines. It comes from a vineyard south of Ecueil on clay and limestone soils. Tasting a wine more than ten years old with this much freshness and liveliness is astonishing.

Rosé Grand Cru Extra Brut NV ($98)

60% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay from Bouzy. 2g/l dosage. Generously fruity and pretty, with vibrant acidity. Not quite as exciting as the other wines tasted, although of very high quality.

website https://champagne-maillart.fr/en/

email contact@champagne-maillart.fr

phone + 33 3 26 49 77 89

address 5 rue de Villers aux Noueds, Ecueil