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L’HOMMÉE Extra Brut 1er Cru Vrigny Champagne Roger Coulon NV, Lea & Sandeman

L’HOMMÉE

Extra Brut 1er Cru Champagne Roger Coulon NV

IN STOCK
Grapes Pinot Noir, Chardonnay
Colour White
Origin France, Champagne
Other Certified Organic
Classification 1er Cru
ABV 12%

60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir. From 40- to 50-year-old vines on certified organic premier cru plots, 'cultivated with the principles of agroforestry'. Spontaneous fermentation in a mix of vat and small oak barrels. Natural malo. Aged in small oak casks and 600-litre casks for 10 months on the lees. Natural clarification, unfined, unfiltered. Five years sur lattes.
Another deep, sonorous nose. Edgy, but not for the sake of edgy. The depth to these Coulon wines is remarkable. Yes, it's toast and layers and fruit and spice and minerals in abundance, but the flavours are almost secondary to the anima of the wine. This is a wine that slams into your whole body; one sip; feel the reverberations. These wines are all about the energy, the resonance, the sheer life force of life. Like copper wires pulsing with electricity. Like a cello solo in the Carnegie Hall. You feel it more than you drink it. Drinking range: 2023 - 2032 Rating: 18 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (Jun 2023)

*Case price discount: Mix any 12 bottles of wine (or 9 litre equivalent) or 6 bottles of Champagne, Spirits, Sweet Wine or Fortified (4.5 litres) to get the discounted 'case price' for each bottle.

The name of this cuvée comes from an old local word (hommée meaning the amount of land a vigneron could work in a day - like the Burgundian equivalent an ouvrée). All the parcels that make this up - 3.3 ares in Vrigny and 3.2 in Coulommes La Montagne, were planted 300 years ago. Mostly Chardonnay with around 35% Pinot Noir, from Premier Cru villages on the east-facing slopes of the Montagne de Reims, on Thanet sand and chalk. Much crunchier and firmer than the creamy Heri Hodie, with superb definition. All vinified in wood (600l barrels). A gorgeously rich style with crystalline precision. Drinking range: 2022 - 2027L&S (Oct 2022)

60% chardonnay, 35% pinot noir from historical plots in the premier crus of Vrigny, Coulommes la Montagne and Pargny les Reims; disgorged December 2021; 3g/ L dosage – all on back label; east-facing slopes; vines 40-50 years of age; no chaptalisation; wild fermentation in vats and little oak barrels; natural malolactic fermentation; aged 10 months on lees in little oak barrels and 600L casks; a small proportion of reserve wines aged in oak barrels; unfined and unfiltered; aged at least 5 years on lees in the underground cellars of the domaine; cork.

A gentle and elegant blend of chardonnay and pinot noir, without the fruit concentration or persistence to handle wild fermentation or oak age. Apple, pear and grapefruit are wrapped in biscuity, nutty complexity, but quickly fall away on a short finish. Low dosage is nicely balanced for the soft and creamy style of the domaine.

Tasted in 2022Tyson Stelzer - The Champagne Guide (Jul 2024)

Organically farmed vineyards. 60% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir (according to the back label which doesn't say what the other 5% is) from Vrigny, Coulommes la Montage and Pargny des Reims. Long ageing on lees, unfined, unfiltered. Disgorged July 2022. Dosage 3 g/l. The L'Hommée is also an aria of fruit. An ode to the sweetness of the vineyard. But I love that the wine plays with deeper timbres and a touch of burnished oxidation in a clever, controlled, daring way. More dried fruit here than in the Heri-Hodie. Dried pears, guava peel, cinnamon and baked apple. And something else, too: salty fino notes and tangy Madeira notes. Edgy … lime marmalade and lime pickle. Delicious and very, very moreish. Just wonderful. Long with lots of bite and chew. Drinking range: 2024 - 2033 Rating: 17.5 Tamlyn Currin - www.JancisRobinson.com (May 2024)

Champagne Roger Coulon

Eric and Isabelle Coulon, now joined by their children Edgar and Louise, have around 11 hectares of vines in Premier and Grand Cru sites in Vrigny, Gueux and Coulommes-la-Montagne on the Montagne de Reims, and Chouilly on the Côte des Blancs. The vineyards are farmed organically under the principles of agroforestry. They are justly proud of the history of the vineyard, which goes back to the cultivation of vines here in the 6th century, and also of their own long family history, with Edgar and Louise being the ninth generation.

The vines are in around 100 parcels, so although they aim to press by parcel, some do end up going together. Around one third is vinified in tank, the rest in barrel. Both Edgar and Louise have trained in wine-making elsewhere, Louise at Domaine Ott, and Edgar with Philippe Pacalet and Fredéric Cossard in Burgundy, but also in England and Australia.

The family aim to pick at decent maturity, to give the wines a natural balance and feel, and the maximum dosage used is 3g/l. The second fermentation is at around 4.5-4.8 bar, a little lower than the classical 5 bar, giving what Eric describes as 'measured effervescence'. 'I make wine of Champagne not Champagne', he adds, 'Everything at Roger Coulon needs to be harmonious, that's what counts the most for me'.

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