Marie Courtin, Champagne Blanc de Blancs 'Amphora' Extra Brut 2020

60% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Blanc, 5% Arbanne

Cote de Bars, Champagne

VINTAGE: 2020
DOSAGE: 0 g/L, Extra brut 
DISGORGED: February 2024

Single parcel, biodynamically farmed 40-45 year old vines with east and south-east exposure. Aged for 11 mo in sandstone amphora. 36 mo sur lattes. Disgorged February 2024. Unfined, unfiltered. 0 Dosage. VEGAN. Only 1,400 bottles produced

Dominique Moreau created the estate in 2005 with a vision to produce a series of single-vineyard, single varietal, single vintage Champagnes from Biodynamically-grown grapes that are farmed and elaborated with meticulous care. Dominique named her estate after her grandmother, Marie Courtin, whom she describes as a “woman of the earth”. Most of her wines come from a hillside vineyard of 40-45 year old, massale-selection Pinot Noir in Polisot (located the next town over from Celles-sur-Ource, where Cédric Bouchard lives and works). The combination of low yields, clay-limestone soils (with bands of Kimmeridgian) and an east/southeast exposure gives the wines both power and cut, with an intense brininess and minerality at their core.

The style of all her wines is super-energetic and chisled, though with an underlying power from both her viticultural practices and the terroirs and varietals that she exploits. These are spectacular wines at the table as they combine multiple vectors of complexity, power and delineation that all play off each other depending on the dishes they are served with. She recommends that her wines be served in traditional white wine glasses to allow for their development through increased aeration.

Along with Dominique's intense dedication to the care of her vineyards and her winemaking, she also embraces a spiritual philosophy in her production and viticulture. In one particular technique, she uses pendulums (often used in energy healing practices) in both the vineyard and cellar to aid in evaluating both the evolution of the grapes on the vine as well as the wine during élévage. She explains that the pendulum changes its natural rhythm and swing based on the energy emitted from a living being, whether person, vineyard, or wine.