Champagne Fresne-Ducret

Village:
Villedommange 1er Cru (Montagne de Reims)
Appellation:
6ha
Champagne
Growers:
Pierre Fresne
Daniella Fresne
Website:
https://www.champagne-fresne-ducret.com/en/
Downloadable PDF

The Fresne Ducret domaine consists of 6 hectares of 1er Cru vineyards divided among 25 parcels, which are, with one exception, all in the village of Villedommange. According to the champagne authority, Richard Juhlin, Villedommange, along with the village of Sacy, has the best vineyards in the northern part of the Montagne de Reims, known as the Petite Montagne. The Fresne family have lived and farmed in Villedommange for 180 years and since 2007 it has been Pierre Fresne and his wife Daniella writing the current chapter. Losing little time, Pierre and Daniella began estate-bottling their champagnes with the 2008 vintage. In 2018, after a decade of working towards organic farming, they officially entered into conversion for organic certification.

Notes from a conversation with Pierre:

“Regarding my philosophy, I think of myself as a farmer who makes wine rather than a winemaker who grows grapes. That’s because of my family history (we were grape growers long before we started to make champagne) and also because it’s impossible to make good wine with bad grapes!

Now, this year has taught me a lesson in humility: at the end of the day it’s the weather that makes the harvest, not the man….

The way I make wine is in constant evolution year after year, and I don’t like to shut doors unless I think I have explored all of the options a particular technique or tool can offer…

SO2

As far as I’m concerned the use of sulphites is a necessary evil, and I try to use as little as possible. I find sulphites are necessary in order to preserve the freshness of the grape must and to prevent oxidation when reserve wine is transferred from one tank to another, but the closer we get to bottling, the less I use them (they would interfere with the prise de mousse), and no more sulphites are added afterwards (i.e. disgorging). I have to confess that I have yet to taste a white wine “sans sulphites” that would make me want to stop using them altogether. In the few that I have tried, I found “foxy” notes that wouldn’t work for our champagnes.

This choice to use less and less sulfites means that all of our base wines now undergo malolactic fermentation, which was not always the case in the past.

Regarding yeast, my opinion is not so definite. Our move towards organic grape growing has led me to try and vinify without adding selected yeast in the last couple of years. Two months ago, we bottled our very first single plot “wild” yeast fermented Blanc de Blanc, “Le Mont Teigneux”.

But I am a champagne maker! I need selected yeast in order to guarantee the prise de mousse. So, if I am going to use them later in the process, why not use them from the beginning, and avoid potential dangers of wild yeast fermentation stops?”

Les Nouveaux Explorateurs 1er Cru

The base wine for this cuvée is a blend of three 1er Cru parcels in Villedommange with sandy/clay soils: “Les Braies”, “Les Monts Teigneux”, and “Les Barbaries”. The blend is 45% Pinot Noir, 45% Pinot Meunier, and 10% Chardonnay. The base wine vintage is blended with 20% of the previous vintage and 20% from a “perpetual reserve” tank begun in 2008. The alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentations are done in tank and the “assemblage” is bottled the following spring. The champagne then rests “sur lattes” a minimum of 30 months before being disgorged. The dosage is 4.5g.

Le Chemin du Chemin 1er Cru

The base wine for this cuvée is primarily a blend from four 1er Cru parcels in Villedommange and Jouy-les-Reims with clay/limestone soils: “Les Loges”, “Les Monts Teigneux”, “Les Glaisières”, and “Les Huchis”. The blend is 40% Pinot Noir, 25% Pinot Meunier, and 35% Chardonnay. Only the “cuvée” part of the pressed juice is used. The base wine vintage is blended with 30% reserve wine. The alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentations are done in tank and the “assemblage” is bottled the following spring. The champagne then rests “sur lattes” a minimum of 60 months before being disgorged. The dosage is 4.5g.

La Grande Hermine 1er Cru

The cuvée « La Grande Hermine » is a vintage champagne aged « sur lattes » for a minimum of 10 years. It quintessentially captures the Fresne-Ducret style in its combination of freshness and aromatic complexity. It is produced from 1er Cru parcels in Villedommange with clay/limestone soils, primarily: “Les Loges” and “Les Monts Teigneux.” and is a blend of 50% Pinot Noir, 35% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Meunier. The alcoholic and malo-lactic (partial) fermentations are done in tank and the wine is aged in tank for 8 months before bottling. The Champagne is disgorged with a dosage of 4g.

Spagyrie 1er Cru Rosé

Spagyrie is a "New Latin" word for alchemy and the art and science of blending. In the making of this cuvée, Pierre follows the grand principles of blending ; separating, extracting and combining, using the best of their three grape varieties to create a generous cuvée. Spagyrie is a blend of 25.5% Pinot Noir, 62% Pinot Meunier, 8.5% Chardonnay. The grapes are from Premier Cru vines in Villedommange, mainly “Les Braies” and “Les Mainberts” with sandy and calcareous clay soils. The red wine for the rosé blend is 100% Pinot Noir with 12 days maceration. The alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentations were done in tank and the wine was aged in tank for 5 months before bottling. The Champagne is disgorged with a dosage of 5g. Bottles are aged in cellar for a minimum 48 months.

Arquémie No. 6 1er Cru

Arquémie is an “Old French” word meaning alchemy and captures the spirit of Pierre’s “divine study” of champagne through the production of “small batch” cuvées. The Arquémie No. 6 is a Blanc de Noir of 100% Pinot Noir. It was produced from 5 parcels in Villedommange, 37.5% from the parcels Les Mainberts and Les Braies on sandy soils, and 25% from the parcels Les Caves, Les Barbaries and Les Arches, which are old vines on calcareous clay soils. The base wine is vintage 2015, blended with 37.5% Solera wine started in 2012, with wines from 2012 2013, and 2014. The vinification was in stainelss steel tanks for 5 months with partial malolactic fermentation. Bottling was in 2016, then aged for a minimum of 6 years on the lees. Dosage is 0 g/l (Brut Nature). Production is 2502 bottles.

Arquémie No. 7 1er Cru

Arquémie is an “Old French” word meaning alchemy and captures the spirit of Pierre’s “divine study” of champagne through the production of “small batch” cuvées. The Arquémie No. 7 is a Blanc de Blanc of 100% Chardonnay. It was produced from 3 parcels in Villedommange, Le Mont Teigneux, Les Grèves and La Sente au Pas. The base wine is 2017 vintage aged 5 months in stainless steel tanks with partial malo-lactic fementation (50% of the wines). It is blended with 33% reserve wines from 2016 aged 12 months in acacia barrels. It was bottled in 2018, then aged for a minimum of 6 years on the lees. Dosage is 3g/l.

Pierre & Prosper 1er Cru

“Pierre & Prosper” is an homage to Prosper Fresne, founder of Fresne Ducret and Pierre’s great grandfather. Chardonnay dominates the blend, it is aged in oak and acacia barrels, and the bottles were closed with a cork rather than the typical cap. This expensive and time-consuming practice allows some micro-oxygenation to take place during the long period of maturation. It is produced in batches of no more than 2000 bottles per year, every numbered bottle is hand-riddled, hand-disgorged, and tied with hessian twine in the traditional manner before being sealed with the Fresne Ducret monogram. The blend is 60% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Meunier from the parcels “Le Mont Teigneux”, “Le Mont Lignat” and “Les Barbaries” wich are on calcareous clay soils. The base wine is 2010, with 5% reserve wines from 2009. Only the “cuvée” part of the pressed juice is used. Vinification is in stainless steel tanks, with 30% of wines aged in acacia barrels and 20% aged in oak barrels for 6 months. There is partial malo-lactic fermentation (it is blocked on the Chardonnays). The wine was bottled in 2011 in a square-ringed bottle with a natural cork closure. It is aged on the lees for 7 years. Dosge is 4.5 g/l .

Region: Champagne

Champagne, at first glance, seems easy to understand. It is after all the most popularized and recognized wine in the world. It has been endorsed by Napoleon, Churchill and Warhol (it’s the “war” theme). However, once the fizz of gaiety evaporates and the veil of simplicity is pulled back, Champagne reveals a region with a fascinating history that has for centuries fastidiously cultivated a complex wine appellation. It is an appellation governed by complicated regulations that touch all aspects of production, a classification system of villages that sets grape prices and a myriad of styles including: wines of a single vintage, of blended vintages, of a single grape variety, of blended varieties; all of which can have different levels of dosage ranging from Extra Brut to Doux. Dare I mention content measurement? How did a 15 Liter bottle of Champagne come to be associated with Nebuchadnezzar?

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The Romans gave this region its name. I suspect that these explorers had already dipped into the “local water” before naming it Campagna in memory of the area around Mount Vesuvius. Perhaps in contrast to the vast plains that flank the region to the west the geological undulations of Champagne appeared to be a similar wonder of nature. The region’s boundaries are basically unchanged since the 15th century and the “champagne viticole” (vineyard area) today spans five “départments” , the vast majority of them located in the Marne and the Aube. The vineyards cover approximately 30,400 hectares, although this area has recently been expanded. Most of the vineyards fall into the following broad areas: Vallée de la Marne, Côte de Sézanne, Côte de Blancs, Montagne de Reims and the Côte de Bar. A complete and more precise categorization divides the vineyards into twenty regions and is explained in the wonderful book Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France.

Champagne became an important center in France after Hugh Capet was crowned in Reims Cathedral in 987. Kings were crowned in the Cathedral for the following eight centuries and during this period considerable grants were given to the local monasteries which in turn became centers of winemaking until the revolution in 1798.

Until the 17th century the wines of Champagne were labeled according to small geographic regions such as vins de la Montagne or vins de la Riviere or more specifically by village or place names such as Bouzy, Verzenay, Ay and the Abbey of Hautvilliers. These wines were predominantly made from red grapes, their color compared to an onion skin or the eye of a partridge and they were gently effervescent or not. As fashion changed, so did the style of the wines to the extent that the producers could control it. The style of Champagne that we know today began in the 19th century and continues to evolve. The biggest change in the last twenty years is the increase of small scale recoltant-manipulant, “RM” producers. These estate bottled champagnes offer a remarkable diversity of expression resulting from the different philosophies of the independent producers and the more specific terroirs with which they work. These more personal expressions of champagne stand in stark contrast to the large negociant manipulant, “NM” producers who blend wines from hundreds of villages and often produce Champagne with a calculated uniformity.