A Harvest Visit to Champagne (2024)
Even in the best of vintages, harvest is a delicate time to visit a winemaker. During the stressful and variably catastrophic 2024 vintage, you may be surprised to learn that we packed in a car to visit a trio of our Champagne vignerons on their first days of harvest (September 18th and 19th, 2024). The secret is to come bearing harvest meals.
Paris Wine Co. provided harvest meals prepared by Ryan’s former chef at Arpège, Marine Hervouet, and her partner, Pascaline Albacini, who now bring their cuisine to friends and projects they’re passionate about. First stop: Le Mesnil. Stéphane Regnault had started harvest that Wednesday, and also had another surprise to unveil : the record that saxophonist Léon Phal had written for each of Stéphane’s single-parcel Champagnes : Mixolydien, Lydien, and Dorien.
Above his living quarters, Stéphane’s father, Patrick, converted the former wine pickers’ dorms into a large communal dining space just for harvest meals. Ryan, Elizabeth, and I switched into commis and waiter modes, as Marine and Pascaline prepared roulé de poulet rôti au vin jaune, purée de pommes de terre à la Robuchon, salade d’haricots verts, and the pièce de résistance, a champenois take on the Baba au Rhum, the Baba au Ratafia! We capped off our visit with a midnight tour of the winery as Stéphane loaded the press.
The next morning, we went to visit Arthur Lelièvre, the newest addition to our Champagne bande. We started the day with a tour of the vineyards under some thankfully sunny weather, which had been scarce this growing season. His teams were picking Meunier on his first day of harvest (the 19th), and anticipated bringing in the Chardonnay a full week later, so as to take advantage of the maturity afforded by the sunny weather. Losses were not as steep as Arthur or other winemakers had anticipated, averaging around 30%, which compared to their Aube counterparts, left them feeling thankful.
In the top of his vertically-stacked winery in Ludes, we were able to taste the 2022 release of his Prémices reserve, Pinot, and Chardonnay (new single parcel “Le Belai”) cuvées, all of which were beautifully precise, delicious, and expressive.
After an obligatory meal at the Reims institution Sacré Burger, we brought kilos of Côte de Boeuf to our chéri in Avize, Etienne Calsac, for night two of feasting with winemakers and their communities. Eager to get my hands dirtier, we brought in the first load of Chardonnay from the Sézannais, his first grapes brought in from the 7-10 day harvest period.
Marine and Pascaline rolled out all the stops again, preparing a full meal from amuse-bouche to baba au ratafia, all accompanied by Etienne’s Champagnes and lively conversation outside his winery as the press slowly churned inside.
Just a day after we returned to Paris, Marine, Pascaline, Ryan and Patrick headed out to Burgundy and Beaujolais for round 2 of harvest meals and quality time with our winemakers. Watch this space!