Vouette et Sorbee Fidele Blanc de Noirs Champagne 750ml

R18, disgorged Jan 2021. Fidele is a blanc de noirs (100% Pinot Noir) grown on Kimmeridgian limestone soils. This is from 2018, yet also includes roughly 5% reserve wine (from a perpetual blend stored in two giant old foudres and started in 2006). The vintage that makes up the majority of the blend is always stated on the back label with an ‘R’ and corresponding number (R being an abbreviation for Recolte, or vintage).

The Fonnet vineyard, located in a small, enclosed valley, provides the heart of this cuvee. Sorbee provides much of the balance, topped off by Châtel—a very rocky and limestone-rich vineyard with 20-plus-year-old Pinot Noir vines. Overall, the vine age for this wine averages 30 years.

Following pressing in a traditional, vertical Coquard press, Fidele was vinified entirely without added yeast or chaptalisation, in used Burgundian barrels for 10 months (these barriques came from Domaine Arnaud Ente in Meursault). The wine then spent 15 to 20 months on lees in bottle after secondary fermentation and was disgorged with zero dosage.