Stephane Regnault, Champagne, Grand Cru, Chromatique (Base 2020)

A great champagne in a disarmingly artistic bottle that’s delicious as well. There’s a reason … Stéphane Regnault’s story is a colorful one: he was an aerospace engineer in his early career, who later transitioned to the wine world and worked as a sommelier in high-end restaurants in Paris and London. Stéphane is also a passionate jazz saxophonist, hence his beautiful labels: they are visual representations of different modes in improvisational jazz, that evoke the tone and structure of each wine. His family’s four hectares of Chardonnay are divided equally between a few highly reputed chalky terroirs in their home village of Le Mesnil as well as the Grand Cru village of Oger. Stéphane’s family used to sell all their grapes to large houses, but in 2007 after years of working in different industries Stéphane returned home determined to make his own wines, and he immediately set about making changes. Stéphane felt very strongly about ‘bringing life back to the vines’ and began to gradually implement organic farming. The property has now been certified organic since 2020, and Stéphane uses a number of biodynamic preparations as well: he is interested in practices that decrease sulfur and copper applications in the vineyard and allow for ‘respect of the soil and living things—an ecosystem is a whole of which the vine is only a part!’ This wine is pure Chardonnay. ‘Chromatique’ is sourced from all of Stéphane’s sites to give a ‘chromatic’ representation of his terroir—one that (as in the musical term) ‘uses all the notes.’ This includes vines from Le Mesnil, toward the bottom of very chalky slopes, and some from Oger, where the soils are richer. A portion (30%) of the cuvée is fermented in wood; 30% is in steel; and 40% is reserve wine—quite unique for a tiny grower. A tiny 2g/L dosage.