Champagne Dhondt-Grellet
Flavigny, Côte des Blancs, Champagne, France
Adrien Dhondt
In 1986, Eric Dhondt and Edith Grellet decided to stop selling off grapes to negociants and started Dhondt-Grellet. Their focus on farming translated into honest Champagnes from great holdings across the Côte des Blancs.
Starting with two hectares, the domaine has now tripled in size and starting gaining real attention when Adrien took over winemaking in 2012 at age 22. Today, joined by his sister Alice, he has slowly increased the range of Champagnes produced by isolating their holdings across the villages of Cramant and Cuis and bottling pure expressions of Chardonnay. Most recently, he launched a small negociant project to satisfy his curiosity outside of his own domaine’s style.
Adrien has an ambitious vision with no signs of slowing down and we couldn’t be more excited about the direction of this young domaine.
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The Dhondt family have worked with a perpetual reserve since they began estate bottling in 1986. After drawing off 30% of his reserves for the new year’s tirage, Adrien replenishes the loss with wine kept back from the new vintage and racks the resulting blend to barrel—accompanied by the fresh lees of the latest vintage—in May. Come harvest time, when empty barrels are needed, the perpetual reserve is returned to tank. Each year, the process is repeated, ensuring the domaine’s barrels are never empty.
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Adrien primarily has parcels in two villages: Cramant (Grand Cru) and Cuis (1er Cru).
In Cramant, Adrien makes one Grand Cru single parcel wine: “Le Bateau,” located on La Butte de Saran considered to be the best terroir of Cramant. The soils are clay and limestone soils over a chalk subsoil. This vineyard is planted to the oldest vines of the domaine. The exposure is southern and because of the soil's high limestone content, the soil doesn't hold too much moisture. The vineyard was planted in 1951 by Adrien's great-grandfather.
The village of Cuis is geologically very similar to Cramant but the terroir of Cuis has more top soil. Adrien farms nine different plots within Cuis, a large percentage of them old-vine parcels of Chardonnay.
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Adrien uses organic & biodynamic practices but he is not seeking certification, preferring to work in the spirit of what he calls “peasant viticulture,” using no synthetic products, no herbicides or insecticides, enriching his soils with homemade compost and, as of Spring 2021, plowing each plot with his horse, Thor. His philosophy is to have a living soil with a healthy balance between microbial life and the vine. In the vines, there’s a lot of manual work: he prunes short and debuds severely to limit yields and produce ripe, concentrated fruit at harvest time. He often cites inspiration from great Burgundy estates by practicing plot selection.
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In the cellar, Dhondt has moved almost completely to barrel fermentation with ambient yeasts, filling his fûts after a very short six hours’ settling (or débourbage) and adding minimal sulfur dioxide. The vins clairs spend eight months on the lees before tirage without cold stabilization, filtering or fining.
During those eight months of élevage, the wines are topped up when Dhondt deems it is appropriate judicious, “about every month and a half, I’d say, but I decide whether to top up—and whether to perform bâtonnage—by tasting.”
Again the influence of Burgundy is evident in the texture and vinosity - Adrien cites Coche-Dury, Vincent Dancer and Jean-Yves Bizot among his inspirations
Wines
Champagne Dhondt-Grellet
Dans un Premier Temps NV Extra Brut
This the first cuvée of Adrien's range and the largest; he intends it to be an expression of all 6 hectares of his holdings spread across Sezanne, Cuis, and Avenay val d'Or. Vines are an average of 45 years old.
The blend is 50% Chardonnay (Sezanne) - 1/2 fermented in barrel, the rest in tank & 30% Pinot Noir tank-fermented (Avenay Val d'Or in Vallée de la Marne), and 20% tank-fermented Pinot Meunier (from old vines in Cuis). The base vintage is 70% of the blend with the remainder a perpetual reserve started in 1986. In a few years all of it's vins clairs will be barrel fermented. Dosage is between 2g/l to 2.5g/l.
Les Terres Fines 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs NV Extra Brut
100% Chardonnay from a number of small parcels scattered around the village of Cuis and Chouilly. It is vinified in stainless steel and is 70% of the base vintage with the remainder a perpetual reserve started in 1986. Dosage is under 1g/l. It’s his most fine-boned cuvée.
Cramant
100% Cramant Grand Cru Chardonnay. It is vinified in stainless steel tank. Dosage is between 3g/l to 4g/l. Adrien plans on vinifying this cuvée in barrel in the near future.
Made of two lieux-dits that bring different perspectives of the village :
Les Longues Verges - early ripening site that produces deep, concentrated wines
La Garenne * was historically a garden in the village with atypical sandy soils in the heart of the village
Les Nogers
Starting with the 2012, Adrien started to bottle the wine under the name of the lieu dit - Les Nogers. Adrien’s parcel in Les Nogers is of old vines, now over 50 years old. It is a particularly interesting lieu dit because it is a continuation on the same hill as Le Bateau (Cramant) but in the village of Cuis. His parcel begins with sandy-clay, becoming chalkier as you ascend the slope.
Le Bâteau - Cramant
Le Bateau is considered one of the best lieu-dits of Cramant and Adrien's vines planted there are the oldest of the estate. The vineyard was planted in 1951 by Adrien's great-grandfather and follows the contours of the slope, some 70% southern exposure, the rest to the north.
It is made entirely in oak with only with indigenous yeasts. It spends 8 months on lees in barrel. There is no filtration, fining, or cold stabilization. He leaves it to age in his cellar for 3-4 years and one additional year on cork after disgorgement. Dosage is less than 3g/L but in past vintages has been zero dosage.
Les Pensées
Adrien wanted to release a few bottles (about 350) from the last 3 vintages that his parents vinified, hence the birth of Les Pensées cuvée. It’s from their plot, Les Nogers in Cuis; 2008 is the first vintage. Their parcel begins with sandy-clay, becoming chalkier as you ascend the slope.
100% Chardonnay from Les Nogers, an old parcel planted 55 years ago in Cuis, Premier Cru.
Extended aging sur lattes (over 9 years)
2008, 2009 & 2011 released in May 2022.
Adrien Dhondt
Avize, Les Pisseraines 2018
100% Chardonnay from the nothern part of Côte des Blancs. Time on lees: 3 years + 1 year aging under cork. Dosage: 1.5.
Oger, Blaise 2018
100% Chardonnay from middle of the Côte des Blancs Time on lees: 3 years + 1 year aging under cork. Dosage: 1.5.
Le Mesnil sur Oger 2018
100% Chardonnay from the southern Côte des Blancs(near Chétillions). Time on lees: 3 years + 1 year aging under cork. Dosage: 1.5.