Champagne Marguet

Champagne Marguet is located in the village of Ambonnay, also known as the heartland of Grand Cru Pinot Noir. This family property was founded in 1870, and fifth-generation member Benoît Marguet-Bonnerave remains at the helm today.

Benoît has fundamentally changed the direction of the family business, having converted operations to biodynamic viticulture in 2009. He strives relentlessly to nurture energy in all his cuvées following the rhythmic cycles of nature, as well as cosmic and lunar cycles. Some of his methods are far from conventional – as are his wines, which are some of the most highly-prized and expressive in the region.

His sensitivities and skill in the vineyards are famous amongst Champagne’s vigneron community. Even Krug have employed his talents in farming their Ambonnay Pinot Noir. His cuvées and lieu dits are both contemporary and evocative, standing as beautiful expressions of terroir. Timeless, radical and insanely delicious, these wines offer value, purity, and quality.

Blanc de Noirs

Blanc de Noirs describes a wine produced entirely from black grapes. In Champagne, Blanc de Noirs cuvée can be made from the two black grapes permitted within the appellation, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Bollinger's prestige cuvée Vieilles Vignes Françaises, from ungrafted, old Pinot Noir vines, has set the yardstick in a style that is now produced by a number of other Champagne houses.

Recommended Producers: Cedric Bouchard, Bollinger

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir is probably the most frustrating, and at times infuriating, wine grape in the world. However when it is successful, it can produce some of the most sublime wines known to man. This thin-skinned grape which grows in small, tight bunches performs well on well-drained, deepish limestone based subsoils as are found on Burgundy's Côte d'Or.

Pinot Noir is more susceptible than other varieties to over cropping - concentration and varietal character disappear rapidly if yields are excessive and yields as little as 25hl/ha are the norm for some climats of the Côte d`Or.

Because of the thinness of the skins, Pinot Noir wines are lighter in colour, body and tannins. However the best wines have grip, complexity and an intensity of fruit seldom found in wine from other grapes. Young Pinot Noir can smell almost sweet, redolent with freshly crushed raspberries, cherries and redcurrants. When mature, the best wines develop a sensuous, silky mouth feel with the fruit flavours deepening and gamey "sous-bois" nuances emerging.

The best examples are still found in Burgundy, although Pinot Noir`s key role in Champagne should not be forgotten. It is grown throughout the world with notable success in the Carneros and Russian River Valley districts of California, and the Martinborough and Central Otago regions of New Zealand.