Clear wine tasting

As each year late January or early february, Marie-Noëlle Rainon-Henriet and her father are tasting the "clear wines"

First, what is a "clear wine" ? 

It's the juice of the grappes ofthe past harvest (the end of august 2011 in our case) which suffered its first alcoholic fermentation and it is converted in a flat (non sparkling) wine

At Champagne Henriet Bazin, each plot of land or vine sector, and each grape variety is pressed separatly to obtain very typical juices, reflecting the flavours of our terroirs. We own 37 plots of land distributed on Villers-Marmery (premier cru), Verzy and Verzenay (grand cru)

To elaborate the assemblages and discover great vintages, it is important to taste one by one, each of the 28 vats that contains a grape variety and a terroir. Villers-Marmery and its chardonnay growing on a gravel of chalk exposed to the East, Verzenay or Verzy, sometimes chardonnay but mostly pinot noir  on chalk flush or covered with limons, top of bottom of slopes, facing East or North-East...Are lots of micro-terroirs isolated so that each of them keep there best and more singulars flavours.

The atypical 2011 harvest wich went off from 23rd to the 31st of August due to the heat wave in spring (7 weeks of sun) gave powerful, fruity wines rich in aromas, with a nice acidity, synonym of great potental for aging.

Accompanied by Fabrice the oenologist, Geoffrey the specialist of the terroirs, Guillaume the collaborator and Thierry a friend who well knows the area, Marie-Noëlle Rainon-Henriet and her father, the guarantor of the gustatory heritage of the house, have validated their choice of the day before.

Champagne Henriet Bazin voreveals you some secrets on the cuvées that will be proposed...after afing in the cellars. :

2014 : achampagne brut rosé blended with 19% of pinot noir vinified as a red wine (AOC)

2016: millésime grand cru complex and élégant with 70% of pinot noir and 30% of chardonnay.

A future great cuvée !

Dimanche 22 Janvier : Saint Vincent.

The procession sticks escorted by Marie-Noëlle.

Vincent is the Patron Saint of wine growers and producers, he looks after the vines and, preserves the vineyard and take care of the cuvées.

In Champagne, the tradition is still very strong, there are number of churches dedicated to Saint-Vincent, or relics, statues and procession sticks.

His feast day, January 22, life stops: no winemaker is to go in his vineyard and all, women, children, friends, participate in the day.

The first verse of the prayer says:

"St. Vincent, patron of wine growers
Get us the abundance of crops, the quality of wine, a large and loyal clientele and prosperity in our business!"



Each year, the stick of Saint Vincent is entrusted to a winemaker and this is Marie-Noëlle who had the honour to receive it. The winegrowers of the village will have the mission to verify whether the conditions of accommodation are good, and shall certainly take advantage of the opportunity to savour few glasses of champagne…

Saint Vincent will take care of our cuvées and guests

Creation of the Extra-Brut cuvée.

Marie-Noëlle launch the tasting.

The creation of a new cuvée is a very important moment in the life of a winemaker. But before that, he need to answer to a question :

Why ? 

Why propose a new cuvée when the range is already 8? Champagne Henriet Bazin leaves terroir or vintages to express themselves in authentiques cuvées. But for the most discerning oenophiles and especially our pleasure of vinificateur we wanted to create an Extra-Brut to exacerbate the qualities of our terroir.

6 blends and 4 dosage per blends.

 But, to create an Extra-Brut, there were not enough, in our eyes, juts to reduce the dosage of one of our existing cuvée. Not!
As all of our range, this cuvée was required to be unique, singular, with its own personality. Should therefore think the dosage as a whole. Would it be in a mono cepage, a vintage, a mono-cru... Before these questions, a tasting was required.

The selection took place on January 10, 2012. We invited a group of 7 friends, some growers of other winemakers, merchants, chefs, oenologists, cooker and sometimes a bit both. The objective was therefore to select the best dosage for each blends. Then, a second tasting was to elect the best cuvée among the nominated 6.

It is made !...

Whe found the one !