Two small great Blanc de Blancs Champagnes from Ein Prosit

L’Osmose Pierre Gerbais and Le Bermonts Grand Cru 2012 Marguet are two great, very interesting Champagnes from two small producers.

The “summer edition” of Ein Prosit has now had its third edition, while the autumn wine and food event itself has 20 editions behind it. The seaside of Grado, with its lagoon beaches and towns streets hosting bathers for over a century, was buzzing for a night thanks to the presence of excellent producers of wine and food. Aside from the tastings and interesting seminars, as well as gourmet meals prepared by some of Italy’s best chefs, there were two seminars on Champagne were conducted by the 2011 Ambassadeur du Champagne 2011 Andrea Gori, one dedicated to Blanc de Blancs, and the other to Blancs de Noir. The seminar on Blanc de Blancs saw a “challenge” between cuvée from different terroirs and different types of producers, between small Récoltant Manipulant from relatively unknown areas, winemakers from Grand Cru villages and the historic Maison Roederer with thir regal elegance of its Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru.

The all the Champagnes presented shared a low dosage, a stylistic choice that has recently become a trend, especially among small producers, but that represents a key to interpret winemaking because the quantity of sugar in the liqueur d’expeditionis determined by many other factors. These include the quality of the harvest and the ripeness of the grapes and whether or not malolactic fermentation took place, which affects the acidic profile of the Champagne. Among the cuvee tasted, two were particularly interesting because of their “great” performance: L’Osmose from Pierre Gerbais, a Côte des Bar estate we wrote about here, in particular their Pinot Blanc Champagne; and the surprisingly extraordinary (and atypical)  Grand Cru Champagne from Marguet, a rising Champagne star we wrote about here from the Pinot Noir village of Ambonnay. A wonderful discovery!