Since five generations the Gaudinat family grows wine in the Marne valley at the locality Mesnil-le Huttier in the village of Festigny, a top place for Pinot Meunier. To reveal its delicacy and extend it in time this grape variety requires a savoir-faire that the heirs Hervé and David Gaudinat now the managers of the estate planted with 75% Pinot Meunier have.
Wine growers from the origin, the members of the Gaudinat family then provided the cooperative cellar of the village, afterwards they crafted Champagne in their name in the 50s and developed the marketing during the 70s. In the third millenium, two brothers, Hervé and David Gaudinat, took over the family estate (6.5 ha) where Pinot Meunier reigns supreme.
“This variety, present in all our blends, is the main thread of our wines. We love moreish, festive Champagnes where the connoisseurs will find a wide range of fruity, light, vivid sensations.” Their estate has been built up by their grandfather who managed to gather within 3 km all around the head office a consistent ensemble of lands adapted to today's viticulture. “He left well-identified plots of lands with a good zoning. The specificity is they provide a variety of exposures and substrata which enables us to chisel the Pinot Meunier wines mingling the geological origin of the grapes. All these differences give us the opportunity to appropriate our Champagnes, to customize them”, the two brothers explain.
The Pinot Meuniers are kept apart to give the best. Appreciated for their fruitiness and roundness, they are usually not highlighted by the trade. They suffer from irregular yields that require a rigourous management of the plants to get grapes at optimum ripeness. “It has to be planted on the appropriate soil, its yields have to be mastered, the grapes carefully picked, not to maul them, at a date when the balance sugar-acidity and the phenological and aromatic maturity are satisfying, in short we have to get a raw material beyond reproach. It has to be pressed on site and without delay, that is why our parents equipped the domain with presses and vats”, the two brothers explain. Fulfilled thanks to all these little attentions, the Gaudinat-Boivin cuvées based on Pinot Meunier are ready to age 3 to 5 years.
Their flagship cuvée is Origine! It is a single vineyard Blanc de Noirs from Festigny, stemming from poor soils at mid-slope, 100% Pinot Meunier. It is produced exclusively by massal selection with deep rooting of the old vines (60 years). The soil is ploughed, covered with grass every two rows. Only the heart of the cuvée is kept for its crafting. Origine is a blend of two consecutive years (2007-2008) entirely vinified in Allier oak barrels with fine tannins and light toasting. “We seek refining, complexity of the aromas rather than the taste of wood. We work to let the Champagne reveal its richness, its delicacy.” Origine is a gastronomic Champagne that releases aromas of white blossom, then melting flavours of white-fleshed fruits and a creamy foam that coats the palate and put it in a festive mood for long. Testimony of a region, a savoir-faire, Origine can age some 5 years more!
Gaudinat-Boivin also counts some Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, judiciously planted on this terroir. Both grape varieties, always blended with Pinot Meunier, complement the range and give rise, in the exceptional years, to other remarkable cuvées: Grande Réserve and vintage Champagnes.
And something new for the end of the year. Gaudinat-Boivin releases an Extra Brut, dosed at 4g, crafted with 75% Meunier, 20% Chardonnay and 5% Pinot noir. This Champagne ages in bottles on the laths during three years, than rests an extra year after disgorgement. Surprise, surprise… to be discovered for Christmas.
Marie-Caroline Bourrellis
* Ex-cellar price: €25.00€ taxes incl. for Origine and €14.20 taxes incl. for Sélection Extra Brut
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