From the heart of the Marne Valley, Eric Taillet is intent on restoring the glory of an often disdained grape variety.
Eric Taillet is a man of many missions. Cheerful, with sparkling blue eyes, he welcomes us to his cellar, in the town of Baslieux-sous-Châtillon. He has just returned from New York, and next he has an appointment for his new association, the “Meunier Institut” (M.I.).
Busy but serene, Eric Taillet knows how to take his time when it comes to handling his wines. His bottles can rest on the lees, head down, for years. Even a decade. He actually named a special cuvee ‘Décennie’, meaning “decenial”, because it was bottled with the 2004 harvest and released in 2014. The cuvee is meant to celebrate an exceptional vintage. It is a blend of 50 % Chardonnay and 50 % Pinot Meunier, vinified in oak and unfiltered.
Eric Taillet is a fourth generation winemaker. The earliest vines of his domain were planted by his great grand-uncles, on both his father’s and his mother’s sides, in the year 1900. He has been running the domain since 1995. A domain that spans six hectares split in thirty-seven plots. He started marketing his own Champagne in 1998. Using only three of his six hectares, and selling the remnant of his crop to Champagne houses. “It helps for the cash flow,” he says with a smile.
His wines are sold the old fashion way, through direct sales to customers who have been faithful to the Taillet name for several generations. But the world is changing. Internet has opened new doors to the world market and now Eric is getting calls from Japan, Italy or the United States … So his goal is to, one day, dedicate all of his vineyard to his own brand, produce up to sixty thousand bottles a year and export half of them.
The average age of his vineyard is 37 years old. The oldest vines date back to 1949. Because he is in the Marne Valley, Pinot Meunier is his most planted variety. It amounts to 80% of the total area. Yet it is the least celebrated of the three main varietals authorized in the appellation. But that does not bother Eric. He has a passion for wine, specifically wine from the Champagne region, and more specifically Champagne made from 100% Pinot Meunier. “It is the most beautiful grape in Champagne,” says Eric. “It is fruity, supple and delicate, but you have to wait for phenolic ripeness to harvest it.” In his range of Champagnes this passion has given birth to the ‘Bansionensi’ cuvée, a 100% Pinot Meunier that gets its name from the latin translation of ‘Baslieux’.
Eric Taillet also believes in terroir. “I love tasting clear wines, for their diversity. Each plot is different and calls for a different approach.” There are indeed several single vineyard cuvees in his range. His ‘Bois de Binson’, vinified in oak, and his ‘Prémisse’ cuvée, whose name recalls the start of his ongoing enological adventure, are here to remind us that the Marne Valley and its predominant grape variety deserve more than a secondary status.
Gérald Olivier
Eric follows the principles of what he calls “reasoned viticulture”, meaning he will not use chemical fertilizer, nor weed killer, but he will not stick by an artificial regulation if it is too strict. “I refuse to be the prisoner of a system, be it organic agriculture or another! My job is not to adhere to an ideology but to produce beautiful grapes,” he says. And that sums it all …
Set up in 2015, the association ‘Meunier Institut’ brings together Champagne producers that have at least one 100% Pinot Meunier cuvée in their range. So far the association has nine members. But considering the upswing in the production of this, once decried, grape variety, it should soon have more …
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