Seven Fleury Champagnes spanning 1992 to 2025 - thirty-three years of biodynamic Côte des Bar.
Fleury is one of those producers you can build an entire evening around. Founded in 1895 in Courteron, they were the first Champagne grower to convert to biodynamics - in 1989, when that word still sounded like a religion rather than a marketing strategy. Four generations later, the family is still at it: fifteen hectares on Kimmeridgian marl - not the Campanian chalk of the Côte des Blancs, but fossilized ancient seabed, 150 million years of compressed clay, limestone, and oyster shells. 85% Pinot Noir, and a quiet conviction that the terroir will speak if you let it.
And speak it does. Across all seven Fleury wines, from the youngest to the oldest, a single thread runs through: a saline, stoney minerality laced with iodine - the fossilized ocean announcing itself in every glass. It's not subtle. It's not background noise. It's the house signature, and once you hear it, you hear it everywhere.
We opened with an Étienne Calsac from Avize as a palate-setter, then walked through seven Fleury wines spanning thirty-three years - from a fresh-disgorged 2025 Blanc de Noirs to a 1992 Symphonie d'Europe that had been sleeping longer than some of our participants have been alive. In between: a still Coteaux Champenois Chardonnay, a Rosé de Saignée, their rare Notes Blanches from 100% Pinot Blanc, the Cépages Blancs with over eleven years on lees, and the historic Fleur de l'Europe - Champagne's first biodynamic cuvée.
The welcome glass - not Fleury. Étienne Calsac is a rising grower-producer in Avize, Grand Cru Côte des Blancs. 100% Chardonnay, vinified partly in used barriques, partly in steel. Extra Brut (3 g/l). Base 2022, disgorged April 2025, 36 months on lees.
4.1
Still tight and full of tension, but a bit more generous than last time. Menthol, lemon zest, chalk, brioche, nuts. Beautiful. Needs more time for sure, but at least it's not as painfully wound up. Neat cider, baked apples, and honey in the aftertaste. Pretty much the same wine - just a touch more willing to talk.
RegionFrance › Champagne › Champagne AOC › Côte des Bar
Type
white · traditional · sparkling · extra-brut
Vintage
NV (based on 2020)
Grapes
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
12%
Disgorged
2025-03
On lees
~28 months
The house signature, tracing its origins to 1955 when Robert Fleury first championed Pinot Noir in the Côte des Bar. 100% Pinot Noir. 35% from 2020, 15% from 2021, and 50% from a réserve perpétuelle enriched each year and stored in large wooden vats. Vinified in steel, full malolactic. Minimum 36 months on lees. Extra Brut (3.4 g/l). Disgorged March 2025.
4.1
The house introduction - and the Fleury signature lands immediately. Red apples, red currant, chalk, sea, iodine. That saline-mineral axis that will run through the entire evening starts here - the Kimmeridgian seabed making itself known from the very first glass. Strong chalky structure, very focused and precise, but still very young. Austere and beautiful. The skeleton of something that will be generous in a few years.
RegionFrance › Champagne › Champagne AOC › Côte des Bar
Type
white · traditional · sparkling · brut-nature
Vintage
2016
Grapes
Pinot Blanc
Alcohol
12%
Disgorged
2024-06
On lees
~83 months
100% Pinot Blanc - one of Champagne's cépages oubliés, rarely seen as a single-variety Champagne. Brut Nature (zero dosage). Vinified in oak. Disgorged June 2024 after approximately 83 months on lees. Fleury championing a forgotten variety from the Côte des Bar.
4.3
Wow, very interesting wine - and a rare one. 100% Pinot Blanc, one of Champagne's forgotten varieties, given 83 months on lees and zero dosage. The nose is less compelling than the palate - white fruit, iodine, linden honey. On the palate, all of that doubles. It's like drinking linden honey, chasing it with a baked apple, and finishing with a green walnut - that iodine signature weaving through sweetness rather than standing on its own. The Kimmeridgian imprint is deep here: Pinot Blanc's relative neutrality lets the fossilized seabed speak directly. Great structure and backbone - precise, clear, to the point.
RegionFrance › Champagne › Champagne AOC › Côte des Bar
Type
white · traditional · sparkling · extra-brut
Vintage
2012
Grapes
Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc
Alcohol
12%
Disgorged
2024-11
On lees
136 months
Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc from the Côte de Champreaux and Valprune parcels on deep limestone. Vinified 50% in oak, 50% in steel. Extra Brut. Disgorged November 2024 after 136 months on lees - over eleven years. The 2012 vintage was brutal (frost, coulure, hail), but low yields produced concentrated wines.
4.3
Lush on the nose - cream, sake, apples and pears, a touch of green herbs like tarragon. On the palate, incredibly charged - the 4.8 g/l dosage is essentially undetectable. Great concentration, rich, almost full-bodied. Over eleven years on lees have built something opulent - layers of richness that absorb the house minerality rather than showcasing it. The saline backbone is still there if you look for it, but it's dressed in silk. Complex, multilayered. The most generous wine of the evening.
Still wine from Champagne - no bubbles. Coteaux Champenois is a rare AOC that most houses don't bother with. 100% Chardonnay. 2020 was a hot, early-harvest year - ideal for still wine, as grapes reached full phenolic ripeness. Biodynamic, as with everything Fleury makes.
4.4
Sesame, roasted pumpkin seeds, a touch of reduction - which evolved from barnyard to sardines with charred lime. Asparagus. Lemon. A very complex and beautiful nose. The palate has high acidity but is well balanced - beautiful, a bit oily, roasted seeds, yet with good minerality underneath. Without bubbles, you hear the terroir differently - the same Kimmeridgian marl, but stripped of effervescence. The stoney, saline character that hides behind mousse in the other wines stands fully exposed here.
RegionFrance › Champagne › Champagne AOC › Côte des Bar
Type
white · traditional · sparkling · brut-nature
Vintage
NV (based on 2019)
Grapes
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
Alcohol
12%
Disgorged
2025-04
On lees
~58 months
A historic milestone - the first biodynamic cuvée produced in the Côte des Bar. Named after Europe in 1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin Wall. 85% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay. About 40% from reserve wines aged in oak tuns. Vinified in steel and fût de chêne, full malolactic. Minimum 30 months on lees. Brut Nature (zero dosage). Disgorged April 2025.
4.2
The friendliest and roundest wine of the evening so far. Lush, vivid, lovely honey character - but the chalk and iodine are right there, as always with Fleury. The reserve wines bring a sherry-like depth and balance that softens the house austerity into something incredibly approachable. This is where the saline-mineral signature feels most effortless - not austere, not hidden, just naturally woven into the warmth. May become even more beautiful and complex with time.
RegionFrance › Champagne › Champagne AOC › Côte des Bar
Type
rose · traditional · sparkling · extra-brut
Vintage
2019
Grapes
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
12%
Disgorged
2025-03
On lees
~57 months
100% Pinot Noir. Saignée method - the must sits on the skins for extended contact before being bled off, producing a deeper, more intensely coloured rosé than the blending method. Extra Brut (3.4 g/l). Disgorged March 2025 after approximately 57 months on lees. Vintage 2019 - an excellent, warm year.
4.3
Loads of barberry and other red berries, a touch of cream, flint, iodine. The house signature persists even through saignée extraction - that stoney, saline thread weaving through the red fruit like a mineral spine. Herbs, rhubarb, Sicilian orange oil. Super juicy, a touch of cider, sherry. Maybe not the most complex wine, but an incredibly beautiful candy. I was sceptical going in, but this is delicious.
RegionFrance › Champagne › Champagne AOC › Côte des Bar
Type
white · traditional · sparkling · extra-brut
Vintage
1992
Grapes
Pinot Noir
Alcohol
12%
Disgorged
2022-12
On lees
~355 months
The crown jewel. 100% Pinot Noir. Vintage 1992 - the year of the Maastricht Treaty. Late-disgorged December 2022, meaning it spent approximately twenty-nine years on its lees before release. Extra Brut. A discontinued prestige cuvée from Fleury's earlier era. At thirty-four years old, a bottle from another time entirely.
4.4
Mushroom broth, onion (which thankfully passes), persimmon, caramel, toffee, raisins. A touch of wine vinegar. Still wildly charged after twenty-nine years on lees - dried fruit, iodine, chalk, uzvar, walnut liqueur, maple syrup on the palate. The saline-mineral axis hasn't faded - it has simply absorbed into something ancient and layered, the fossilized seabed now indistinguishable from the wine itself. The acidity is remarkable - it holds everything together like a spine. Still this alive.
Raw scores
Personal scores are available to event participants.
