Comme Autrefois

Comme Autrefois ("like before") is Françoise Bedel's vintage cuvée from the western Vallée de la Marne, a deliberate look back to the way Champagne was made before the appellation industrialised: vinification entirely in oak barrels, malolactic completed, bottled unfiltered, then a long stay on the lees - roughly sixteen years for this 2006 release before disgorgement in May 2023. Extra brut.

The 2006 is 45% Meunier, 30% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay. Meunier carries the wine: Bedel takes the grape more seriously than almost any other Marne grower, treating it as a Vallée variety in its own right rather than a Champagne filler.

The estate's clay-and-limestone soils and biodynamic farming (Demeter-certified since 2006) lean toward textured, vinous Champagne rather than the chalk-aesthetic register of Côte des Blancs cuvées. After sixteen years on lees, this 2006 sits well past the youthful citric register and into the bread, almond, and mushroom notes that long autolysis produces under patient handling.