Bérêche & Fils Ambonnay Grand Cru 2017
- Region
- France » Champagne » Champagne AOC » Montagne de Reims » Grande Montagne Reims » Ambonnay
- Type
- white traditional sparkling, extra brut
- Producer
- Vintage
- 2017
- Disgorged
- 2022-07
- On lees
- ~48 months
- Grapes
- Pinot Noir
- Alcohol
- 12.5
- Sugar
- 3
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- not available
- Find at
Ratings
Oh wow, this is very Burgundy on the nose. Bitter herbs, sesame, iodine, pomegranate, rye bread and pink grapefruit, brioche and spices layered together. Full-bodied, satiny, rich - an elegantly muscular profile with tangy acids leading into a long, expansive finish. This is pure Pinot Noir from Les Tourets, and it shows. The clay soils give it this velvety texture that's completely different from the chalk-driven wines earlier in the flight. Treat it like red Burgundy, because that's basically what it wants to be. Stunning.
About Producer
Bérêche & Fils is one of those domaines that quietly reshaped how many of us think about Champagne (at least, it happens to me). Under the direction of brothers Raphaël and Vincent Bérêche - who officially took over in 2004 - it has transformed from a solid family-run house into one of the region's most respected grower-producers.
The domaine is based in Ludes, a Premier Cru village in the Montagne de Reims, but their vineyard holdings stretch across 14.8 hectares in the Montagne de Reims and Vallée de la Marne, with small but important parcels in the Grand Cru village of Cramant in the Côte des Blancs. Farming is thoughtful and labour-intensive. Old vines are cultivated by hand, with no herbicides or insecticides, and yields are kept deliberately low.
Vincent focuses on the vineyards, while Raphaël runs the cellar - where the approach is just as deliberate. Fermentations are slow, native, and largely carried out in barrels. Malolactic fermentation is typically blocked to preserve tension and acidity. One of the more distinctive touches: they use natural cork, not crown caps, for the second fermentation. This traditional method, rarely seen these days, allows a gentle, oxygen-rich ageing process in a bottle - resulting in subtler bubbles and a deeper, more layered texture. Everything is hand-disgorged, nothing is filtered, and the wines speak for themselves.
Bérêche isn't chasing trends or looking for glossy perfection. Their wines are textured, vinous, and unpolished in the best possible way. And while they've become cult favourites - spoken of in the same breath as Selosse, Agrapart, and Prévost - there's still a kind of humility and directness that sets them apart.
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