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Wine Description
The Story
The cellars are located in Ecueil, just south of Reims. Vineyards are all Premier or Grand Cru rated, planted on south-facing hillsides in the communes of Ecueil, Villars-Allerand and Bouzy, all on the Montagne de Reims.
The classic Champagne soil is chalk-based. The "Franc de Pied" parcel supports ungrafted vines because of its high sand content.
Located in Ecueil, on the Montagne de Reims, Nicolas Maillart is a family domaine with 8.5 hectares of excellent Premier and Grand Cru vineyards, spread through the villages of Bouzy, Ecueil and Villars Allerand. Nicolas himself studied in Bordeaux and worked in South Africa before taking over from his father in 2003. He is passionate about quality, with particular focus on viticulture : organic in approach if not in certification, old vines, sélection massale, he even maintains a rare ungrafted parcel of Pinot Noir. In the cellar, fermentation in tank or wood to suit the terroir, and partial barrel-ageing of the reserve wines to produce concentrated Champagnes with impressive power and length that nevertheless remain light on their feet. These are truly exciting Champagnes that command attention without ever sacrificing elegance and drinkability
Vintage 2003
A challenging vintage for Champagne in the face of an unprecedented heatwave during the summer months. The wines are characterised by the year's unusual circumstances. Large-scale frosts destroyed most of the projected yield and they were followed by hail and an extremely hot summer. Harvest was kick-started early on August 21st and yields remained minuscule at 8,100 kg/ha. Atypically round, ripe, sun-kissed wines that miss freshness and backbone. The total acidity level was notably low, at 5.8 g/l. Only the very best performers were able to avoid heaviness and overripe aromatics. This vintage was not largely declared but some famous names, Krug and Dom Pérignon at the fore, chose to experiment with it. Both produced excellent 2003s and Dom Pérignon's chef de cave at the time named the vintage as one of the creations he is most proud of. Some special cuvées surfaced, such as 2003 by Bollinger, as the house found the year did not stylistically fit into the La Grande Année range. Palmer & Co also took a curious route and made its 2003 only in magnum, releasing it much later than usual as cuvée Grands Terroirs. The ageing capacity of 2003 is much debated. Dom Pérignon's Richard Geoffroy had great confidence in his 2003 and he actually regretted releasing it too early. The jury is still out, but personally I am inclined to drink mine sooner rather than later, as the advancement post-disgorgement has in most cases been rather rapid and the wines miss the acidic backbone necessary for retaining freshness.
