Hold the Sugar with Brut Nature Champagne
Champagne photo credit Maldonado Turner for Unsplash
With its relatively moderate climate and winemaking philosophy that veers toward the elegant rather than the showy, Champagne is by default stylistically drier and more understated than its traditional method bubbly counterparts in places like California and Spain. Even still, you may find Brut Champagne a bit too round on the palate. Or maybe your palate is craving something different. Do yourself a favor this season and uncork a bottle of Brut Nature.
Also referred to as “zero-dosage,” Brut Nature Champagne is made by tweaking a crucial last step before bottling. After dégorgement, which is the practice of freezing the neck of the bottle to remove the yeast sediment, all Champagne is “topped off” with what’s called the liqueur d'expédition, a mixture of wine and sugar. The amount of sugar regulates the style: Brut, Extra Brut, or Demi-Sec, for example. But with Brut Nature, no sugar is mixed with that wine topper offer, which renders the Champagne austere--in a good way. Think about the flavor of lemon juice versus lemon curd or lemon cream, and that’s one relevant descriptor for Brut Nature--leaner, tarter, drier. While Brut Nature still accounts for 1% or less of the entire Champagne market, it’s a segment that’s growing and resonating with an increasing number of wine fans.
Here are 4 Champagne houses that produce notable Brut Nature Champagne:
Billecart-Salmon
Billecart Salmon Brut Nature photo credit ©Leif Carlson
“There is certainly a trend towards lower dosage and we have been lowering ours in many of our cuvées over the years,” notes Mathieu Roland-Billecart, CEO of Billecart-Salmon “Some of this comes from people’s taste, but it is also true that…[it’s a] lot easier to make a harmonious wine with a low dosage now that it was historically.” In 2010 the house released an Extra Brut, a cuvée which has stylistically evolved over the last ten years due to changing elements of the blend and the use of different solera-aged wines as well as those added after dégorgement. Eventually it evolved into the house’s newest expression: a bright, pure, dry, clean and fresh Brut Nature made from 40% pinot meunier, 30% pinot noir and 30% chardonnay sourced from ten harvests and aged four years in the cellar. While this latest offering was spurred on in part by requests from their loyal fan base, Roland-Billecart still believes the style will remain quite niche. “Brut Nature tends to be a little less versatile [than Brut] in its use, mainly suited for an aperitif [or] starter.” Roland-Billecart likes it with freshly shucked oysters or a seafood tower. But for acid hounds and the “drink what you like with what you like” camp, zero-dosage can also be an all-night sipper.
Besserat de Bellefon
“We produced and launched Brut Nature Champagne in order to offer to the consumer something more natural and more authentic,” says Godefroy Baijot, co-owner, brand ambassador and export director for Besserat de Bellefon . “You cannot hide any faults the wine is completely naked.” Like the rest of their portfolio, their Triple B Brut Nature is 100% organic and biodynamic, without malolactic fermentation. Baijot believes it appeals to enthusiasts and sommeliers, as it lends itself to food pairing.
Champagne Pommery
Champagne photo credit Steve Daniel for Unsplash
Clément Pierlot, chef de cave at Champagne Pommery, believes that sense of place and winemaker technique are often better able to shine through with Brut Nature Champagne. “It’s the pure taste, you may be able to feel the terroir better...to understand the work of the winegrower, particularly the chalkiness of our wonderful vineyards of Champagne,” he says. “There’s no possibility of cheating.” While Pommery’s Cuvée Louise has always contained 6g/L or less of sugar; on some vintages (like 1989) it’s been even closer to zero dosage. The term “nature” is found on Pommery’s labels dating back to the nineteenth century, and the house had its first commercial success with a Brut Nature in 1874. Today it’s made with fruit sourced from the Grands Crus in Ay, Cramant, and Avize. The style is for connoisseurs, he says--but not solely. “They are also for people looking for authentic wines driven by their minerality and different balance.”
Champagne Ayala
“Brut Nature shows our ability to create wines of great purity and elegance, without ‘makeup’ so to speak,” explains Caroline Latrive, chef de cave at Champagne Ayala. The house has a history with low dosage Champagnes; their 1865 vintage had only 22g/l sugar, versus the 100g/L which was de rigueur at the time. But Latrive is quick to point out that her philosophy is to align with the style of the house rather than the trends of the day, so she won’t simply make a zero-dosage wine for its own sake. “[Our] Brut Nature is marked by freshness, elegance, and rigorous grape selection.” She works with sixty to seventy crus from all over the region to select the most outstanding grapes from which to achieve balance, ferments in inox stainless steel to preserve purity, uses malolactic fermentation to “curve the angles and bring a deeper aromatic palate” and ages four years on the lees to intensify aromas. The process of lowering the dosage is much more complex and nuanced than just a wine that lowers sugar levels, she points out; it also requires some patience to allow the bubbly to open up, evolve and reveal itself in the glass. She adds, “In a world where everything moves so fast, Brut Nature is an invitation to feel, be part of the present because the wine really evolves as you drink it and changes quite dramatically!”
Bottles to Try:
Billecart-Salmon Brut Nature NV ($59.99), a zero-dosage cuvée that’s the result of a blend of grapes from ten harvests from 2006 to 2015, and a prolonged aging of 48 months on the lees, adding a creamy texture and flavor, balanced by white fruit and lime, with a hint of minerality.
Champagne Pommery Cuvée Louise 2004 ($160), made with 60% chardonnay and 40% pinot noir from the Grand Cru vineyards of Avize, Cramant and Ay, is rich, generous and silky, with yeasty aromas, a palate of hazelnut and almond paste.
Besserat de Bellefon Triple B Brut Nature Organic Champagne 2015 ($90), made with chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes sourced from the Verneuil vineyard in the Marne Valley, with aromas of mandarin and lemon, notes of salinity and cinnamon and a pure and mineral-driven finish.
Champagne Ayala Brut Nature NV ($63), aged for four years, this expression from the house founded in 1860 hits the perfect balance of angularity and tart acidity without becoming too austere. Alongside seared scallops and steamed lobster, it can lend the same brightness as a squeeze of lemon on the dish.
Louis Roederer Starck Brut Nature Blanc 2012 ($90) uses grapes sourced from a challenging year that give the wine more concentration and makes the lack of dosage less noticeable. Fruit notes veer toward the candied and the baked rather than freshly-cut, and savory tones of hazelnut and salinity are followed by a clean finish.