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Champagne Marguet, “La Grande Ruelle,” Grand Cru

Champagne, France 2011 (750mL)
$109.00
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Champagne Marguet, “La Grande Ruelle,” Grand Cru

Today’s Ambonnay Grand Cru “La Grand Ruelle” is one of the most memorable Champagnes I’ve opened in the last year. While its balance of power, richness, and poise is stunning, I can’t say it caught me by surprise. After all, this bottle originates from one of the most revered Grand Cru Pinot Noir hillsides not only in Champagne, but the world.
The 900-person village of Ambonnay is famed for producing an honor roll of elite Champagne estate’s top Pinot Noir-driven wines: Egly-Ouriet’s style-defining Ambonnay Rouge ($150); Selosse’s brilliant “Le Bout de Clos” ($350); and of course, Krug’s singular “Clos d’Ambonnay” (~$2,000+). These iconic wines could not exist without this microscopic village’s extraordinary terroir. Today’s offer doubles down with the talent of a brilliant cellarmaster who knows his native Ambonnay better than any other, and what he considers one of the village’s single top Grand Crus, “La Grand Ruelle.” Benoit Marguet produced 151 cases total of this sought-after gem and the few bottles that didn’t immediately ship to restaurant cellars upon release are virtually impossible to locate. We’re thrilled to share a small allocation today, and I’m certain when you taste it, you will be blown away. We can offer just 2 bottles per customer until our stock disappears.
In Peter Liem’s outstanding new book, Champagne: The Essential Guide to the Wines, Producers, and Terroirs of the Iconic Region, he declares that “few have explored Ambonnay’s terroir in as much detail as Benoit Marguet.” Born and raised in Ambonnay, Benoit cut his teeth by assisting a who’s who of local producers in the village’s enology lab and later lending his growing talents to Mumm. Next, Benoit travelled to the US where he served as assistant winemaker under the legendary Paul Hobbs. After perfecting his touch with a variety of terroirs and styles, Benoit knew it was time to return home to his family’s small 7-hectare property in Ambonnay. Over the last decade, he has transformed it into one of the most passionately organic- and biodynamic-certified properties in all of Champagne. Marguet also divided his family’s holdings, thereby creating one of the widest and most impressive selection of single vineyard wines in this village. Benoit’s zero-dosage Grand Cru-designate “Le Parc,” “Les Bermonts” and “Les Crayères” not to mention an impressive range of village-level extra-bruts and rosés—are monuments to Ambonnay’s legendary chalky terroir. Still, Benoit is known to rate the vineyard that produces today’s wine, “La Grand Ruelle,” as one of, if not the finest in his hometown. 

Benoit Marguet’s 2011 Grand Cru “La Grand Ruelle” is an exemplary expression of the Ambonnay terroir and the village’s defining variety. 100% Pinot Noir vines planted to deep clay-limestone soils, creating an immensely satisfying paradox of powerful concentration and broad presence on the palate, contrasted against deep minerality with perfect freshness and delineation. If I’m paying for Grand Cru real estate, I want to taste the soil first, and the cellar work second, if at all. As always with Benoit’s wines, this stuff is pristine, clean as a whistle, and full of mineral drive. Demonstrating impressive weight, remarkably refined and detailed aromas, and a perfect accent of toast and biscuity-ness, this is truly classic Pinot-driven Champagne. Please serve at 50-55 degrees in Champagne flutes. This is a robust sparkler whose powerful, chiseled features recall my favorite top-tier whites from Burgundy. So, don’t relegate it to mere “cocktail wine” status. This is a bottle built for a main course and it will sing alongside a simple but timeless halibut with cream sauce preparation.
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Country
France
Region
Champagne
Sub-Region
FranceMontagne de Reims
Soil
Limestone & Clay
Farming
Organic & Biodynamic
Blend
Pinot Noir 100%
Alcohol
12.5
OAK
Neutral
TEMP.
50-55
Glassware
All-Purpose/Burgundy Stem
Drinking
Now-2030
Pairing
Halibut w/ Cream Sauce

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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