We devote a good chunk of our offers to top tier, single vintage, Grand Cru Champagne. I love those wines, and you do too it seems, but sometimes what the occasion calls for is a really great, perfectly balanced, crowd pleasing bottle of bubbles that offers incredible value but still delivers on the unique terroir of Champagne–there’s a good reason why the world’s best sparkling wines are born here. Tonight’s Friday discovery fun is the perfect fit for an all-around, user-friendly, everyone will love it Champagne. It’s got equal parts of all three main grape varieties; it’s quite dry without being at all austere; it’s great with all types of food but also delicious all on its own. In a word this would be a perfect house Champagne glass pour at any top tier restaurant, and in the same vein it’s the perfect every-occasion sparkler for your house too! Why serve the same old yellow label stuff when you can have artisanally produced, Grower-Champagne for less?!? It’s time to stock up.
The Yves Jacques cuvée “MCM 32” refers to the first vines that André Jacques planted in Baye back in 1932. He and his wife Gilberte had recently moved into this small village on the edge of the famed Côtes de Blancs, and while Gilberte quickly took the helm of the local café, André was a farmer and winemaker at heart. Their son Yves took the viticultural baton and ran with it: He purchased a modern press, vat house, and cellar and was then able to produce the first estate labeled bottles for commercial sale in 1962. Champagne Yves Jacques was officially born! The third generation, Valérie and Rémi Jacques, took the helm in 1982 and today they are joined by the fourth generation and continue to produce classy, traditional minded and pitch perfect expressions of Champagne.
Given that the family’s home village of Baye is in the Côte de Blancs you might assume that Chardonnay was the primary focus (I certainly did), but it was actually Pinot Meunier that founder André first planted nearly a century ago. Meunier has long been the “backup” crop here that comes into play when then Chardonnay was hit by frost or other issues that would lead to a smaller crop. To this day it is Pinot Meunier that tends to take the lead at Yves Jacques, but today’s feature is actually a very classic, straight down-the-middle blend of all three main grapes–roughly a third of each. In an era where single variety, single vineyard, terroir is king styled Champagne seems to get all the attention, it’s actually quite refreshing to encounter this type of crowd pleasing, throwback bottle of elegant bubbles.
If you take a bottle of Veuve or Moët, strip back all the manipulations of mass production, lower the sticky amount of added sugar (aka dosage) pretty significantly, and then add back the benefit of family farming and meticulous, artisanal wine making you would end up with something like the “MCM 32.” Serve this bastion of old-school Champagne well chilled in an all-purpose stem (or if hosting a party with an art-deco theme, try a coupe). It shimmers with a lovely white-gold hue and sports a supremely elegant perlage while the nose features subtle hints of yellow apple, white peach, marzipan, lemon zest, white flowers, and a whiff of sea breeze. The palate is fresh, exuberant and expertly balanced between fruit, a small touch of sweetness, and mineral laden acidity. Serve with any type of Canapé, but a classic would be simple Gougères. It’s a perfectly refreshing, pool worthy wine, but fall and the holidays are not far off so this is a great opportunity to stock up on a terrific value, all-occasion Champagne that will take you all the way to the new year.
