There’s only one way to frame it: Vincent Charlot is a Champenois madman. How else can you describe a winemaker who biodynamically farms four hectares spread over ~40 parcels, releases as many as 27 vintage cuvées per annum, and doesn’t hesitate to bottle lots as small as a single barrel? Vincent’s unending ardor would put even the most fastidious Burgundian to shame, and his 2016 “Le Fruit de ma Passion” is the delicious, mind- and category-bending culmination of his relentless obsession. 

A blend of Champagne’s three noble grapes, this barrel-fermented sparkler is vividly fresh yet alluringly textural, with smoky richness and animated fruit in equal measure; the sort of live-wire experience that can only be achieved by someone who’s truly mastered the nuances of Champagne. And if you’re expecting to shell out triple digits for such a thrill, think again: Charlot’s “Le Fruit de ma Passion” is a bottle that offers it all: genuine value, genuine profundity, genuine soul. Grower Champagne doesn’t get more “Grower” than this!

The Charlot vineyards are an embarrassment of riches. Based around Mardeuil, just west of Epernay in the Vallée de la Marne, Vincent’s holdings cover just about every type of soil a Champagne grower could hope to farm, from silex to clay to chalk. His tiny parcels—which average 0.1 hectares in size—bristle with life, as wild carrots, strawberries, bees, and pheasants all call his vineyards home. He never tills the soil so as to maintain as much microbial diversity as possible. In a region so driven by high-volume conglomerates, where chemical weed killers are de rigueur and most vineyards don’t even have grass between the rows, Vincent is a member of the farming elite. Indeed, a mere 2% of Champagne vineyards are farmed biodynamically. 

Vincent’s maniacal attention to detail continues in the cellar. He ferments each of his three-dozen-plus parcels separately so as to maintain their unique soil imprint. He employs amphorae and well-used barrels so as to minimize any wood’s impact on the wine, while also allowing it to breathe. Alcoholic fermentation takes place spontaneously, and he allows malolactic to happen if the wine wishes. All his cuvées are treated with the absolute minimum addition of sulfur. And for his dosage (always five grams or less, therefore “Extra-Brut”), he only uses grape must from his own grapes. Put simply, Vincent Charlot represents not just the apogee of Champagne production, but “natural” winemaking as well. You couldn’t ask for a more artisanal bottling from anywhere in the world!

The 2016 “Le Fruit de ma Passion” is 55% Pinot Meunier, 30% Chardonnay, and 15% Pinot Noir. Each variety fermented separately in neutral French barrels before being blended and bottled for secondary fermentation in July of 2017. After spending just over four years on lees, it was disgorged in August of 2021 and topped off with a four-gram-per-liter dosage. 

This is a Champagne that begs to be served in a white wine glass, well-cooled but not ice-cold. It pours a luminous yellow-gold with flecks of bronze, and the nose absolutely explodes from the glass. Freshly-cut green apple, pear skin, white flowers, ginger, saffron, pulverized chalk, and faint exotic spices coast above a gentle brioche-y toastiness. The palate is broad, lush even, leaning into creamed apple and candied lemon before it zips to an energetic, mineral finish. It’s lip-smacking in its refreshment yet head-spinning in its complexity, offering up one of the best QPRs imaginable in a sub-$75 Champagne. Grab as much as you can!