GatinoisAÿ, Grande Vallée

Producer profile
PL "bold, full-bodied wines from Aÿ's warm, south-facing slopes." "Wines for gastronomy, not for sitting around the swimming pool" as the estate's proprietor of thirty years Pierre Cheval used to say. He was "instrumental in Champagne's successful candidacy for inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2015." His son manages the domaine today, "the twelfth generation." 7 hectares are all in Aÿ, including "some of the village's most favored sites." The wines are handled "as little as possible, with no fining, filtration, or cold-stabilization, and disgorgement is performed by hand, without freezing the bottle necks." NV Tradition is "highly expressive of Aÿ, demonstrating a refined ripeness and elegant notes of chalk." The same blend aged a year more is called Réserve. The vintage Brut is made "often with a historical variety of pinot noir called pinot d'Aÿ, which is renowned for its finesse and longevity. The estate's well-known Aÿ Rouge from the Chaufour vineyard ("even more famous than the estate's champagnes in some markets") is "concentrated, aromatic" and "of rare complexity and substance", made from "pinot noir vines planted in 1954." TyS Family traces its roots in Aÿ back to 1696, making the family "one of the oldest grower-producers" in Champagne. "Generously coloured champagnes are among the finest in this revered village." "Mosaic on the hillside" is how Cheval describes his parcels, such tessellation being the result of divisions and subdivisions over the long history of family succession and inheritance. "A wide spread of sites across the village creates complexity." Pinot noir is 90% of all vines, the rest is chardonnay "to add freshness and endurance to pinot's fleshy structure and aromatic intensity." "Vinification is meticulously hands-on, shared between just three workers in the vineyards and cellars." The estate employs traditional vertical manual press. The juice is vinified "entirely in stainless steel, parcel by parcel." Cheval says "I produce wines more in an oxidative than a reductive style as I like generous champagnes." Red wine is made in "very old" barrels. ToS 85 "A small producer with a big reputation." Part of the production (less than 10%) is sold to houses like Bollinger. NV Tradition is "easy-drinking" but needs a couple years on the cork to "smooth down its raw floral notes."

Tasting notes

Rosé. Slight kombucha nuance on the cork. Quite dry with unripe apricot, green strawberry, and hibiscus associations. No sweetness, not even in the scent. Strikingly copper in tone. Oddly, I receive this only as a clean, straightforward, wholly background champagne. It does not come across as remotely intense or even especially expressive. The bead is finer in Gabriel Glas than in Lehmann stem. On day two it tastes lean, although not thin, but still not singing. When taunted with raw carrot, the wine demurs with reserved buckwheat. At last something. The very last sips turn curiously cloudy in the glass. Purchased at Sorriso in spring 2021 for $67.