Why Pinot Noir still deserves the limelight in Champagne

As a proud advocate for blanc de noirs, Champagne Collery demonstrates that focusing on Pinot Noir is well worth the effort.

Like so many in Champagne, Romain Levecque is used to welcoming visitors for a tasting. The director of Champagne Collery has a well-oiled machine, offering its guests selections that might include non-vintage brut and extra-brut, blanc de noirs, blanc de blancs and its vintage cuvée, Empyreumatic. It is an ideal showcase for the maison’s exclusively grand cru Champagnes.

Yet it is also an opportunity to subvert some more general expectations. “When people come here who don’t know us,” Levecque explains, “about 80% of them are only drinking blanc de blancs.” But, after the tasting of Collery’s wines, they see the split between those who prefer blanc de blancs and blanc de noirs settle to around 50:50. “It’s a game-changer,” says Levecque.

His approach to the tastings demonstrates Collery’s perspective on Pinot Noir. Since Collery is based in Aÿ, a renowned terroir for Pinot Noir, Levecque says the grape is “in our DNA”. Yet the connection is deeper than that: at Collery, Pinot Noir is a vehicle for showing off the maison’s very best winemaking.

That is not to say that blanc de blancs is forgotten at Collery. “Do I drink it? Indeed. Do I like it? Indeed,” says Levecque. In fact, Collery produces a blanc de blancs which sits comfortably alongside its other top cuvées, designed to offer a different style for those who prefer Chardonnay. But blanc de noirs is undeniably Collery’s flagship. “Do I have more fun with Pinot Noir?” Levecque concludes. “Yes.”

The rewards of Pinot

While pure Chardonnay expressions often dominate the market – especially at the higher end – Levecque emphasises the rewards of Pinot Noir. That begins in winemaking, where he regularly finds himself thrilled by its challenge. With lower yields than Chardonnay, and freshness and acidity that is more difficult to preserve, it is a test of the winemaker that often requires careful intervention.

In the bottle, however, it achieves something truly special. Levecque sees each of the trio of main Champagne grapes as having its own special character, defining Pinot Noir ’s as “complexity and depth”. Moreover, he says, Pinot Noir has fantastic gastronomic potential: “With a blanc de noirs, you get more versatility,” he explains. “You’re never going to have a tagine with a blanc de blancs.”

Thus, at Collery, the grape’s potential is revealed through a slow approach at all points. Firstly, it is a winemaking decision, with slow, temperature-controlled fermentation developing its complexity. Levecque likens it to making a casserole – the more slowly you proceed, the richer the end result. That is mirrored in the ageing process. Even the Pinot Noir-heavy brut and extra-brut cuvées take four years to develop, while the top cuvées take at least six years to realise their potential.

It may be uncommon to fly the flag so boldly for Pinot noir, but it has paid off. Among Collery’s clutch of top medals at this year ’s Champagne Masters, it secured Gold for its blanc de noirs, praised as “long, savoury and welldefined” by the judges. Visit by visit, tasting by tasting, bottle by bottle, Collery is helping raise the profile of a sometimes overlooked grape.