Mélanie Tarlant

At the end of our rendez-vous* in Epernay at the beginning of November with the other members of Les 5 du Vin we had time to fit in another visit before heading back on the Saturday afternoon to the UK.

It seemed both appropriate and convenient to arrange to see the Tarlant family (http://www.tarlant.com/) who were one of the pioneers of producer  blogs: http://champagne.typepad.com/. In 2010 Melanie Tarlant was in Vienna for the third edition of the European Wine Bloggers’ Conference, while brother Benoît was recently in Brescia for the fourth edition as Melanie was away on a long trip to China, Korea and Japan.

The Tarlants are based in the village of Oueilly (a linguistically challenging place name if ever I saw one!). Oueilly  perches up on the steep slopes of the southern side of Marne Valley about 14 kilometres west of Epernay. We were greeted by their mother, Micheline Tarlant, as Benoît was away in Canada and Melanie would arrive later. We sat in their large and comfortable tasting room.   

Micheline: “The Tarlant family has been in this part of the Marne Valley since the revolution. Originally it was polyculture, including some vines, with orchards in the Marne Valley. The Marne is the oldest part of the Champagne vineyard, while the Côtes des Blancs is much more recent.

Micheline Tarlant

“1928 was the first vintage for Tarlants Champagne when Louis Tarlant (1878-1960) first bottled their Champagne. Louis was mayor of Oeuilly and had been involved in the Champagne Revolution in 1911. They had seen the troops sent from Paris coming along the Marne.   

“The big change in life here didn’t come until after the Second World War when the specialization in making Champagne really started during the time when Benoît and Melanie’s grandfather, Georges (1928-2007) was in charge. Then Champagne was very elitist and, for most people, reserved for very special occasions.          

“We now have approximately 15 hectares of vines in 55 or 57 different parcels and produce 140,000 – 150,000 bottles a year. In the 1960s, we replanted ungrafted vines in one very sandy parcel close to the Marne where they are safe from phylloxera.

Overall we have 50% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Meunier but we also have small plots of Arbanne, Pinot Blanc and Petit Meslier as Benoît likes to experiment.”

Micheline and her husband Jean-Mary have been involved in running the Tarlant estate since 1971. Benoît started working here in 2000 (according to Micheline), although later Melanie said it was in 1998 – so take your pick! Melanie, whose studies were in marketing and communication, started in the family business in 2005. The tasting room was opened a year later.

By this time Melanie had arrived so after a short tour we started the tasting beginning with the Brut Nature (22€) – a non-dosé made from equal proportions of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Clean, precise and refreshingly lemony, it is just a little short in the finish.

The Rosé Zéro (27€) followed.  Melanie: “The first non-dosé Rosé here. It required a lot of experimentation to get the balance of acidity and tannin right.” The experiments were certainly worth is as the Rosé is lovely – a delicate pink, strawberry fruit balanced by an austere finish. It is a blend of 85% Chardonnay with 15% Pinot Noir.

La Vigne d’Or is a Blancs de Meuniers (62€). Light gold, quite rich with good length and just a touch of chalkiness. The parcel of old vine Pinot Meunier (Pierre de Bellevue in Oeuilly) was pruned by Georges (1908-2008), Melanie’s grandfather, until he was over 80. After that he kept a careful eye out to make sure that the work was being done properly. Melanie: “The idea that Pinot Meunier cannot age and is only suitable for blending is false.”   

La Vigne d'Antan 

La Vigne d’Antan 2000 (54€) is from the ungrafted vines and is 100% Chardonnay and was one of my stand out wines from the tasting. Light gold with some toasty aromas with lovely weight and balance.

Equal proportions of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the vintages 1996, 1997 and 1998 make up Hommage à Louis Tarlant, which was bottled in 1999. It has a combination of rich softness, delicacy and power with notes of honey and brioche.

Hommage à Louis Tarlant

We finished with the Brut Prestige 1996, which spends over 10 years sur latte. Again honey and toasty notes with a brilliant balance and length of flavor. Melanie: “The 1996 vintage had an extraordinarily high level of acidity which means that it will keep for years.”

Our tasting with Melanie reinforced the revelation of the diversity, individuality and the quality of the Champagnes being made by growers today in the region.   

Benoît Tarlant in London November 2010

My apologies that this posting is so late due in part to circumstances beyond my control with Overblog being out of sevice for much of today.

Jim

Last Thursday Yves Lambert died of cancer. He was 62 and still had much to give. 

Arnaud and Yves Lambert@2009 Salon des Vins de Loire

In memory here is a report on a visit I made to the domaine in June 2009, which was first published on Jim's Loire.

11 June 2009

Arnaud Lambert

After a good lunch at Le Pot de Lapin, Henri and I headed to Saint-Just-sur-Dive and the Domaine de Saint-Just run by Yves and Arnaud Lambert. The estate is a fairly recent creation – set up in 1996 by Yves, formerly a banker. Yves, who is a cousin of Régis Neau (Domaine de Nerleux in Saint-Cyr-en-Bourg) was joined by his son, Arnaud, in 2005 after he had finished his wine studies in Bordeaux. Increasingly we are seeing a new generation take over the reins: Arnaud looked after us, while Yves was operating the fork lift.

Arnaud barrel sampling

They now have 42 hectares of vines and at the beginning of 2009 they started to convert eight of these to organic viticulture. The Lamberts have also recently concluded a 50/50 agreement with the Comte de Colbert of Château de Brézé to run their 24 hectares of vines. Although the Château de Brézé makes red Saumur (Cabernet Franc), it is best known for its whites from Chenin Blanc as are much of the vineyards around Brézé. It is here that both the Foucault brothers and Antoine Foucault have their Chenin Blanc planted.

The vineyards and Château de Brézé

Like so many producers in the Loire, 2008 was a small harvest. "Our average yield was 35 hl/ha last year," says Arnaud. "The ideal figure for us is between 45-50 hl/ha."

Domaine Saint-Just

We taste various 2008s reds and whites mainly from barrel. Probably due to his commercial background Yves has always understood the need to make his red wines soft, attractive and approachable. This shows in the 2008 Saumur-Champigny range from the Yves Lambert through the more concentrated and structured Terres Rouges and onto the top red – Clos Moleton, which is matured in 500 litre barrels with a mix of new, one year and two year old barrels. Coulée de Saint Cyr, their top Saumur Blanc, has 10%-15% of new oak. The 2008 barrel sample had attractive apricot and white flower flavours.

Then onto their successful Crémant de Loire, which is proving to be very popular in China. 20 hectares is given over to the production of Crémant in the sandy vineyards around Saint-Dive. The blend is 60% Chenin Blanc and 40% Chardonnay, which spends two years sur latte resulting in an attractively citric, fresh and delicate sparkling wine with good length. They also make a creamy, strawberry flavoured Crémant Rosé – a blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. The blackberry and raspberry L'Ardoisier, a méthode traditionelle rouge, completes the sparkling line up. It is soft with a hint of vanilla.The Lamberts recommend it with chocolate, vanilla ice cream and red fruits.

Then a look at some still wines including the precise 2006 Coulée de Saint-Cyr (Saumur Blanc), although it has less weight than the 2008. The 2008 Les Terres Rouges (bottled at the end of April) is sooty, slightly herbal and with a touch or two of green pepper on the finish. The black fruited 2007 Montée des Roches has more concentration – 50% matures in three and four use barrels, with 50% in vat. The 2007 Clos Moleton is soft, rich and concentrated and long, although a little cloying – probably needs more time in bottle.

We finish the tasting at the winery with the fine, rich 2005 Coteaux de Saumur – a mix of apricot and ripe citric fruit, especially orange peel. This is only made in favourable vintages – 1997, 1999 and 2001 were the previous vintages, although 2001 wasn't put on the market.

The amazing troglodyte cellars@Saint-Cyr

Then it's onto the amazing troglodyte cellars that they have at their home in Saint-Cyr, which date from the 12th century. Here we taste a couple of vintages of the Coulée de Saint-Cyr – 2004 and 2000. I particularly liked the balance of rich, honeyed fruit and freshness in the 2004, which demonstrates that the best years for Loire dry whites are often the difficult vintages. Finally two vintages of Clos Moleton – 2002 and 2005. The 2002 quite classic Loire with pencil shavings and freshness, while the 2005 is as you would expect considerably weightier, more concentrated and needing some more time.

Bread oven in the cellar complex

I look forward to seeing how the Lamberts' new venture with the Château de Brézé develops.

An appreciation and an obituary from saumur-kiosque here.