Champagne Thiénot La Vigne Aux Gamins 2008

Having spent many years as a broker between the Champagne growers and the Grand Houses, Alain Thiénot, bought vineyards and set up his own House in 1985. The original house in the Rue des Moissons, in the middle of Reims, with a warren of chalk cellars, was soon outgrown and a purpose-built winery was built just outside the city. The cellars at Rue de Moissons are still used to age and hand riddle the bottles. The Estate is now run by the charismatic Stanislas Thienot and his sister Garance, with guidance from cellar master and viticulturist Nicolas Uriel. Thiénot source about 50% of their fruit from their own vineyards, higher than the average, mostly from Grand and Premier cru villages in the Montagne de Reims and the Côte des Blancs.   

The stunning La Vigne aux Gamins comes from one of family’s own single sites in the Grand Cru village of Avize in the Côte des Blancs, the vines are 60 years old and planted on deep chalk. The wine undergoes, as do all their wines, its malolactic fermentation before bottling in 2009 and long aging in the cold cellars of the Rue des Moissons. A rare experience in Champagne, single site, single variety, single vintage and substantial age if you love Champagne, you must try this.

 It was interesting but not surprising that when the famous Australian winery, Penfolds decided to create a Champagne it was Thiénot door they knocked on, drawing on Nicholas Uriels experience and Thiénots vineyards in the grand cru village of Ay.