View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Tonnellerie de Champagne Ard. (@tonnellerieartisanale)

The use of 100% oak vinification can indeed be tricky for a wine as delicate and fine as Champagne and in the early boom years many cuvées appeared heavy-handedly oaky and unbearably oxidative. Small vessels such as the region’s classic 205-litre pièce champenoise are not the easiest to handle. Yet Krug is a master of them; the blended-to-perfection Grande Cuvée 171ème Édition showcases the house’s skill in this area. The wines of Krug stay for just a short period in seasoned barrels, which limits both the oxidative and oaky effect. At Bollinger, the much older barrels hold wines for a significantly longer period. When extreme care is taken to prevent oxidation – for example, through control of evaporation, sulphite levels, topping up and transfer – the resulting micro-oxygenation can have beautiful results. Take the age-defying Bollinger R.D. 2008 as an example.

Leclerc Briant Le Clos des Trois Clochers 2016 carries a more notable mark of oak from vinification in barrel but I found the oak successfully adds to the single-vineyard wine’s singular and racy personality. Site-specific Champagnes do indeed often get support from oak, as exemplified by Lanson’s fine, oak-tinged Clos Lanson 2008.

READ MORE: THE CHAMPAGNE REPORT 2023

Partial rather than full oak vinification is the choice of many. Charles Phillipponnat’s era has brought back skilled use of barrels to Philipponnat’s repertoire. Take, for example, the harmonious Cuvée 1522 2015, the prestige cuvée that often sits in the shadow of the mighty Clos des Goisses. Down south in the Aube, Drappier’s famous single-vineyard Champagne Grande Séndree 2012 also successfully gains texture and layers from partial vinification in wood.

Methods of incorporating oak are numerous, as the many variables include the size, origin, toasting and age of the vessel. Also, fermentation or mere maturation in oak produce differing results. Taittinger ages a 5% fraction of Comtes de Champagne base wine in relatively new oak barrels to boost the wine’s hallmark toastiness. Louis Roederer, then again, ferments and ages a part of its prestigious Cristal in large oak vats to ‘open up’ or ‘close down’ the individual plots’ wines to meet the desired style.

But prestige bottlings aside, oak is now making a real comeback in non-vintage cuvées too. Alfred Gratien Brut is (and has been since 1864) fully fermented in 228-litre barrels and Bollinger continues to use a partial oak recipe for its complex Special Cuvée blending. Equally, Bruno Paillard has chosen oak to be an integral and consistent part of its Brut Prèmiere Cuvée. Yet there are several houses that have recently added subtle oak influence for their classic cuvées. One will never taste notable oak influence in the richly fruity Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label, luxuriously textured Charles Heidsieck Brut Réserve or vibrantly fresh Lanson Black Création. Here, oak is functioning as yet another blending tool for the chef de cave. This is the direction Louis Roederer is heading in too, as in its latest non-vintage blend, Collection 244, where the traditional 10% oak-matured reserve wines now meet 5% of oak-vat fermented base wines.

The final point at which a chef de cave can fine-tune the wine is at disgorgement and oak can play a role here too. For example, G.H. Mumm is finishing off its Lalou prestige cuvée with dosage liqueur made of oak-aged reserve wine. In this new experimental era, it clearly seems that Champagne is exploring the infinite opportunities afforded by oak.