Benoit Doussot, Clandestine Austral 2022

Freshly graduated from the Lycée Viticole of Beaune in the summer of 2015, the young and talented Benoît Doussot devised the micro-négoce project Clandestin with Bertrand Gautherot of Vouette & Sorbée. The pair used to make champagnes in a converted barn next door to the Vouette & Sorbée cellar, in Buxières-sur-Arce. Fast forward ten years, Benoît is now flying solo. He’s based in the village of Landreville, where he completed the construction of a state-of-the-art winery in 2023, and sources grapes from 11 vignerons in the Côte des Bar.

Clandestin aims to showcase the different geological strata of the Côte des Bar: Kimmeridgian and Portlandian, both part of the Jurassic period and geologically similar to those found in Chablis – in contrast to the chalkier soils of the Vallée de la Marne, which are predominantly from the younger Cretaceous period. Kimmeridgian soils are rich in marl and marine fossils, lending the wines tension and finesse, while the purer limestone of the Portlandian tends to produce broader, more structured wines.

As opposed to Boréal, the cuvée Austral comes from south-facing plots (seven in total). The vines are also planted mid-slope in Kimmeridgian marls, and the wine is made in the same way. As expected, it is a deeper and multi-layered champagne (compared to Boréal) with a rich and food-friendly mouthfeel. Disgorged 04/25 - Non dosé.