Suenen Oiry Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Extra Brut NV (Base '20)
2020 base with 25% reserve wines from 2013 to 2019. Together with Suenen's single-vineyard offering (La Cocluette), these represent the only pure Oiry wines on the market. This is drawn from just 1.5 hectares split between five separate parcels. The vines are planted in Oiry's compact, white Campanian chalk soils. From Le Champ Braux, planted in 1955, to La Cocluette, planted in 1987 and 1999, the average age of the vines is now 45 years. These vineyards lie at the base of the slope where only a little topsoil sits above hard, chalky bedrock. In La Cocluette, for example, the soils are only 50cm thick.
The combination of this chalk's austere, mineral impact and Suenen's low yield/ripe fruit philosophy produces a scintillatingly tense, coiled and stony wine. 'Tonic' is the word Suenen uses to refer to its unique personality. 'The wines from Oiry set themselves apart because of their saline expression, full of freshness,' explains Suenen. His wine is a study in minerality - the wine is rocky, saline and vibrantly fresh. Creamy depths (from 30 months aging on lees) enfold the wine's structural and mineral qualities and keep you coming back for more. In short, this is everything you would want from Grand Cru Cotes des Blancs and represents a unique opportunity to taste Oiry's distinctive, rocky terroir.
The base wine fermented naturally and aged for nine months in the same vessels-enamelled tank (50%) and seasoned Burgundy oak barrels and demi-muid (used at least six times before). No fining, filtration or cold stabilisation. The wine was disgorged in June 2023 (magnums and jeroboams were disgorged as per the details above) with a dosage of 4 g/L. As you can tell from the note below, it's a frighteningly impressive wine, with laser-like notes of crystalline mixed peel, crunchy nectarine fruit and the clatter of chalk, salt and stone dovetailing with the ample depth of the year. Importer's notes.
'The NV Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Oiry Grand Cru is a pure Chardonnay. Creaminess, fresh and crusty baguette and Golden Delicious apple unite on an enticing nose with a bright green apple frisson as an overtone. Slenderness and delicacy define the body, but the flavors are full and almost generous. They evoke creamy porridge, mellow, freshly peeled yellow apple flesh, and a lovely sense of saltiness that has the ocean tanginess of an oyster shell. The longer you savor this, the saltier and more enticing it becomes: enfolding and oh-so-chalky. This Extra Brut is lovely and captivating, with a totally appetizing umami finish.' 93 points, Anne Krebiehl MW, Vinous