Champagne Jérôme Blin Cuvée Octave Zero Dosage Brut NV Organic and Biodynamic Grower Champagne… what a find!

Jerome Blin is rooted in the small village of Vincelles located in the Marne Valley, some five miles west of Epernay. His family are long-time Champagne growers and producers in Vincelles since 1671 – though for sometime the focus has been grape growing. It was in 2012 that Jerome first kept a meager 5% of the harvest to start his eponymous winery – sourced from his favorite parcels within his 6 hectares of fruit. The vineyard breakdown models itself upon the Marne’s favorite son – with 70% of the planting dedicated to pinot meunier. The rest is equally divided between chardonnay and pinot noir – though for this Blanc de Blancs… he obviously focused solely on chardonnay.

The vines are planted on a sloping hillside that offers him three distinct terroirs over a relatively small area. The top portion is composed of fractured limestone and clay, the middle of straight limestone, and the base with all sand. He patiently and meticulously farms each portion to extract a wide variety of flavors, textures, and profiles to serve as components for blending his various cuvées. The vinification is mostly stainless steel, with a small amount of old, neutral barrels added in. Dosages are always low (or non-existent, as is the case here), with richness and texture primarily supplied through extended contact with the lees. In 2018, he made the conversion to organic and biodynamic farming practices, with a focus on creating a fully regenerative farm in the coming years.

The wine is simply luminous, and stuffed with all manner of deliciousness. Buttery biscuit dough, lemon cream, Rainier cherries, flowering thyme, cherry cola, ground chalk, baked apples – there is a lot going on here… simply and exuberantly expressive wine that has a depth and width that is hard to achieve without any sort of dosage. The texture starts round and creamy but gently sharpens to a fine edge, before drawing elegantly to a crisp, penetrating, and clean finish. Delectable stuff to be certain… we only wish we had more!