Dhondt-Grellet Les Terres Fines Champagne – Two Wines in One

Tasting a Dhondt-Grellet Champagne, you could be forgiven for thinking this was white burgundy.  It’s smoky and chalky, with a roster of aromas and flavors that tick the boxes for well-constructed Chardonnay – hazelnut, citrus oils, reduced but unsweetened orchard fruits, tanginess with lasting spicy dried fruit that recalls old vines on limestone…

It’s all so exacting and controlled that wines like this really make me shake my head in wonder at the winemaker’s art.  It does all these things that would make a still wine great – and then it fucking ADDS bubbles?  Simply unfair.

Dhondt-Grellet farms in Flavigny, in the Côte des Blancs, and Les Terres Fines is now their entry level wine – I understand that the tier below this, “Dans Un Premier Temps,” will not be produced in the future, with those grapes largely going into their new "Roc Solare" bottling.

This is 100% Chardonnay, built on old vines primarily in Cuis and Chouilly, and is 70% base vintage (2021) plus a 40-year solera that shouldn't produce something this precise. Soleras can make wines feel luscious and layered, sometimes to the point of unfocused tawnied sweetness.  This one doesn't do that.  

It compacts all of that time into something almost terse, a footnote that you hover your mouse over that expands.  It’s like that 40-year solera got run through a hydraulic press, squooshing it down, making it just a top layer of mystery laid over the fresh wine.  I really, really like the effect.  It rewards attention but doesn’t require it.

Serve it in a Burgundy stem. That's not an somm-y affectation. It will actually let this Champagne (and in my experience, hella others) deliver a more delicious experience.  

While the prices of top grower cuvees have risen to match or exceed the Tete de Cuvee wines from the Grand Marques, bottlings like this still demonstrate the incredible value of grower champagnes.  

Hopefully helpful information:

Imported in the USA by Grand Cru Selections

Price at time of publishing:

USA:  $90-$140

UK:  50-85 GBP

EU: 58-135 Euro

AUS: ~200 AUD