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CHAMPAGNE
– STYLES –
Pruning Mandois vines in 2021
Dom Caudron keeps some old presses and equipment to show its visitors
label totalling 3 to 4,000 bottles made from a block of
Pinot Meunier vines. Surrounded by a wall, hence the
name, the vineyard is located in Pierry on the southern
hillsides of Epernay, the traditional home of Meunier.
Classified as a Premier Cru, the wine is naturally rich
in sugar and acidity, which is great for producing topend
wines. Matured for at least ten years, it is stoppered
with a cork closure, spends some time in large casks, is
stirred, non-filtered and does not undergo malolactic
fermentation. Mandois describes it as an ‘after dinner’
Champagne. Why? Because the complexity of the wine
reveals itself with time, once it has been served in a large
glass and warms up a little gradually. So it requires time
to be savoured, which means there is no better time to
enjoy it than in the evening.
Lastly, a pair of wines – Cuvee Nord, from Chouilly, and
Cuvée Sud, from Vertus – are sold in a unique gift box.
The idea is a novel, educational way of demonstrating
the difference between the two sites.
DOM CAUDRON AND ITS PINOT MEUNIER
This is a story well worth telling. At the turn of the 20 th
century, Aimé Caudron, the abbot of the village of Passy-
Grigny and a lover of fine fare, suggested to the village’s
grape producers in whose homes he loved to make merry,
that they join forces and make their own Champagne.
In 1929, the Dom Caudron co-operative was founded,
combining the resources of the 23 winegrowers. Others
would later join the company. Mathilda Tedeschi, a new
recruit tasked with the co-op’s PR, explains that there are
now 90 growers, all of them based in the original village
or nearby.
This is the Marne Valley, with its marly, clayey or
sandy soils. Pinot Meunier, which is better equipped to
withstand the challenging weather, is the most widely
grown variety. It produces supple, fruity wines which
mature slightly quicker over time.
The co-operative predictably describes itself as a “Meunier
conjugator”. The Prédiction label is a non-vintage, single
varietal Meunier Brut, with a small share of reserve wines
but mostly the 2018 vintage in its current version. Its
dosage is 9g. There is another single varietal rendition of
Meunier made from vines over fifty years old, which is
18 WINTER 2021 GILBERT & GAILLARD - THE FRENCH EXPERTS ON WINE