Region: Champagne
Variety: Chardonnay (100%)
Vintage: 2017
Country: France
The Wine
Champagne nerds might recognise this lieu-dit as one of the sources of Pascal Agrapart’s renowned Avizoise cuvée. Suenen’s vines lie just across the border in the Cramant section of this vineyard at the top of a small hill. Originally planted in 1952—with further plantings in 1978, 1984 and 2005—the average age of Suenen’s vines is now almost 40 years. Single lieu-dit on degraded Campanian chalk; ~5 years on lees; ~3 g/L dosage.
Cellared Says
A connoisseur’s BdB: steely, saline and intensely site-driven. Limited and highly allocated—an excellent prestige-tier listing with collector magnetism. The 2017 was aged in a single Rousseau foudre for nine months before bottling. As with all the single-site wines, this spent a minimum of five years on lees before disgorgement (with 3 g/L in this case) in June 2023.
If you know. You know. This is more like a fine Burgundy, super vinous and built with incredible detail and structure.
Wine Reviews
“This sought-after cuvée may be the most refined and energetic of Aurélien Suenen’s wines from the northern Côte, focusing on a single plot of Chardonnay planted on fine vermiculite clay over belemnite chalk situated on the border between Avize and Cramant. With a stunningly bright, fluid energy running through roasted citrus and groundnut richness derived from subtle oak fermentation, this is a tremendously elegant Chardonnay-driven Champagne full of chalky crunch and delicate, dancing detail.”
95 points, Tom Hewson, Decanter
Region: Champagne
Variety: Chardonnay (100%)
Vintage: 2017
Country: France
The Wine
Champagne nerds might recognise this lieu-dit as one of the sources of Pascal Agrapart’s renowned Avizoise cuvée. Suenen’s vines lie just across the border in the Cramant section of this vineyard at the top of a small hill. Originally planted in 1952—with further plantings in 1978, 1984 and 2005—the average age of Suenen’s vines is now almost 40 years. Single lieu-dit on degraded Campanian chalk; ~5 years on lees; ~3 g/L dosage.
Cellared Says
A connoisseur’s BdB: steely, saline and intensely site-driven. Limited and highly allocated—an excellent prestige-tier listing with collector magnetism. The 2017 was aged in a single Rousseau foudre for nine months before bottling. As with all the single-site wines, this spent a minimum of five years on lees before disgorgement (with 3 g/L in this case) in June 2023.
If you know. You know. This is more like a fine Burgundy, super vinous and built with incredible detail and structure.
Wine Reviews
“This sought-after cuvée may be the most refined and energetic of Aurélien Suenen’s wines from the northern Côte, focusing on a single plot of Chardonnay planted on fine vermiculite clay over belemnite chalk situated on the border between Avize and Cramant. With a stunningly bright, fluid energy running through roasted citrus and groundnut richness derived from subtle oak fermentation, this is a tremendously elegant Chardonnay-driven Champagne full of chalky crunch and delicate, dancing detail.”
95 points, Tom Hewson, Decanter
