"If since childhood your parents make you feel special, you will feel special all your life".. With this thought I enjoyed every drop of the Jean-Philippe Trousset's Champagne Crème Extra Brut. This champagne makes me feel special, so he himself is special. Today is the last day of the year and I decided to end on a high note, with one of the bubbles I have enjoyed most this year. Man, what a difficult year 2020 has been! Yet, while professionally I did not get what I wanted, it was still a year of unimaginable growth.
In January, my relationship with Francesco was 'made official'.
In February, Francesco and I started living together.
In March, quarantine began here in Lombardy and my life and habits changed.
In April I 'resigned' myself to the fact that all wine fairs and events would be skipped this year.
In May, Francesco asked me to marry him.
In June, the house where I lived in Monte Isola became ours.
In July I tried on my wedding dress for the first time.
In August I chose the menu and the 6 wines of our wedding.
In September, Francesco and I got married.
In October I started blogging a lot.
In November, I enrolled at the university of gastronomy with a focus on oenology and viticulture.
In December I spent my first Christmas away from my mum.
In short, this is the context in which I savoured, drop by drop, this champagne.
Trousset, Taillet and Rochet-Bocart Champagne by Massucco Champagne
Jean-Philippe Trousset is a heartthrob vigneron: I shared his Champagne Crème Extra Brut during an evening with my husband Francesco and my neighbour Maurizio (who makes a wonderful lake oil that you can discover HERE) and we all fell madly in love with it! Here, this is the bottle I absolutely recommend you buy: I think it is almost impossible to find better value for money in all of champagne! So I am very grateful to Massucco Champagne for making me discover this producer and this champagne in particular.
A few days ago I told you about two champagnes that I really liked by Eric Taillet (discover wine descriptions and a delicious recipe to pair them with!). The tasting that Alberto Massucco gave me was particularly clever because he put me in front of 3 vignerons with 3 completely different styles, in which Jean-Philippe Trousset is somewhere between the oxidation of Eric Taillet and the exuberant freshness of Rochet-Bocart. Trousset has that ripe, oxidised note and at the same time is very fresh, a real magic.
Jean-Philippe Trousset: the vigneron and the domaine
Jean-Philippe is a small independent champagne vigneron in the Montagne de Reims. His family has been rooted in Sacy since the 17th century. Then, in 1958, the Domaine Trousset-Guillemart was founded, which today produces around 72,000 bottles a year. Only 7.6 hectares divided into three Premier Cru villages: Les Mesneux, Sacy and Villedommange. Recently, Jean-Philippe and his wife Karine built a modern and efficient premises with a Coquard tilting plate press, computer-controlled stainless steel temperature-controlled vats and a underground for vinification in wood (tonneaux and 10 hl barrels) and the maturation of champagne bottles. The vines, which have an average age of 25 years, sink their roots into a clay-limestone and sandy soil. The vineyards are marked viticulture durable thanks to mechanical dewatering and biological treatments. After soft pressing only the first pressing is vinified partly in steel and partly in wood. Before bottling, the wines are cold decanted and very lightly filtered. After draught, the champagnes mature on the lees for about 2 to 5 years. Dosages range from 3.5 g/l maximum to zero.
Jean-Philippe Trousset: Créme Extra Brut
It is made from grapes (50% pinot noir, 31 % pinot meunier, 19% chardonnay) from the last harvest with 45% vins de réserve from the two previous vintages. The 10% is vinified in tonneaux. Dosage 3.5 g/l.
It is an intense golden yellow with a fine, numerous perlage. The nose is intense, elegant, complex with characterising oxidative accents. Notes of pastry, bread crust, buttercream, mascarpone, white pepper, candied mandarin can be recognised. In the mouth it is creamy, fresh, savoury, developed on oxidative notes and very persistent.
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!
Jean-Philippe Trousset: Le Rosé Extra Brut
It is made from grapes (50% pinot noir of which 8.5% in red, 35% chardonnay and 15% pinot meunier) from the last harvest with 45% vins de réserve from the two previous vintages. Dosage 4g/l.
Let's make a premise: it's more difficult to win me over with a rosé champagne because I find that there are very few memorable ones... This Le Rosé certainly shows great promise, even if in my opinion it should have rested a few more years on the lees to become exceptional! If Créme Extra Brut is perfect to please everyone, Le Rosé I would only recommend to sommeliers who are used to drinking rosé champagne. Then you won't find in it the sly fruit of some of its colleagues... rather, pleasant notes of blood orange that, interwoven with its savoury freshness and 'satiny' bubbles, will make this champagne very enjoyable, easy and 'aperitif-like'. Here you will find no oxidation, but plenty of freshness and a barely muted verticality.
A further note of credit for the talking back labels: honestly, it really annoys me when the disgorgement is not indicated...
Now that it is four o'clock in the afternoon, I can start cooking the boeuf bourguignon for our New Year's Eve dinner (if you would also like to try your hand at Julia Child's original recipe click HERE)! This year in Italy we are all at home: to me, it honestly doesn't change much because on New Year's Eve I don't like going out at all! Of course tomorrow you will also find out what I drank tonight.... 😍
Talk to you tomorrow to make a list of good resolutions for 2021, one for each wine you should put on your whishlist!
Cheers and happy new year winelovers! 🍷
Chiara
P.S. I recommend you read the article 'Eric Taillet Champagne: the bottle, the occasion, the recipe and...'
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