List of products by manufacturer Champagne André ROBERT

Domaine André ROBERT - VignArtea

CHAMPAGNE    CÔTE DES BLANCS    14 ha    HVE    WINEMAKER : Jean-Baptiste DENIZART


ESTATE HISTORY


The Champagne André ROBERT Estate is located in the Côte des Blancs region, on the classified Grand Cru village Le Mesnil sur Oger. Running the vineyard for five generations, the estate has 14 ha of parcels classified Grand Cru at Le Mesnil Oger and Premier Cru at Vertus, Etréchy and Cuis. It has got the status of harvester-makers (RM), which means that it grows vines, harvests, develops and sells its own champagne without buying grapes or wine. It also supplies the Billecart Salmon Estate with clear wines.

This domain is not very well-known, wrongly in our opinion, because it emanates from those champagnes a passion for meticulous work and a desire to higher quality every year.

The estate is currently run by Claire ROBERT and Jean-Baptiste DENIZART, both of them are committed to an environmentally friendly approach. In fact, they obtained the HVE (Haute Valeur Environnementale) level 3 label in 2018 : this certification attests to environmental excellence translated by the achievement of performance thresholds (performance requirements) in four areas : biodiversity (hedges, grassland, groves ...), phytosanitary strategy, fertilization management, and irrigation process.

From the domain's fragmented plots, Jean-Baptiste wants to extract the quintessence through a tailor-made vinification, where each detail counts. His motto is patience: the Grand Cru champagnes made from the parcels of Le Mesnil sur Oger are all matured 7 years on slats in the precious estate chalk cellar.



WINEGROWING & WINEMAKING


Only the cuvée, that is to say the first juice obtained by three successive presses, is used ; more rarely, and depending on the year, the taille, that is to say the second juice obtained by two additional presses, can be integrated.

The alcoholic fermentation starts spontaneously either with the native yeasts, or by the use of a leaven, elaborated from the must. Sometimes, the winemaker uses active dry yeasts but their use is increasingly rare, because it is noted that native yeasts are getting the upper hand. The wines do not carry out the malolactic fermentation : on the one hand, because the very low pH of the must is unfavorable to the lactic bacteria development. Only fine lees are kept into the must that is slightly sulphited to ensure microbial stability during the 7 months ageing in barrels.

The wines are then bottled for a second fermentation and rest on slats from 3 to 7 years depending on the vintage.

Then remains the sugar addition final process, called liqueur de dosage, to compensate the liquid loss caused by the bottle disgorging. This process is rarely mentioned in detail, yet it can have a significant impact on the final wine balance. Especially when the "liqueur de dosage" is homemade, as is the case for André ROBERT champagnes.

The use of Rectified Concentrated Must (RCM) obtained industrially from dehydrated must can simplify the sugar addition process because it is simple to use, very concentrated in sugars, odorless and the result is always the same. On the other hand, the RMC does not allow to play with the wine's evolution according its disgorging date ; that's why Jean-Baptiste wants to prepare his liqueurs himself and he has, to this purpose, a collection of reserve wines and wines of the year to bring the champagne its final touch. In order not to be mistaken about the result to obtain, he carries out tests of different sugar addition levels on a dozen bottles and he analyzes their evolution in time: at D-day, then D + 15, then D + 30, and so on, and this, in order to select the appropriate sugar addition rate that will bring the champagne the best balance.

It is undeniable, Jean-Baptiste has distinguished himself from others, his champagnes have his touch, and if we had to describe them in one word we would say : Finesse and Exaltation.


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