Alexandre Grimée Cuvée Sous Les Trous Bonneil Pinot Meunier

Tatler Champagne Guide 2024-2025

Grape Makeup:

100% Meunier

Sweetness Level:

Brut Nature

Ageing on Lees:

39 months

Price:

$$

Cellar:

Up to five years

Category:

Culinary

What

A micro-production, basically a single garden, of Meunier vines tended by the young Alexandre Grimée in the western Marne Valley.

Where

Azy-sur-Marne, western Vallée de la Marne; 1ha of estate Meunier vines in neighbouring Bonneil are all certified organic.

Why

The vines on this steep, forest-encircled site are all individually tended by Grimée himself, taking the idea of “human scale” to its logical conclusion. Sous les Trous was planted in 1973, an unusually mature plot for Meunier. The single lot was fermented in stainless steel to keep a clean, precise profile. Only 1657 bottles were made.

What Else

The packaging has a decidedly cool, effortless aesthetic with a tape around the cage instead of foil and a Burgundian look to the label.

Tasting Notes

This opens lightly sherbety, like lemon and lime Pixy sticks, but it then develops a leathery, metallic edge, growing angular and a little idiosyncratic. The palate retains that sharpening reduction but is more cleanly lemony and direct with blazing acidity, dense but not broad. There is a sturdy, chalky frame and general firmness that holds through to the finish, where pristine, citric fruit lingers.

Try It With

Smoky, complex vegetable dishes, possibly Mediterranean.

When To Drink

Entrées

Perfect For

The friend who makes their own kombucha

TL/DR

Citric with an idiosyncratic, steely edge

Supplier

Ginsberg + Chan