Christophe Baron Les Closeaux Crouttes-sur-Marne

Tatler Champagne Guide 2024-2025

Grape Makeup:

100% Meunier

Sweetness Level:

Brut Nature

Ageing on Lees:

Four+ years

Price:

$$$

Cellar:

Ten+ years

Category:

Celebration

What

The new champagne project of Marne Valley native Christophe Baron of the iconic Walla Walla Washington estate Cayuse, uses old vine Meunier vineyards inherited from his family.

Where

Charly-sur-Marne, Vallée de la Marne; 3ha in Charly-sur-Marne, Crouttes-sur-Marne and Porteron, all old vine Meunier.

Why

Baron makes single-site, single vintage, single variety, Brut Nature bottlings from four different sites, and each is a showcase for old vine Meunier, which Baron farms traditionally, naturally achieving very low yields but not pushing ripeness too far. Le Closeaux is from 1925, an almost unthinkably old plot in Champagne terms and has an understated, compact grace that slowly unpacks itself over several glasses.

What Else

This is the only champagne producer I have encountered that bottles exclusively in magnums, with around 1500 of each cuvée every year. This slows maturation and also ensures that you won’t drink them alone, probably.

Tasting Notes

Very mild, this opens with understated notes of delicate white peach with a yuzu honey and white breadstick yeastiness, gradually giving tones of linseed. The palate has a consumately chalky, firm texture with luminous acidity. It continues very crisp, austere and taut, but with an increasingly noticeable rectangular frame.

Try It With

Delicate preparations of pork, thinly sliced

When To Drink

Apéritif or entrées

Perfect For

A party for the champagne-curious

Tatler Tip

The magnum-only thing seems like a hurdle until you open the bottle with four to five friends and suddenly it's empty.

TL/DR

Exquisitely refined, subtly layered