Etienne Sandrin Champagne 'Val Champignat' Extra Brut 2018

Etienne Sandrin and his wife Anne farm 10ha of vines in the Côte des Bar’s Celles-sur-Ource – a terroir catapulted to fame by the magical wines of Cêdric Bouchard. For decades, Etienne’s family sold to the local co-operative, but in 2014, he and Anne decided to start bottling a tiny portion of their production for family and friends.

Without a website or any easy means of being contacted, the couple take a refreshingly analogue approach in a digital world: they still send out written allocations by post and entrust only a handful of friends and close industry contacts with distribution.

Producing just a few thousand bottles per year – and only a few hundred bottles of their lieu-dit cuvées – most of Etienne’s fruit is sold to local biodynamic growers, including Champagne Fleury and Clandestin.

Made from biodynamically farmed, old-vine Pinot Noir fermented using native yeasts and without wood, these wines marry generous layers of fruit with captivating freshness and mineral accents. So taken were we at a recent tasting that we said yes to all three cuvées there and then.

A single parcel of Pinot Noir aged sur lie for 48 months, ‘Val Champignat’ shows a mineral stone fruit character tinged with brioche and honey. Just 500 bottles made.