Champagne Alexandre Filiane

Elegance is when the inside is as beautiful as the outside - Coco Chanel

There are no truer words when it comes to Fabrice Gass’s champagnes. After his successful career at Bollinger, he decided to branch out on his own and produce limited quantity Pinot Noir dominant grower champagne in the purest form possible. Sure, easy peasy LOL This started as a fun project, as wines are meant to be shared with family and friends. He named the domaine after his beloved grandparents, Alexamndre & Filiane. He works these tiny parcels totaling under 1.5 hectares all by hand and organically farmed. EVERYTHING is done by hand - hand riddling, hand disgorged and dosage “fait à la main.” Which for those who know most use machine/technology to do all of the above. It’s labour intensive and expensive. But that should tell you right there how much Alexandre cares about his wines. Minimal intervention, indigenous yeasts, no filtration. Fabrice embraces centuries old traditions, shuns stainless steel in favor of 100 year old barrels for ageing and fermentation (inherited from Bollinger dating back to 1937), with painstaking effort and immaculate craftsmanship. He believes in the region’s history and wants the natural acidity to make a statement - these are dynamic wines.

Champagne Alexandre Filaine - Cuvee Spéciale Brut

Vallée De La Marne, Champagne

3,000 bottles made

The ‘Cuvée Spéciale’ is sourced from the 2009 and 2010 vintages from his 1er Cru Damery parcels, blended together, then aged in bottle for at least five years. This Cuvee is a blend 45% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 25% Meunier with 20% reserve wines.

Powerful notes of meyer lemon, lime, freshly baked baguette, white blossom, caramel, baked apple, spice, earthiness and incredible minerality. This bubbly has pure flinty, chalky flavors, dynamically dry (5g/L dosage) and gorgeous persistent bubbly goodness with a snappy acidity. It’s a pleasure to drink in a very classical style. It’s compelling and graceful that leaves you wanting more.

Paired with assorted shellfish platter, sushi, panko crusted crab cakes or on it’s own throughout the evening.