Champagne Agrapart : Vénus Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut Nature 2020

Characteristics and Tasting Tips for Vénus Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Brut Nature 2020 from Champagne Agrapart

Tasting notes

Colour
The Vénus Blanc de Blancs 2020 displays a golden hue with brilliant highlights, animated by a fine, steady mousse that bears witness to a carefully executed second fermentation and a long maturation on the lees.

Nose
The nose is complex and precise, blending notes of citrus and fresh white fruit with more toasty touches evoking almond and brioche. A saline, chalky dimension completes this bouquet, a signature of the terroir from which it comes.

Palate
On the palate, the wine is ample and concentrated, carried by a racy acidity that gives it tension and momentum. The texture is enveloping, almost creamy, and the finish lingers at length on saline, mineral sensations reminiscent of the chalk of the Avize terroir.

Food and wine pairings

This Champagne pairs beautifully with seafood, notably shellfish, crustaceans and fine white-fleshed fish prepared with light sauces. Its density and complexity also allow it to match white meats served with reduced jus or mushrooms, as well as young, lightly aged hard cheeses.

Serving and cellaring

The Vénus Blanc de Blancs 2020 benefits from being lightly aerated, or even decanted in its youth, in order to fully reveal its depth and aromatic complexity.

Agrapart Vénus: the chalky precision of a Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru from Avize

The estate

Champagne Agrapart is a family-owned house founded in 1894 in Avize, in the heart of the Côte des Blancs. Today, terroir-driven cuvées such as Vénus are associated with Pascal Agrapart, alongside his son Ambroise, at the head of the family wine estate. The domaine cultivates its vines using practices close to biodynamics, without certification, and favours a meticulous parcel-by-parcel approach, which gives rise to champagnes renowned for their minerality and precision.

The vineyard

The Vénus cuvée comes from a micro-parcel in the lieu-dit La Fosse aux Pourceaux, in Avize, classified as Champagne Grand Cru. The vines, planted in 1959, are rooted in a particularly chalky soil, worked exclusively by man and horse in order to preserve the aeration and natural structure of the soil.

Vinification and maturation

The Vénus Blanc de Blancs 2020 is vinified and matured in oak barrels, with the utmost respect for the grapes and the terroir. The wine has a Brut Nature dosage, with no sugar added to the dosage liqueur.

Grape variety

This Blanc de Blancs cuvée is made from 100% Chardonnay, sourced from old vines in Avize.