Nicolas Maillart : Mont Martin 1er Cru Blanc de Noirs 2020

Characteristics and Tasting Tips for Mont Martin Blanc de Noirs 2020 by Nicolas Maillart

Tasting

Appearance
The wine reveals a pale golden-yellow colour with luminous highlights, enlivened by a fine effervescence.

Nose
The nose is powerful and elegant, driven by ripe fruit aromas, floral touches and subtle spicy and lightly toasted nuances, inherited from ageing in barrel.

Palate
The attack stands out for its great freshness, quickly followed by a beautiful, fruit-driven aromatic expansion. The texture is silky and enveloping, supported by a vinous yet never heavy structure, where minerality is expressed with precision through to a long, chalky finish.

Food and Wine Pairings

This Champagne pairs beautifully with noble fish, such as turbot or line-caught sea bass served with a light butter and herb sauce, as well as seared scallops served with a root vegetable purée. It also works very well with roasted shellfish, such as langoustines or lobster, or with white meats in sauce, such as free-range chicken or guinea fowl with morels. Pressed cheeses, such as an aged Comté, harmoniously complete this range of pairings.

Serving and Cellaring

It is recommended to serve the Mont Martin Blanc de Noirs 2020 chilled, at a temperature between 8 and 10°C, in a glass that allows its aromas to express themselves fully.

A Blanc de Noirs from the Montagne de Reims Dedicated to the Expression of Meunier

The Estate

The Champagne Nicolas Maillart is a family-run house in the Montagne de Reims, whose estate as it exists today was created in 2003, when Nicolas Maillart took over the property and left the cooperative system to build his own cellar. At its helm, he perpetuates a long-standing family winemaking tradition while developing a demanding parcel-by-parcel approach. The vineyard, of approximately 15 hectares, is spread across the Premier and Grand Cru villages of Écueil, Villers-Allerand and Bouzy. The estate stands out for its commitment to sustainable viticulture, certified HVE Level 3.

The Vineyard

The Meunier grapes for this cuvée come from the lieu-dit Les Monts Martin, located in Villers-Allerand, a village classified Premier Cru in the Montagne de Reims. These vines, from massal selection and planted in the early 1970s, grow on clay-sandy soils over a chalky subsoil, typical of the region. The parcel holds High Environmental Value certification, as part of a viticulture attentive to biodiversity, with ploughing and organic fertilisers.

The Vintage

The 2020 vintage was considered less straightforward than the previous one in Champagne, requiring careful management in the vineyard and during vinification to make the most of the estate's single-parcel cuvées.

Vinification and Ageing

The Mont Martin Blanc de Noirs 2020 is vinified entirely in oak barrels, without seeking malolactic fermentation, in order to preserve the freshness and precision of the fruit. The wine rests for around eight months on its lees in barrel, before a long ageing on lees in bottle of several years preceding manual disgorgement.

Grape Variety

This Champagne is made from 100% Pinot Meunier.