Nathalie Falmet spends part of her working life in a laboratory, advising other winemakers as a consultant oenologist, and the rest farming her family’s 3.2 hectares in the Aube, where she does everything from tending the vines to designing the labels.
I mention this first because I think it explains what’s in the glass. Her single-vineyard Champagne, Le Val Cornet, has a precision and delicacy few would expect from Champagne’s warm southern outpost.
Every so often, a grower Champagne cuts through the noise of the big brands, and the best of them, like a diver twisting through somersaults, experiment with blends and single vineyards until they land one perfect, delicate splash. This is one of those.
Delicacy from Champagne’s Deep South
Le Val Cornet opens delicately before the bright flavours of summer arrive, with freshly cut nectarine, red apple and strawberry, like a stroll to a picnic on a sunny day. Then come deeper notes of honey, caramel and liquorice, and suddenly you’re in the path of a parade, brass band and all.
The domaine makes only around 33,000 bottles a year, so you won’t find it on every shelf, but for a grower, that’s rather the point.
Champagne Nathalie Falmet Le Val Cornet NV (at the time of writing)
Rouvres-les-Vignes, Côte des Bar. 50% Pinot Noir, 50% Pinot Meunier. Base 2010, disgorged May 2014. Extra Brut, 6 g/l. RRP £41
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