N.V. Agrapart & Fils Les Demoiselles

N.V. Agrapart & Fils Les 7 Crus

N.V. Agrapart & Fils Terriors

The Champagne house of Agrapart et Fils, located in the lovely village of Avize in the heart of the Côte de Blancs was established in 1894. Unlike many of the smaller grower Champagne houses that have really only recently begun to bottle meaningful amounts of their wine and sell them under their own labels, the Agrapart family has done so since the inception of the domaine in the nineteenth century. Founded by Arthur Agrapart, today the house is run by the fourth generation of the family. The two Agrapart brothers, Pascal and Fabrice, continue to maintain the same commitment to excellence and hand-crafted wines that has earned this fine domaine its loyal customer base in France.

From these fine old chardonnay vineyards the Agrapart’s produce some of the most refined and complex wines to be found from the Côte de Blancs. These include a wonderful non-vintage Blanc de Blancs bottlings called “Les 7 Crus” which features grapes from all seven villages in the Côte de Blancs. This bottling is barrel-fermented in old wooden casks, and aged for a minimum of three years on the lees prior to disgorgement and preparation for shipping. “Les 7 Crus” is a superb bottle of Blanc de Blancs that beautifully synthesizes the pure and opulent fruit of top quality chardonnay vineyards in the Côte de Blancs with a racy, structured minerality that gives the wine superb length and cut. It is delicious out of the blocks, but really will repay cellaring handsomely and easily keep ten to fifteen years. The other workhorse cuvée from Agrapart is their Brut Rosé “les Demoiselles”, which is made from a blend of 93% chardonnay and 7% pinot noir. It is a delicate, ethereal and refined style of Rosé, with a light salmon color and a refined bouquet of apple, orange blossoms, delicate minerality and wheat toast. Racy, full and complex on the palate, the wine hails all from grand cru rated vineyards and is aged fully four years prior to release. It is a delicious companion to haute cuisine when young, and like the Blanc de Blancs, will have no difficulty cellaring for at least fifteen years. Champagne Agrapart et Fils is clearly one of the top “Récoltant-Manipulant” (i.e. Grower Champagne) houses in all of Champagne, and one bottle is guaranteed to make you a fan for life.