Fass Favorite Marie Demets: 1) Their First Extra Brut. 2) Their Hugely Popular Rose (Both Under $35)

With all the excitement from my recent trip about the new wineries Fass Selections has picked up, there was also a sense of when tasting at Fass favorites like Marie Demets, that they are getting even better and pushing themselves harder.  Marie Demets wines have always been some of the best values in Champagne.  Delicious $30ish wines that you can drink every day that would normally be $45-$50 if I bought from a distributor instead of from the winery.   But you asked for a more "serious" cuvee, with less sugar and more of a mineral focus.  As they say, "ask and you shall receive."

Today I am thrilled to introduce a new cuvee from Marie Demets. For those of you that like the Brut Reserve now comes the Extra Brut Reserve which has a lower dosage. It is at 4 grams per liter and the lower amount of sugar gives even more dynamism to an already dynamic cuvee. This has always been the best QPR play in the Demets book and now they've improved on solid gold, which I did not think was possible. The NV Marie Demets Extra Brut Reserve can be had today for as little as $34.99 on a 4-pack and special introductory case pricing at $32.99 for a 12 bottle case. This is the type of dry, complex Champagne everyone will love and shows Pierre Demets improvement as a winemaker. Toasty and very vinous and in the ultra precise, finessse driven and elegant style that Pierre Demets does so well. There is a a lot to like here and also a good amount of material to work with which makes me think this will age for 5-8 years.. Soft yet precise like only Demets can do. Extraordinary new addition to the Demets portfolio and very happy they have this. This the best "geek" value in grower Champagne at $32.99 on the case. What do I mean by "geek?" Well all the geeks love low to no dosage stuff and this a great entry into that market with an insane value play like this. And this will satisfy champagne geeks and also anybody who wants a great, complex bottle of wine as it has sap, structure and extract.

I also tasted the latest version of the NV Marie Demets Rose "Cuvee Rubis and it was a knockout and can be had for $32.99 a 4-pack and special case pricing at $29.99 which is a steal for this wine! Blood orange color and aroma, with knockout minerality and beautiful pure red Pinot Fruit. So friendly in a powerful concentrated minerally way. So pure with a truly lovely fizz, but sappy and extracted as well. It takes 45 minutes to get there but once it does get there this saignee is like a beautiful Pinot (Morey 1er Cru) with bubbles. Terrific. Cannot wait to get this over here.

The wine is a saignee, which means there is a small amount of skin contact while the juice is bled off, leading to a darker color and more vivid fruit aromas and flavors. The nose screams Pinot Noir with its overflowing red berry fruit. The blend is 50/50 Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, so the requisite Chardonnay yeastiness is there along with the fruit basket quality of the Pinot Noir. The wine is juicy like you will not believe. Amazingly pure, clean and precise with incredible vivid fruit flavors. It has a juicy quality I rarely see in rose Champagne. It's like a 1er Cru Red Burgundy from 2010 yet with bubbles.  It is indeed a stunner and for $29.99 on a 12-pack easily falls into the top 5 deals in the short history of Fass Selections.

NV Marie Demets Extra Brut Reserve - $37.99 ($139.96 4-pack, $395.88 12-pack  

($32.99 per bottle) )

NV Marie Demets Rose "Cuvee Rubis" - $34.99 (131.96 4-pack. $359.88 12-pack  

($29.99 per bottle) )