The Reviews are Coming in and Caillez Lemaire is Getting Raves - Today, Their Brut Nature

I recently held a tasting in Washington DC and poured two bottles of the 2006 Jadis from Caillez

Lamaire and those got drained instantly. I went for a 2nd pour an hour into the tasting and both bottles, were inhaled. One gentlemen kept in his glass for most of the night as the aromatic complexity was off the charts.  Everyone loved the wine.

Caillez Lemaire is going to be famous stateside along with grower champagnes like Agrapart, Laval, Geoffroy and Laherte.  I wanted to get this offer in while it is still affordable (under $40) so that as many people as possible can try it.

Today I am thrilled to offer the first ever directly imported Fass Selections "Brut Nature" Champagne that is priced so inexpensive that one can drink it everyday if one wants. And one will want to. The NV Caillez-Lamaire Leclats Brut Nature for as little as $36.99 is just a eerily beautiful and amazingly delicious wine that grabs your attention. It's complex and so dry that I would only drink it as an aperitif or with fresh oysters. Maybe some caviar. It is insanely delicate, yet penetratingly deep. It is 50% barrel fermented and 50% barrel maturation, so despite its skeletal brut nature quality, it has heft and weight to it. But not like something that has sugar. The nose is like Mosel meets Damery with its stony skeletal quality. Airy minerals abound. But also some mild citrus fruits as well that are very clearly defined. So clean and such a fresh nose. The palate is precise as a laser. The wine is not messing around. It is complex like you cannot believe and BONE dry. But for being this dry is is exceptionally balanced and pure. It is assertively dry but has such complexity and mineral lusciousness that it not only works, it is masterful at it. The blend is 50% Chardonnay (vinified in oak barrels) 25% Pinot Noir (a part in oak barrels, a part in inox vats) and 25% Pinot Meunier in inox vats. The richness, that is just a part of the wine, and if richness can be precise this wine does it. But still that Brut Nature quality makes this the perfect aperitif wine. This is less a food Champagne, except for those luxury foods that I mentioned earlier, and more of an aperitif. But it draws you in with its terrific precision, depth and complexity. I've sold nothing like this wine before. For me this is a unicorn as it's very hard to find Brut Nature this good at this price. Almost impossible.

Upon leaving for my French trip this past winter I had my eyes and ears firmly set on Champagne as I needed to firm up that section of the portfolio. There's a lot of great Champagne out there and perhaps we are in a golden age, but still, where there are diamonds there is also coal so one needs to be careful. I needed to ramp up the higher end part of of my book with regards to Champagne and did as much research as an investment analyst would do for a hedge fund thinking about acquiring a large stake in a company.

I had been reading about a Champagne village called Damery, which is right next to Cumieres. Seemed like a hotspot of young growers and innovation mixed with tradition. It's also next to Cumieres where the great Georges Laval makes his headspinning Champagnes.

There is something to be said about buying and drinking wine from the warmest cutest nicest people ever. And those people are the charming Virginie and Henri of the estate Caillez-Lamaire in Damery, which is a hop and a skip away from Cumieres, where the great Georges Laval resides.  If wines reflect the attitudes and personalities of the owners then the cheery attitudes of x and y perfectly define their wines. But they are not lacking depth. Cheerful, happy wines, that are very accessible and very deep.

Virginie is part of the utterly charming husband and wife team that makes up Caillez-Lemaire. I am excited about Caillez-Lemaire as I am as about any wine I have offered as they seem like a real discovery. I meet a lot of growers and I meet very few like Virginie and Henri of Caillez-Lemaire.

Champagne can be a bit corporate and whatnot and that's jarring for me as all I work with is small very non corporate growers. So it was utterly refreshing to meet true farmers and caretakers of the land like Virginie and Henri. As soon as I walked in I was so happy to be there. Just felt right. There was a fantastic warmth to their estate and to them and it was apparent immediately. He was wearing an apron that said "Vigneron Independent) on it. I knew I was in the right place. They have all this old school Champagne equipment as decoration everywhere as in fact they use many of the machines. Please check out their Facebook page here to see some of their videos and pictures.

I also got the enthusiastic backing of their Italian importer who was there in a group asking directions somewhere very hurriedly. "These, these wines, these these are very, very, very good and fine CHAM-pagnes"!! Well, with that backing I didn't even need to taste the wines. But I am glad I did. But not till after a fantastic winery and cellar tour. The press is the most important thing in Champagne and a grower will stand in front of this press and talk about it for a half hour. I am trying to recreate that experience right now for you. You can thank me later when you taste the wines. Which I did taste. But later.

We then took an amazing tour of the cellar and you have not been in a wine cellar until you have been in a crazy cellar in Champagne. Oren Peli could film a franchise of found footage horror films with all the scary cellars in Champagne. I shudder to think of getting locked in one for the night. At least I'd drink well. Then we tasted. But not the Champagne. It was a vin clair tasting. That is tasting the wine before it becomes Champagne. Essentially it's before the bubbles enter the equation and anything is blended. They are for professional tasters only. These are usually very high acid wines and not particularly noteworthy on their own. But these vin clairs were awesome. Pinot Noir and Pinot Muenier of terrific depth. Purity and of course acidity. They are not shy with wood here and have an aging regimen with wood very similar to Laval. When you have great material such as Caillez Lemaire the wood only adds. These are VERY similar to Laval in that they have huge breadth and textures which is also a trademark of wines from this area of the Valle de Marne. Also I must give them credit to taste a potential importer on the vin clair first before the finished Champagne. That takes extreme confidence in the product. We then went to the tasting room and tasted the Champagnes which was a formality because I knew they would be great, but just how great and that was why we tasted. And they are so great. Super great. Full of rich flavors, textures and detail. Incredibly refreshing and with killer finesse. I mean drop dead gorgeous finesse.

Caillez-Lemaire have 7 hectares of vines and 4 of them are in Damery whilst the remaining 3 are in Cumieres. Pinot Meunier is 50% of the estates plantings with the rest being Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The terroir is perfectly suited for the low yielding Meunier and when Meunier is great in this area there is nothing like it.

 Caillez-Lamaire l'Eclats Brut Nature NV - $38.99 ($147.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)