Endogène – Grand Cru

The wine's story:

Endogène ("arising from within") is Domaine Vincey's Champagne whose second fermentation is started with grape must from the following harvest. Instead of the usual sugar-and-yeast mix, the estate's own 2021 grape must is used, its natural sugars and yeasts allowing the second fermentation to take place (tirage au moût). The grapes grow in Oger Grand Cru plots on deep brown clay over chalk, on high-trellised old vines with small yields, where the soil is ploughed by horse. This release numbers 1,529 bottles.

Quentin Vincey is the eighth generation of growers in Oger and has made wine under his own name with Marine Zabarino since 2014.

Winemaking:

100% Chardonnay. After pressing in a wooden Coquard press, the juice ferments with indigenous yeasts in 400–500-litre oak barrels, 15% of them new, and malolactic fermentation happens naturally. The base wine matures in barrel for 12 months on its lees; it is neither fined nor filtered, and no sulphites are added. The bottle receives 90% wine from 2020 and 10% must from 2021. Bottling for the second fermentation took place in September 2021 and the bottles were closed with cork. They were riddled by hand and disgorged by hand, à la volée, in January 2026. No dosage was added.

Tasting notes:

A dry Blanc de Blancs with a saline finish. The description of the 2020 Endogène highlights candied lemon, yellow fruit, hazelnut and a nuance recalling wet chalk; the finish is intensely saline. The French wine merchant Marée Haute calls it a precise and vibrant gastronomic Champagne.

Food pairing:

Lobster or langoustine with butter – the saline finish and nutty nuance suit the sweetness of shellfish. Roast scallops; guinea fowl with mushroom sauce; aged Comté.

Ratings & accolades:

Jeb Dunnuck – 94+/100 (base 2019)