One Day in 1911...

We have covered André Clouet in detail before, through the lens of various new cuvées we’ve brought on. If you want to learn about these, here are the links; 

• Chalky Brut Blanc de Blancs
• 2005 Dream Vintage 
• 2015 Millésimé Empire 

When we first brought on Champagne André Clouet in 2017, we were astounded at the way it managed to capture the hearts and the palates of both our staff and customers immediately.

At the time, we had only brought on their NV Grandé Reserve Brut – a 100% Pinot Noir Champagne from their family vineyards in Bouzy and adorned with an intricate blue and gold label designed in 1911. It wasn’t one of the ‘big’ Champagne names but it was one that carried with it a lot of respect, with a detectable electric undercurrent of intrigue reserved for only the most ‘boutique’ and ‘in-the-know’ producers.

We soon added their No.5 Brut Rosé and their V6 Experience cuvées to the line up, who have in time also garnered a passionate group of fans here in NZ. Then, earlier this year we ordered a few hundred bottles of his Blanc de Blancs – Chalky – which sold out by word of mouth within two hours of booking the stock, a 2005 Vintage bottling of their ‘Dream Vintage’ and the 2015 “Millésimé Empire” (Symphony Cap Leopard).

Which brings us to today, and also kind of brings us back in time, to one day in 1911…

In Clouet’s words, this wine is a “Champagne fairytale’…

“Once upon a time, a few precious bottles were hidden away in a small cellar for more than 80 years. By a stroke of luck they were found and became the inspiration for a champagne tribute to the Golden Age we like to call “Un jour de 1911”. (Translation: “One day in 1911”).

We were overcome with sentimental nostalgia when we recovered those bottles, saving them from oblivion. Memories of old Aunt Jenny came flooding back. She had always spoken about them with a sparkle in her eye, remembering their presence at every resplendent celebration and happy occasion during those dazzling early years of the 1900s.

Carefully packed with straw, protected in their wooden cases, each bottle was beautifully dressed with a gold foil collar, painstakingly applied by hand and shapely suggestive of a woman’s plunging neckline. Belle Époque graphic design on the labels transported us back to the Golden Age of France, a time of prosperity, optimism and creative freedom when the arts began to flourish.

The House of André Clouet invites you to enjoy Un jour de 1911 the revival of a rediscovered gem from one of the best vineyards in the world. Working with the finest craftsmen, we bring you the magical renaissance of champagne production from the 1900s.”

Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate, 96 Points (2021): “The NV Un jour de 1911… is another 100% Bouzy Pinot Noir with an ancient label design. The shining golden-colored cuvée combines ripeness, complexity and finesse with intensity and elegance on both the nose and palate. It’s a powerful and rich yet very fine and balanced Champagne with great freshness and complex length. It is juicy and intense but also highly delicate, and its mineral tension and persistent finish make it a first-class wine for elaborate dishes. A great Champagne, with a label that doesn’t give any more detailed information regarding vintages or disgorgement date, but we know it’s always a 50/50 blend of three vintages (including one great millésime at least 10 years old) and reserve wines from a solera system. I tasted the wine as a Brut with Clouet’s German importer in Bremen. You shouldn’t drink it too early, as it would be a waste of its talents. Drink 2021 – 2033.”

Falstaff, 95 Points (2020): “Rich, bright golden yellow. Intense bouquet, brioche notes, ripe stone fruit, dried apple and a little nougat. Complex, full-bodied with exotic hints of ripe pineapple on the palate. Very finely tuned mousse, salty underlay, with fresh acid structure. A creamy honey touch on the finish, full-bodied with noteworthy length. Very good ageing potential. Great.”

James Suckling, 95 Points (2021): “A rich and expansive champagne with tons of mature aromas of dried fruit (apricots!) and candied orange. Teeters on the edge of decadence, but has enough vitality to stay on the right side of that line. Plenty of textural complexity on the palate and a long, chalky finish that keeps giving and giving. Spot-on balance. Drink or hold.”

The Clouet family history in Bouzy dates back to the 1400s. Before their vinous adventures, the Clouet ancestors were the appointed printers for the French monarchs. Over the next 200 years and through several generations, the family slowly accumulated vineyards in Bouzy before finally, in 1741 they first started to make Champagne. Cellars were dug into the chalky soils and the family set down their roots officially in the town they’d spent several centuries in under the watchful eye of one André Clouet.

“During Creation, when God grew weary of sculpting the mountings, razing the deserts and firing up the volcanoes, he treated himself to a few moments of pleasure. He designed a little earthly paradise called Bouzy.”

André Clouet’s descendants took over his estate, ensuring that it remained in the family. The property had aged but has now been modernised, and the team working to perpetuate the House of André Clouet is inspired above all by the desire to preserve the personality of its champagnes. 

“Jean-François is deeply rooted in the heritage of his village,” explains Tyson Stelzer in his book, The Champagne Guide 2020-2021 Edition VI, “He still possesses his family’s request for a deed for the purchase of land in Champagne by their ancestors in 1689 and a letter from the 1820’s requesting an order of Rosé to be sent to Paris.” 

A story the family loves to tell is that of André Clouet’s memorable interaction with Marie Antoinette. In 1770, the future Queen of France visited the vineyards in Bouzy and a dinner in her honour was organised in a castle not far from the village. Andre Clouet was in attendance and decided to entertain the guests at the Queen’s table by adding a few drops of red wine from their vineyards to the white wine. Known as “Bouzy Rouge,” this Vin des Sacres, was the red wine served to celebrate the crowning of the French Kings.

On that night, it’s said the ladies’ eyes began to sparkle with amazement as the white wine became pink!

The men raised a toast to the Queen and André Clouet proclaimed: “This is how we perfect Pinot Noir in Champagne! Now the Burgundians will just have to deal with it!”

A few years later, a cousin placed an order for some of this ‘pink wine’, but sparkling this time, for her “crazy English friends!”

Jean-François is the larger-than-life current generation of the Clouet line and is at the helm of this family estate. Growing up amongst the vines, the vineyards are in his blood. He’s been described as many things – a wizard, a wonder, a ringmaster… and all of these may be true but there’s no doubt his legacy will also recognise him as a phenomenal vigneron. 

A fun story he enjoys telling pertains to the tanks and barrels that age the wines;

“When I was a little boy, I loved walking around the wine-making cellar. In my imagination, the enormous wine tanks transformed and became champions, guardians, protectors of the wine…

My Heroes! Creaking, wheezing, groaning, squealing, sweating… sometimes they even seemed to be laughing! I watched the noisy show, as some were gushing from their nozzles, while others were being filled up. I grew up learning to play with my heroes who live in the wine-cellars.

Each has its own name and personality to share and their attributes come alive in the wines:

Superman, Zeus, and Thor lend their power to the Cuvée Grande Reserve.

Laser, D’artagnan and Zorro transmit their intensity, tension and minerality to the Brut Silver.

Sophie Marceau, Heather Locklear and Michelle Pheiffer flirt beautifully with the Rosé.

Rocky comes out swinging to make a Dream Vintage!

As I blend to create champagne, I work to find the perfect balance of characteristics that come from all my remarkable, dauntless heroes: the Stainless Steel Giants.”

You can choose to take our word for it when it comes to Clouet’s brilliance, but if you don’t then you must listen to Tyson Stelzer.

Already quoted a few times in this piece, he is a multi-award winning wine writer, television host and producer and international speaker. Tyson has been named The International Wine & Spirit Communicator of the Year, The Australian Wine Communicator of the Year and The International Champagne Writer of the Year. He is the author and publisher of seventeen wine books, contributor to many wine magazines, a frequent judge and chair at Australian wine shows and a presenter at wine events in 12 countries.

All this to say: he knows his wine and is great at articulating the magic where mere mortals fall short!

“Jean-François is a courageous visionary and an ebullient creative with the nous to bring his dreams to completion and the humility to gather round him the talent to make it happen.”

In 2017, Tyson published an article titled “Is this the most underrated champagne grower of all?” which is a poetic and beautiful summation of this Champagne House, which we’ve detailed below, or that you can read here.

“It’s always puzzled me that the remarkable, terroir-expressive champagnes of André Clouet never seem to come up among the rockstar growers of Champagne. And yet on the basis of his current cuvées, I have again anointed this little grower in the grand cru village of Bouzy among the top six growers in Champagne. This of course places him among the top sparkling growers on earth. My scores rank him equal to Dom Pérignon, Louis Roederer and Taittinger. And that’s mighty company!

For those in the know, the rare cuvées of André Clouet are immensely sought-after. You can’t buy these champagnes year-round in Australia, because they quickly sell out as soon as a shipment lands. Cru Bar in Brisbane recently told me of a pallet arriving and selling before the staff even had time to unpack it into the store.

I am always intrigued that something of the personality of the maker is translated into the character of all great wines. In this, the wines of Jean-François Clouet capture a profound and intriguing juxtaposition.

The man and his cuvées are deeply rooted into the multilayered and convoluted history of Champagne, arguably more than any other. He is the privileged custodian of eight hectares of estate vines in the best middle slopes of Bouzy and Ambonnay, the epicentre of pinot noir in Champagne. His family heritage in Bouzy extends back to 1492 and they have been making their own champagnes here since the early 1700s.

Every time I introduce new friends to Jean-François, he doesn’t first show us through his winery or cellars, doesn’t walk us through rows of vines, or even pour his champagnes. He takes us to the top of the vineyards, on the edge of the forest overlooking Bouzy, and recounts the remarkable sweep of history that has played out in view of this place over two millennia, and the role his own family has played in the stories: Attila the Hun, the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, the birth of the monarchy, the crusades, the Templars, Marie Antoinette. ‘To understand Champagne you need to understand its political history,’ he says.

It’s a history that lives on in his champagnes, both in spectacularly classical labels designed by his great grandfather in 1911 (harking back to the family’s printer heritage, making books for the king since 1491), and in a traditional approach in the vineyards and the cellar. ‘I like the idea of the work of human hands in pruning, performing the same actions as my grandfather and even the Romans, who planted vines here 2000 years ago.’

Such deep heritage makes for a striking contrast to the flamboyant personality of Jean-François, dubbed by one of my recent guests as ‘a combination of winemaker and circus ringmaster.’

He is daringly creative, with a distinctly modern twist to his approach. It is his goal that some day none of his champagnes will have any dosage at all, an ideal that he rightly describes as revolutionary.

His are rich and concentrated expressions of pinot noir, wines of deep complexity, multifaceted interest and engaging character, yet with remarkable restraint and sense of control. Tasting after tasting confirm my impression that this small and relatively unknown grower ranks high among Champagne’s finest practitioners of pinot noir — and represents one of the best value of all.

And yet for all of his success, this extroverted young chef de cave doesn’t take himself too seriously. ‘Champagne is always for flirting!’ he grins.

Visits with Jean-François are always recounted as a highlight by my little tour groups in Champagne, and it has long been my dream to introduce my knowledgeable and entertaining friend in Australia.”