There have been five successive generations of Leclerc's, beginning with Lucien Leclerc in 1872 in the village of Cumiéres. In 1955, the house moved to the current premises it still occupies today in Épernay. In 2012, Leclerc Briant was saved from extinction when it was acquired by American couple Mark Nunelly and Denise Dupré, who fell in love with the nonconformist character of the House. They quickly appointed Hervé Jestin as Chief Winemaker and Frédéric Zeimatt as General Manager, two individuals with extensive experience in the industry. Leclerc Briant are renown winemaking pioneers, having been one of the first producers to stop using chemical fertilisers and to experiment with biodynamic vine cultivation back in the 1970s, and being one of the first houses to introduce single vineyards champagnes in the early 1990s. Today the entire vineyard is certified as organic and biodynamic. In addition, all the champagnes released onto the market are certified as vegan. The Maison own 14 hectares and buy grapes from another 15 hectares, both of which are farmed organic or biodynamic.

The first “Abyss” was specially created from the 2012 harvest for underwater ageing by Leclerc Briant, in association with Amphoris, a company specializing in undersea projects. This is now the fourth release based on wines from the 2015 harvest, blended and bottled in June 2016, disgorged in March 2019 and then off to Brittany in June 2019 where it spends just over 12 months 60 meters under the sea before being retrieved in Autumn 2020. The grapes that make up this cuvée were harvested from select Champagne villages, renowned for their specific limestone subsoil; carefully chosen terroirs that are in perfect resonance with the marine sediment located in the Bay of Stiff, at the eastern tip of the “Ile d’Ouessant” off the coast of France in Brittany.

Cuvée Abyss is a champagne with a resolutely maritime character which has benefited from being matured at the bottom of the sea. To taste it is to discover and appreciate the same mineral qualities that one finds in the chalky and sandy soils of the Champagne terroir where it had its origins.

Weather: A wet winter and mild spring gave way to an exceptionally dry summer from mid-May onwards. Hot weather prevailed until mid-August, when the skies opened again. Rains gave way to fine, cool, yet sunny weather for the first two weeks of harvest, which commenced on August 29th. The 2015 vintage has a lot of common denominators with the 2003 vintage but the 2015s are showing a better balance of weight and freshness with their average potential alcohol level of 10.5% and total acidity of 6.9 g/l. The quality and ageing capacity of the vintage has been questioned because of the low acidity, but to me the structure of the wine is not the problem. An average vintage and we need to see more releases before we will know for sure how good the big names will be in 2015.

Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Premier Cru | Chardonnay: Bisseuil |Pinot Noir: Avenay-Val-d'Or | Meunier: Vrigny
Grape Varieties: 34% Pinot Noir, 33% Chardonnay, 33% Meunier
Lees Ageing: 3 years
Bottling date: July 2016
Submersion: June 2019
Disgorged: March 2019
Dosage: 0 g/l
Drink: Now for 3-4 years

Tasting Note: On the nose, the first notes are of brioche and honeysuckle with cherry, blackcurrant and plum adding a hint of fruitiness. A nice, clean start on the palate with a soft, creamy effervescence followed by a mounting sensation of fleshy fruit under-pinned with good acidity reminiscent of pomelo and pineapple. The mid-palate is orchestrated around a marked chalky minerality that brings a touch of salinity and finesse on the tongue.