September 16, 2025
A trip to the Champagne region wouldn’t be complete without a visit to some grower champagne houses. Here are some of our recommendations. Nicolas Maillart Jolivettes 2015
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Nicolas Maillart is a family run business, it is now the turn of the ninth generation to take the reins, in the form of Nicolas, who returned in 2003 after completing his studies in engineering and oenology. Nicolas is building on an almost three hundred year-old tradition and maintaining the house philosophy of bringing out the full potential of the Champagne terroirs in the wines. The Maison only have vines in the Premier and Grand Cru villages of the Montagne de Reims, mostly planted halfway up the hillside, ideally located for producing excellent quality wines. In keeping with the region’s typicity, their vineyards contain a high proportion of Pinot Noir vines (75%) together with Chardonnay. Maillart is one of the first Champagne estates labelled both HEV, High Environmental Value and Sustainable Viticulture. These awards recognise their environmental and economic performance taking account of biodiversity, pest strategy and water management.
Nicolas Maillart sorts his wines according to the type of soil and age of the vines. Some wines ferment in oak barrels and may undergo malolatic fermentation if neccessary. This natural approach is the key in the cellar as well; the wines are fermented using wild yeasts and are neither filtered nor cold-stabilised.
A single vineyard "Les Jolivettes" vinified in small oak barrels and rested 8 months on lees before bottling. Just 3626 bottles were made.
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% Grand Cru | Bouzy, single vineyard of Les Jolivettes
Grape Varieties: 100% Pinot Noir
Lees Ageing: 3 years
Disgorged: September 2019
Dosage: 0 g/l
Drink: Now for 5+ years
Tasting Note: A powerful champagne, balanced by a serious vivacity. That is the global typicity of this champagne, representative of its origin, the heart of Bouzy.
Nicolas Maillart sorts his wines according to the type of soil and age of the vines. Some wines ferment in oak barrels and may undergo malolatic fermentation if neccessary. This natural approach is the key in the cellar as well; the wines are fermented using wild yeasts and are neither filtered nor cold-stabilised.
A single vineyard "Les Jolivettes" vinified in small oak barrels and rested 8 months on lees before bottling. Just 3626 bottles were made.
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% Grand Cru | Bouzy, single vineyard of Les Jolivettes
Grape Varieties: 100% Pinot Noir
Lees Ageing: 3 years
Disgorged: September 2019
Dosage: 0 g/l
Drink: Now for 5+ years
Tasting Note: A powerful champagne, balanced by a serious vivacity. That is the global typicity of this champagne, representative of its origin, the heart of Bouzy.
