Bereche & Fils Mailly Grand Cru 2020
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The Land
Mailly-Champagne sits on the northern end of the Montagne de Reims, a grand cru that rarely gets the attention of its more famous neighbors. Bereche et Fils farms a single .4-hectare parcel called "Les Chalois" here, planted with vines averaging over 60 years old, at 170 meters on a gentle 5 percent slope. The soil is deep, brown clay over chalk, cool and slow to ripen even in a grand cru, and it is this site's dependable coolness that gives the wine its bracing, tangy character.
The Wine
100% Pinot Noir, fermented slowly in barrel and small tank, aged on the lees for 54 months before disgorgement. Malolactic fermentation is blocked, keeping the wine's acidity bright throughout the long aging. The 2020 growing season ran warm, the third hot vintage in a row after 2018 and 2019, but retained fresher acidity than 2018 thanks to a cooler June and July before an August heat spike pushed ripening forward. Expect a bold color, aromas of rhubarb, black cherry and white pepper, and a delicate, lacy attack that opens into dense, saline, long textures.
The People
Bereche et Fils has farmed in the Montagne de Reims since the mid-1800s, first bottling under the family name in 1928. Brothers Raphael and Vincent, the fifth generation, took over in 2004 and shifted the estate to biodynamic farming while pushing to bottle each parcel separately rather than blend toward a single house style. Vincent runs the vineyards, Raphael the cellar. Mailly is one of several grand and premier cru sites the brothers have added to the estate's historic holdings, each chosen and vinified to show a distinct expression of the Montagne de Reims.
Food Pairing
The wine's saline energy and dark fruit pair well with roast duck breast, a plate of charcuterie built around dry-cured ham, mushroom risotto, or aged Gruyere.
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Champagne is the northernmost major wine region in France, defined by its cool climate, chalky soils, and centuries-old tradition of sparkling wine production. Centered around the towns of Reims and Épernay, the region is divided into key subzones like the Montagne de Reims, Vallée de la Marne, and Côte des Blancs, each favoring different grapes—Pinot Noir, Meunier, and Chardonnay respectively. The region’s signature chalk and limestone soils provide excellent drainage and impart a distinctive mineral character to the wines. While méthode champenoise was refined here in the 17th century, Champagne’s global prestige grew through the 19th and 20th centuries, cementing its role as the benchmark for sparkling wine worldwide.
Champagne
Pinot Noir is a thin-skinned, notoriously difficult-to-grow, low-yielding grape that finds its ancestral home in Burgundy, France, where it produces some of the world's most elegant and nuanced wines. While Burgundy remains its spiritual heartland, Pinot Noir has since traveled the globe, finding success in other cooler climates, notably in California, Oregon, New Zealand, and Germany. This grape is a challenge for any grower, as it requires specific conditions to show its best, and yet the wines it produces are capable of such a captivating and singular character.
