{"product_id":"pascal-doquet-champagne-1er-cru-arpege-blanc-de-blanc-brut-nature","title":"Pascal Doquet Champagne 1er Cru Arpège Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVertus is a premier cru rather than a grand cru for an unglamorous reason: at 542 hectares it is the largest commune in the Marne, and the boundary took in a lot of ground nobody considered noble. That size is also what makes it interesting. Topsoil here runs anywhere from 20 centimeters to more than two meters before you reach chalk, so the village is really three or four different places wearing one name. Arpège draws on the east and south-facing slopes of Vertus, on Villeneuve-Renneville, and on the southern face of Mont Aimé at Coligny: all premier cru, all Chardonnay, Campanian chalk under a layer of clay with bands of silex running through it. The silex is where the smoke comes from. The clay is why this has flesh that Le Mesnil never has.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e100% Chardonnay. Base wine blended with a perpetual reserve started in 2012, roughly two parts to one. Fermentation runs in enameled steel on indigenous yeasts, about a third of the volume raised in older oak barrels and the rest in tank, eight months on lees before tirage, then three to five years in bottle before disgorgement. Since 2016 even the second fermentation runs on indigenous yeast, which almost nobody in Champagne attempts. Current releases go out at zero dosage, so the wine has to be ripe enough to carry itself with nothing added at disgorgement. Older bottlings of this cuvée carried 3 to 3.5 grams and were labeled Extra Brut; check which one you have. Sweet almond and hazelnut, Granny Smith, Conference pear, lime and pineapple, brioche and vanilla cream, and beneath all of it a saline, stony line that pulls the finish out long.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePascal Doquet began working alongside his parents in 1982, took over the family house Doquet-Jeanmaire in 1995, and founded his own domaine in 2004 after splitting the company with his sister. He farms just under 8.7 hectares, 95% Chardonnay, about 65,000 bottles a year, 60% in the southern Côte des Blancs and 40% in the chalky Coteaux Vitryats. The conversion was gradual and documented: lutte raisonnée from 1995, all chemical treatments gone by 2000, herbicides dropped in 2001, organic conversion begun in September 2007, first certified harvest in 2010, certifier Ecocert. He is president of the Association des Champagnes Biologiques. His own summary of the work: it is the viticulture that makes the difference, not the vinification. His son Noé joined in 2017 as the fourth generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe house pairing is a shellfish platter, and the logic holds: zero dosage plus chalk plus a saline finish is the exact combination that makes raw shellfish taste sweeter than it is. From there, sea bream sashimi with lime, sea bass tartare with herbs and cracked black pepper, or langoustines with nothing but butter and salt. Avoid anything with a sweet glaze; with no dosage there is nothing in the wine to meet it. This is a first-course Champagne, and it will make the first course better than it deserves to be.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Synergy","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50915825746143,"sku":null,"price":90.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8060040.jpg?v=1786064823","url":"https:\/\/denverwinemerchant.com\/products\/pascal-doquet-champagne-1er-cru-arpege-blanc-de-blanc-brut-nature","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}