Från RP - Based in Janvry, with vineyards primarily located in Vrigny, Janvry, Gueux in Petite Montagne de Reims and Chenay (in Massif de Saint Thierry), Alexandre Lamblot continues to push forward with his ambitious project. Certified organic since 2018 and practicing biodynamic methods in alignment with lunar phases, Lamblot is testing the limits viticulturally. He has planted 600 fruit trees throughout his 21 plots, which span a 3.9-hectare estate, where he prunes late in cordons, rolling the canopies instead of hedging (a practice dependent on the year) and cultivates the soils using a small caterpillar-tracked "chénillard" instead of a heavy tractor. He is also experimenting with permaculture techniques. Such methods mean that, thus far, yields have been very low.
Harvest occurs in the early hours, when temperatures are lower, and fruit is picked into 14-kilogram cases. The pressing process is deliberately slow, lasting between four and six hours in an old two-ton Coquard press. The musts are descended by gravity to the cellar, where they're fermented with native yeasts in barrels of various sizes, ranging from 140-liter feuillettes to 600-liter barrels, with the majority aged in demi-muids. The wines typically mature for 11 months to two years on the lees, undergoing malolactic fermentation.
Lamblot's barrel program has evolved over time; while he once relied on second-hand barrels, he now mainly invests in new barrels, renewing approximately 20% of them each year. The new barrels are initially used for wines reserved for his Intuition cuvée. Use of sulfites is minimal, generally limited to after pressing, and the wines see no fining nor cold stabilization.
Lamblot credits Jérôme Prévost, for whom he worked, with helping him have the confidence to take risks in the winery and “find his way.” Concentrated but incisive, produced from physiologically ripe fruit and patinated by their long maturation in wood on the lees, before disgorgement without dosage, these wines reveal the untapped potential of this largely undiscovered sector of Champagne.
