My fascination with the notion of terroir in Champagne began many years ago while working alongside one of America's great Champagne experts: Gary Westby. Gary is the Champagne buyer for a top Bay Area retailer and is an ardent supporter of small, grower-producer Champagnes. I can still recall many conversations with him about the individual and expressive (not to mention value) Champagnes from the grower-producers, or récoltant-manipulants, as they are also known. These récoltant-manipulants also provide an opportunity to discover the differences between the major regions of Champagne, differences that are often blurred by the big négociant houses which dominate Champagne production.

Négociant-manipulants typically blend wines from the various regions and from multiple vintages to achieve a consistent style. Négociants make up nearly 80 percent of the Champagne sold in the U.S. and include such famous brands as Veuve Clicquot and Perrier-Jouët. But rarely do the négociants acknowledge terroir (beyond the all-encompassing Champagne AOC) as an important feature of Champagne, preferring instead to promote their brand names. Thus it was with pleasure that I accepted an invitation this week by Champagne connoisseur, Jake Rosenbarger, to taste three single-vineyard Champagnes from one of the pioneer négociants for Champagne de terroir, the small and unique firm of Leclerc Briant.

Leclerc Briant was a pioneer of the single-vineyard concept; current owner Pascal Leclerc Briant developed the idea with the help of French sommeliers. Being a négociant, Leclerc Briant purchases much of its production from other growers but also owns vineyards in six villages. The Premier cru village of Cumières, located in the Vallée de la Marne, is the source of Leclerc Briant's single-vineyard Champagnes which it markets collectively as its Les Authentiques collection.

Les Crayères, a 1.07 hectare vineyard on a south-facing slope, is composed of 90 percent Pinot Noir and 10 percent Pinot Meunier and showed wonderful black fruit, fennel and minerals. Les Chèvres Pierreuses, named for the goats which wandered onto the vineyard and snacked on the delicious grapes, is from a 2.8 hectare south-facing vineyard, with 60 percent Pinot Noir and 40 percent Chardonnay. This wine showed a more delicate character with floral and citrus notes and a focused chalky minerality. Finally, we tried a new Blanc de Blancs from a small .34 hectare plot in Epernay named La Croisette. This last champagne was my favorite of the tasting with vanilla bean and wedding cake aromas leading to a more serious lemon and apple skin laden palate.

Full tasting notes on these compelling, vineyard-driven Champagnes will appear in a future edition of SOMMselections. Thank you to both Gary for your inspiration and to Jake for providing this rare glimpse into the terroir of Champagne.