Champagne Brut Nature
Le Cul du Singe 2022

The Champagne Le Cul du Singe by Roland Champion belongs to the Domaine's limited "Lieu-Dit" series, a project devoted to bringing out the uniqueness of single plots in the most distinctive harvests. A clear and direct expression of Verneuil, from the Rive Droite of the Vallée de la Marne, where the meeting of clay and chalk builds a warm and sunny terroir in which Meunier finds ripeness, breadth and immediate recognisability. The curious name, handed down by the village's popular memory, holds the idea of a deliberately fleeting wine, made only once and destined never to repeat itself in the same form.

This edition, from the 2022 harvest, is a Blanc de Meunier that involves vinification and maturation for ten months in 228-litre fût, a step able to build volume and depth without blunting its natural freshness. After tirage comes ageing on the lees of at least 36 months, while dégorgement takes place with no final dosage, in Brut Nature style, with a further rest of at least six months in the cellar before its release.

On tasting, Le Cul du Singe shows a brilliant gold crossed by coppery reflections, with a floral and fruity aromatic range in which small red fruits are woven together with citrus hints of fine freshness. On the palate the entry is juicy and enveloping, supported by a tonic vein that keeps a material of appreciable density light on its feet and carries the development towards a dry and faintly almond-tinged finish, with a long trail of grapefruit peel. Production in a limited run of 2,150 bottles.