2008 JmSélèque Partition Extra Brut - Deuxième Lecture

JmSélèque

France / Champagne / JmSélèque

To present this wine, I must go back to my beginnings as a winemaker. Indeed 2008 was my first vintage at the domaine. At that time, my wish was to create a cuvée of great aging potential that future generations could taste much later. To do so, I had selected the 7 most beautiful parcels of the vineyard, tasted each of the barrels of these plots and composed a harmonious, precise and elegant blend . In my opinion, these are the essential characteristics of a great wine.
Long is the path of trust in wine. We first offered a reading of this wine after five years of ageing; in 2013 the 2008 Partition was released, 1500 bottles out of the 2000 produced came out of our cellars. Another 500 bottles of the cuvée were kept for longer ageing, to offer you a second reading of the wine after 10 years (about 240 bottles) and secondly to establish an oenothèque, memory of the domaine.
2008 was a rather northern vintage. Freshness in winter, followed by a muddy, rainy spring with a vegetative cycle that kicked off late. A dry and very hot month of May favoured the growth of the vine, but after mid-June a fall in temperatures disturbed the flowering, leading to coulure and millerandage. August was a little sunny and fresh compared to the last 10 years. Early September was cloudy and rainy. The sun appeared a few days before the first snips. The harvest took place in dry and particularly cool weather, especially at night. The wines produced are dense, tense and present a beautiful freshness. After 10 years of aging, we can probably say that 2008 is a great Champagne vintage and that it will offer beautiful years of tasting to come.
Finally, why Partition? As you've probably noticed, the label has a different score each year. A music related to the events of the year, represented by 7 musical notes like the 7 barrels of the 7 plots. Partition 2008 2ème Lecture's label is a nod to the album cover of this music, which we will take care not to reveal to you in writing
72% Chardonnay, 14 % Meunier and 14% Pinot Noir. The parcels harvested for this blend are: Vertus 1er Cru La Justice planted in 1950; Dizy 1er Cru Moque-bouteille planted in 1985; Epernay Les Frileux planted in 1959; Mardeuil Les Basses Ronces planted in 1982; Pierry 1er Cru Les Tartières/Les Porgeons planted in 1990 et 1985; and Pierry 1er Cru Les Gouttes d’Or planted in 1951; and Pierry 1er Cru Les Gayères planted in 1975. The soils are a mix of silty clay and flinty clay on a chalky subsoil. The musts were vinified entirely in oak barrels and bottles without fining or filtration. The wine was aged on lees on crown seal for 10 years before disgorgement with a dosage of 1.5g/L.

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About JmSélèque

CellarHand had long been on a fruitless hunt for another top-flight grower Champagne to complement the outstanding Jacquesson wines in our portfolio. What a blessing, then, to chance upon the superb wares of Jean-Marc & Oriane Sélèque during a trip to the region in late 2017. Jean-Marc Sélèque’s grandfather Henri planted his first vines in Pierry in 1965, a tradition taken up when father Richard began bottling his grower Champagne in the ‘70s. Jean-Marc himself took over duties in 2008 and began transforming this into the very model of a top-flight grower it is today. Viticulture is organic (not certified) to preserve a living and varied ecosystem and make the vines more autonomous and resistant. There is a highly qualified team of five people throughout the year to perfect the work in the vineyard, which includes ploughing soil, strict pruning and cover-cropping to promote the rooting of the vine and microbial life. Under Jean-Marc, the estate has been renamed and the range redefined, while the completion of the new cellar in 2015 is a further statement of intent. Pierry itself is a premier cru village just outside Épernay, known (and increasingly so, with Jean-Marc as flag-bearer) as prime terroir for distinguished Meunier. A further six villages within a tiny radius account for the rest of the fruit. These are: Moussy and Épernay (situated, like Pierry, on the Coteaux Sud d’Épernay); Dizy, Mardeuil and Boursault in the Vallée de la Marne; and Vertus in the Côte des Blancs.

About

Jean-Marc is a worldly winelover who marries respect for terroir with contemporary open-mindedness. He spent time making fizz in Australia and the U.S. for Chandon at the start of his Pierry quest. Jacquesson, across the way in Dizy, has since been an indelible influence. Like their CellarHand stablemates the Chiquet brothers, every step chez Jean-Marc and Oriane has been chosen at the expense of myriad alternatives rejected because they’ve been shown to yield something less than the best wine possible.
The result here is Champagnes that are precise in their expression of fruit and soil, where autolysis quietly embellishes without dominating, and where – once you’ve shaken off the distraction of sheer pleasure and try to pick apart the elements – you find seamless harmony and elegant structure. These delicious and utterly confident wines are borne of intricately thought out practices, strictly adhered to. The wines – a million miles from any notion of stretched or contrived Champagne - are as natural, effortless and full of personality as you could wish them to be.