We’ve all had those moments during our wine journeys. Whether we’re new to wine or old hands, some bottles touch us most deeply. They have something beyond great tastes, textures and noses. Something close to soul. We recently had that experience in a way we were not expecting.
We met Éric Taillet for lunch. He makes about 4,500 cases of Champagne in the Marne Valley of France from the “other” grape of Champagne, Pinot Meunier, which is usually a supporting player to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. A few years ago, we asked a sparkling wine producer what Meunier added to a wine. “Bulk,” he responded. Ouch!
That is definitely a fighting word to Taillet, a fourth-generation producer who makes several 100% Meunier Champagnes from his 15 acres. In 1995, he founded the Meunier Institut to promote the red-skinned grape. Dottie met him years ago when he came to New York to talk about the grape, his organization and the historical reasons for Meunier’s place.
At lunch, we tasted three of his wines that are 100% Meunier (and a fourth that was 10% Chardonnay) and they were awesome. Champagne is always a pleasure, of course, and wines do taste better when presented by the winemaker. Still, these had a purity and a depth that amazed us. His rosé put us right over the edge – and turned out to have a secret.
(Dottie with Éric Taillet, fourth generation Champagne maker and founder of Meunier Institut)
Taillet, 65, is dialing back his activities and turning over more to his son, Dylan, 30, and daughter, Lena, 25. When we met him, we expected him to talk mostly about Meunier. We really didn’t think we’d hear a lot about worms. It turns out that Taillet is really, really passionate about the earth. Pretty much every winemaker these days likes to talk about organic and biodynamic farming, but Taillet was different. Actually, his technical notes are the first we’ve seen that mention “sexual confusion” in the vineyard (it’s a natural method of pest control).
He said the average age of his vines is 50, which is really up there in vine age. His oldest vines were planted in 1902 and “they’re still in production and in very, very good health,” he said. Adam Fox, vice president for national sales for his importer, Uva Imports, translated for us.
Older vines produce lower yields, which is one reason winemakers pull them up. “But why is this important?” Taillet asked. “Because when the yield is heavily reduced, the concentration goes way up. The hallmark of these wines comes from the age of the vine because of the concentration of the fruit…
“There are two reasons not to pull out my vines. One is that it’s my inheritance. And the second reason is that every time you pull out a vine, it takes 15 years for the microbial life to come back to equilibrium. The living soil is the mission of the domain. This is the center of the philosophy.”
He became more animated as he continued: “There’s two zones of microbial life and they can be measured by the types of worms that you have in the environment. So at the first level, you have a zone of worms that digest the detritus and push it down further into the soil. And then you have a second zone of worms beneath which digest another layer.”
He went on: “The other thing I’m passionate about besides worms is trees. I’ve planted 651 trees. It’s for biodiversity. The vines love trees. Before vines were trained, they grew on trees. So they love each other and their root systems are complementary. So what’s interesting is not what happens above ground. What’s interesting is what happens below ground.”
While the winery has not used chemicals in many years, it will be fully certified organic in 2027. The wines are also vegan. We asked Taillet if the domain was also biodynamic and he replied: “I’m not interested. I’m not an alien. I’m not an extraterrestrial.”
We asked him about climate change, especially with warmer weather affecting ripening. “The preservation of acidity in these wines is obviously really important,” he said. “So right now we pay a lot of attention to acidity because with climate change, there’s no problem with sugar. You’re always going to get the ripeness, but you have to preserve the acidity. So that’s what we’re looking for now. Whereas in the past we were looking at sugar, now we look at acidity.”
The three 100% Meunier wines were especially interesting to us. About 80% of his total production is a 100% Meunier called Exlusiv’T Brut ($76). The stunning thing to us about this wine was the focus of fruit at its mineral rich and acidic core, a razor-sharp balance. On top of that were some fresh white flowers and white peaches, a marker for Meunier. “This is a Champagne that’s particularly about a gastronomic experience in the glass,” he said.
The Renaissance Extra Brut ($126), which is also 100% Meunier, was a bit darker, slightly chewier. “We’re into a gastronomic wine here, fully and completely,” Taillet said. There were notes of brioche, grilled bread, hazelnut and dried fruits, he noted, but what stopped us, again, was a core that John compared to the graceful breeze of a white sail in the wind.
And then, to us, the star of the show, the Luminos’T Brut Rosé ($99). This wasn’t so much a pink wine as a subtle almost metaphysical blush. “This wine is made not to get this color. That’s just the by-product,” Taillet said. “The aim is the find the aromas, the richness of red fruits, the subtleties of red fruit and everything I like.” He added: “If you tasted this blind, you’d know it was a rosé because you can feel the red fruit in the wine.”
How does he do that? Ninety-nine percent of the wine is white Meunier, made without skin contact. The other 1% is also mostly Meunier, but made as a red wine, with a long maceration and oak barrels. And 10% of that 1% is Pinot Gris that is co-planted with that Meunier. “The red wine is a lot of work,” Taillet said.
The result is a wine with the same deep core and then just a whisper of bright red fruits, like strawberries and raspberries. It’s extraordinary and as elegant as can be. And Taillet was right: We couldn’t so much taste the red as feel it.
Like so many small-production Champagnes, Éric Taillet’s are hard to find. Fox said that Uva imports about 450 cases. Most of that goes to restaurants. “Sommeliers are early adopters and have been driving the U.S. consumer interest in Meunier Champagnes,” he said.
In general, distribution of wines is haphazard. When we came home from our tasting, we immediately tried to find Taillet’s wines to purchase in our area. Alas, without success. But we saw it online at several fine wine shops around the country like 3 Parks Wine Shop in Atlanta.
In a world where there are too many industrial wines and too many wines engineered by marketing, there is still a place for the Eric Taillets who are passionate, highly opinionated and supremely talented. Small farmers of all kinds are constantly struggling with forces beyond their control, both natural and man-made, like tariffs. Their wines are worth a search so that you can have one of those never-to-be-forgotten experiences.
Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher conceived and wrote The Wall Street Journal's wine column, "Tastings," from 1998 to 2010. Dorothy and John have been tasting and studying wine since 1973. In 2020, the University of California at Davis added their papers to the Warren Winiarski Wine Writers Collection in its library, which also includes the work of Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson. Dottie has had a distinguished career in journalism as a reporter, editor, columnist and editorial writer at The Miami Herald, The New York Times, and at The Journal. John was Page One Editor of The Journal, City Editor of The Miami Herald and a senior editor at Bloomberg News. They are well-known from their books and many television appearances, especially on Martha Stewart's show, and as the creators of the annual, international "Open That Bottle Night" celebration of wine and friendship. The first bottle they shared was André Cold Duck. They have two daughters.
