VINCENT COUCHE ECLIPSIA CHAMPAGNE BRUT FRANCE NV 750ML

Vincent Couche was one of the first producers to work biodynamically in Champagne, starting back in 1999 (certified as of 2008). While the scientific connection between biodynamics and good wine is not always clear, we do know this: vignerons who practice biodynamics pay very careful attention to their vines, and this is essential for producing the best grapes. Vincent Couche loves his vines and cares for them obsessively.

Those vines are marvelously located. He grows Pinot Noir in the part of the Aube where the soils are kimmeridgian, just like you find in Chablis. He grows Chardonnay in the intensely chalky (and flinty!) soils of Montgueux, an isolated corner of Champagne that wouldn’t ring a bell with anyone if it weren’t for Jacques Lassaigne, who has become famous for his non-interventionist Champagnes.

Couche is similarly non-interventionist. He picks late so that his grapes are properly ripe and no chaptalization is required and so that he can keep dosage to an absolute minimum. He ferments his wines with natural yeasts in large neutral barrels and then allows the malos to occur naturally. No pumps are to be found in the winery—everything is by gravity.