Coustheur-Bonnard
Champagne
We come to wine from all previous walks of life; some come to it through their parents’ collections, others are born into a family of vignerons, and others still stumble into the world of wine through their studies, or have their interest piqued mid-restaurant-shift by the whiff of one particular bottle. No matter each person’s origin, it would be hard to argue that wine is solely a science or an art; without the influence of either, we would undoubtedly lose an intrinsic connection to the good juice.
It is this connection that vibrated so, when Mathilde Coustheur referred to each of her and her husband Adrien’s bottlings as “pictures”: each one took on its own form, and was the prism through which to see one factor, or all of them as a whole.
In the region of Champagne, the bulk of the area’s mass is concentrated between the two financial hubs - Epernay and Reims - with extensions both East and West, with the Aube further South. A historically cold region, of course, few in Champagne cared to venture far North, where grapes might just freeze right off the vines. In fact, there’s a little break in the map, drifting North-East of Reims, and then a blip: there lies the Monts de Berru, a secretive source of some of the finest Chardonnay for many a top Champagne house. In 2020, however, Adrien and Mathilde became the first of the nine generations of Coustheurs to produce their own stunning Chardonnays.
“There is no reference point,” Mathilde professes - she is still a professor, of course, and Adrien one of her former pupils. “Before, there was only viniculture - everything was sold. The big houses love this location, and its proximity to Reims.” Endowed with Chardonnay vines some twenty-five to fifty-plus years of age nestled deep in old, fragmented chalk soils, you get the feeling that before long, a reference point will be definitively known.
What was most stunning about the pair was the clear, innate self-confidence; from their first official production in 2020, Adrien & Mathilde recognized quickly that the wine produced from their vineyard was wildly energetic, and would need time. Time in the form of one year in barrel, and another three in bottle. While this is not something wildly unheard-of in Champagne, to recognize during the very first production that, in order to create your vision, you may not reap the fruits of your labors for four whole years - well, that takes a tremendous about of self belief. “Our parents had doubts,” Mathilde laughs, “And there was a huge push to release the wines - this was during the pandemic - but we just felt, these are not ready!”
Spurred on and imbued with confidence by Adrien’s best friend Alexandre Lamblot, the Coustheurs had trust. “Alexandre told us, ‘You have to wait,’” says Adrien. Even with waiting for peak maturity & ripeness in the vineyard, Mathilde claimed, “There was such acidity, such expression of minerality, but we don’t want to feel just that. We love Burgundy, and want a more aromatic, [complex] Champagne.” As an added benefit, the extended bottle aging creates the finer mousse, Mathilde explained, but the minimum imposed by the duo is 36 months to obtain their desired result. “We don’t want to make wine with danger,” she jokes. “We are different with the time, too!”
With the care in the vineyard taken to promote ripeness and aromatic concentration - vines pruned short, the later harvests, and organic methods followed (not dogmatically, but strictly) - the Coustheur plots in Nogent l’Abesse and Berru quickly began to show themselves to Mathilde and Adrien, the wines showcasing the picture they had envisioned. “The B.d.B. is the ‘picture of Champagne’,” Mathilde explains. “It is the picture of harvests - three harvests together - aging, and the Character of Chardonnay.” Osmose, she explains, “Is the ‘picture of one vintage’: the philosophy of the vintage, a reflection.”
As both grew up in Champagne - Mathilde’s family are growers in Sezanne who still sell their grapes - wine came to Adrien & Mathilde quite naturally. However, they chose to pursue it further, and form a bond not only with the commerce - Mathilde’s teachings at the University - but with the land itself. “We both had a sense to work with nature, and saw it as an opportunity to work with nature.” Taking that opportunity has yielded yet another surprise for us, in the form of wines from a small village we barely knew existed, and that have been four-plus years in the making.
Viticulture & Vinification
All of the Coustheur plots are located within the Monts de Berru area of the Montagne de Reims - about 10 kilometers East of Reims. The winery is located within Nogent l’Abesse, where the Coustheur family has long called home. The vineyards have been tended organically fully since 2012; there is no certification at this time, sensible given the extremes the region can provide, but organics are employed as much as possible.
A total of four hectares make up the holdings, entirely Chardonnay save for one small plot that is not vinified at this time.
The first release of B.d.B. will contain wines from the family plots dating back to 2019, with some of 2019, but largely based on 2021, vinified solely in tank. Their first full harvest, there were about 500 bottles of wine produced from barrel, but in subsequent vintages, there have been more barrels added, with a total of one new barrel per year. The rest are sourced from “similar-minded” producers in Burgundy & Sancerre, and have very little toast applied. There is no chaptalization whatsoever, and at bottling the dosage is not dogmatic - the final dosage is done via repeated blind tastings with the Coustheurs and close friends. Osmose, given it is entirely fermented in barrel, requires less dosage.
The 2022 Osmose, to be released in 2027, was aged slightly less - 33 months - in bottle, as it had softened to their satisfaction earlier in its life. All wines are held back at least 6 months after disgorgement before their release.
The “Bonnard” surname belonged to Adrien’s mother, who provided the couple financial cover enough to hold the wines for four years prior to release.
