Nestled at the tip of Champagne's Cotes des Blancs lies the Grand Cru of Chouilly. Whilst Chouilly has long been a Chardonnay powerhouse for the Grand Marques the likes of Moet and Billecart-Salmon, it is also home to more artisanal producers such as M. Hostomme. Yet unlike the larger houses, Hostomme forsakes breadth for depth, allowing them to pursue elevage innovation that simply cannot be scaled - think over 10 years of lees ageing or undersea cellaring, which have produced some incredible results. They've even persisted in farming forgotten grape varieties such as Petit Meslier that makes its way to their wines.

The M. Hostomme house was officially founded in 1930, when second generation brothers Michel and Jacques would get in early on bottling and selling their Champagnes under their own name, which would of course come to be understood broadly today as the Grower Champagne movement (houses who farm their own vines and make their own wines, selling under their own name as opposed to selling their fruit or wines to bigger houses. Yet in reality the Hostomme family history in the region stretches further back. Of Viking descent, the Hostomme family had for long farmed various crops and even some livestock, and it wasn't until the early 1900's when phylloxera hit that many in the region had left, allowing the Hostomme family to acquire parcels of vineyards to focus on winemaking.

Fourth generation Laurent Hostomme.

Today the house closes in on their 100th anniversary and is led by fourth-generation Laurent Hostomme and his wife Christelle, tending to some 15 hectares of vines that is fragmented into tiny plots that are each highly distinct from one another. They then acquire Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier from 15 hectares of vines from other growers in the Vallee de la Marne and Montagne de Reims, typically family and friends, which then forms their supply of fruit. The house is deeply family oriented and much of their operation stays within a local and tight-knit ecosystem of people they've known for long - their bottles come from just several kilometers away at Verallia, and their corks are 100% French, sourced from Corsica.

It's worth pointing out that Laurent is quick to emphasise his role as but a torchbearer and custodian of the family's estate and more so, the family's philosophy and way of life. This deep humility translates even to his vines where he's sought to preserve special heritage parcels of vines instead of optimising for commercial scalability or efficiency. His vines are all HVE certified (High Environmental Value), and in particular in the village of Œuilly (pronounced oo-EE-yee), he's continued to keep the Clos de l'Arpent vineyard exactly as it was, with all five permitted Champagne grape varieties present, with one such variety being that of the Petit Meslier which features a naturally high acidity. As Laurent describes, it's a microscopic vineyard that was once walled and enclosed as a recognition and demarcation of its unique microclimate; the nature of such "Clos" highly prized in the world of Champagnes for their distinctiveness and true scarcity. As such, a single vineyard cuvee from the Clos is only produced in exceptional years, with every other vintage making its way into the house's reserve wines. 

Hostomme's winemaking centers around the goal of achieving aromatic complexity, whilst bringing out the influence of the terroir. The wines here do not go through malolactic fermentation, and are vinified in a variety of vessels from stainless steel to oak barrels and foudres, each selected dependent on the specific vineyard. Laurent wants his wines to be plush and complex, which he believes is only possible through extended ageing on the lees which allows the wines to soften.

Not one to shy away from avenues to better understand how his wines can develop, Laurent has even aged his Champagnes under the sea. When a Dutch importer had remarked off hand that he had been impressed by the preservation of freshness of some salvaged shipwrecked Champagnes, Laurent's curiosity was piqued. After years of planning, in part due to the high costs of submerging the bottles, Laurent was able to together with several other Champagne-makers put together a parcel of bottles that were then kept at 60 meters beneath the sea where the pressure outside the bottle matched the internal pressure of the bottle, all left undisturbed under complete darkness with no temperature fluctuations or vibrations. After a year of undersea ageing, the bottles were retrieved and as it turns out, the Champagnes were "suspended in time" according to Laurent, with little oxidation and thereby promoting reduction instead. He would thus name the Champagne Vikka to mean "A Gift To The Sea" in Norse (also known as Abysse), only producing just about 1,000 bottles per year of the cuvee.

And so today we're going to try Hostomme's Tradition Brut NV!

This was had at the Champagniac festival in Singapore, the largest Champagne festival in the country, with M. Hostomme's Champagnes supplied by Champagne Everyday who's run by the wonderfully passionate Lucy Edwards.

Champagne Review: M. Hostomme Tradition Brut NV

Tradition is Hostomme's flagship Champagne, made with 40% Chardonnay, 20% Pinot Noir and 40% Pinot Meunier, which come from the Cote des Blancs, Montagne de Reims and Vallee de la Marne. This was very impressively aged on the lees for at least 24-30 months before disgorgement, which is far longer than most Champagnes and should give it a good deal of complexity and roundedness.

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw

Aroma: Immediately bountiful with fleshy green apples, backed by an aromatic toastiness of biscuits and shio pan, along with more of that doughiness. There's an air of slate that wafts across, giving it also this mineral quality.

Taste: Incredibly plush and rounded, the acidity is present yet completely softened. It's layered with gooseberries and white peaches, and then garnished with more exotic jasmine teas amidst bouquets of white florals. Incredibly supple and with a great richness.

Finish: Clean and crisp, the finish is firm and balanced against the body's pillowy richness.

My Thoughts

A really impressive cuvee - wow! This really delivered that beautiful aromatic depth and complexity with those toasty biscuity scents cusped by green apples at the top and rich doughiness at the base, with then a vein of minerality across. An absolutely joy to nose! The palate too carried on the party with a lovely plushness and roundedness, the acidity present yet rounded, with then softer more subtle notes of gooseberries and white peaches nestled in a bed of exotic white florals. This was then perfectly balanced by a crisp and firm finish that held up refreshingly against the Champagne's pillowy richness.

For a flagship cuvee the Tradition Brut NV is an absolute stunner that perfectly illustrates Hostomme's commitment to some serious lees ageing. Trust me, this is no walk in the park, this is a complete home run - it's everything you want in a Champagne: beautiful aromatic depth, pillowy and fruit and floral forward body, ending off with a refreshingly firm and crisp finish.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot