House with a Style: Champagne Alfred Gratien

I’ve been going to the Annual Champagne Tasting at the Christie’s in New York for the past two years and been captivated by Champagne Alfred Gratien, especially their "Cuvee Paradis". I decided to see how one of my favorite Champagne is made and paid a visit on my first day in Epernay.

All I knew was that I had a "rendez-vous" at the house and I was told be there at 2PM when everyone comes back from the lunch break. When I arrived bit early, there was no sign of a single person in the property, so I sat on one of the steps in the courtyard and waited. At 3 minutes to 2PM, all the cars started to arrive in the employee parking space. As I was impressed by French people's punctuality, a young man in a black sweater, dark blue jeans and stylish black sneakers came out of a white van with Champagne Alfred Gratien logo. "Bonjour" he shook my hand and I introduced myself. This French man is Nicolas Jaeger, the Chef de Caves of the house.

Despite Alfred Gratien’s well-recognized international status, the house is relatively small with only 7 workers with Nicolas and the property consists of two separate buildings with a courtyard in the middle. Nicolas took me inside one of the buildings, where it was half filled with barrels after barrels of wines from different villages, all organized by each village with its initials stenciled on. The room smelt a combination of sweet fresh grape juice and warm oak notes from the barrels. He pulled a top of one of the barrels and told me to “ecoute”. When I put my ear close to it, I could hear the fermenting wine making a small noise. Nicolas described it as ‘wine is talking to you’. We left this part of the building with more traditional wine making equipments and entered the other side, which looked very contemporary with impeccably clean shinny stainless steel tanks. These are used for blending the wines as well as to hold the reserved wines.

We walked across the courtyard to enter the other building and took an elevator down to the underground cave made out of chalk, traditional of Champagne region. It is dark, cool and the humidity is pretty high (average 80%) and I could see the water drop shining on the white chalk wall like a little star. This is the place where the wine goes for the second fermentation to create its bubbles and also the place to rest and age to develop more complex flavors.

When we came back to the ground level, he showed me the line of disgorgement to the corking procedure, the final stage of the production. Next, it was time to taste! We went upstairs to the tasting room. Many pictures were hanging on the wall and I observed each like a Sherlock Holmes. In one of them, I found young Nicolas with two other older men. When I asked, he told me they are his father and grandfather who had also worked as a Chef de Caves. I wonder what it was like to grow up in the family of winemakers. Did he get to taste all the wines in the cellar since he was like 5 years old? Did he have to describe how each dish taste on the table during the family meals as a part of sensory education to become a Chef de Caves?

While I was imaging all the unique things he got to learn growing up in his family, Nicolas opened a bottle of the NV Brut and handed me a glass. As I was finding notes of vanilla and hazelnuts, Nicolas continued and said “yes, things you find in café; caramel, nutmeg, brioche…” These unique aromas are from the oak barrels used for the first fermentation and fresh pear and citrus fruit nicely balanced it with good amount of acidity to make it pleasing on the palate.

He then smiled and asked me if I would like to taste "Cuvee Paradis". How can I say no to that offer! This is Alfred Gratien’s 'Tete de Cuvee' made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir only from Grand Crus. The time it spends on the lees is much longer than the traditional NV and this drink like a top end white Burgundy. So many layers of harmonious soft pear, apple and quince fruit along with well-defined acidity, are beautifully complemented by warm and gentle notes of creamy hazelnut, nutmeg and candied ginger. All these delicate yet persistent flavors echoes on the palate for a long time and then disappears quietly. The style is extremely elegant with a great finesse and it made me speechless for a moment. Nicolas commented, "I take time to make 'Cuvee Paradis' for those who love and know how to appreciate good quality Champagne."

As I was saying “merci et au revoir” to Nicolas, he said “our house is very small and as a Chef de Caves, I have to run back and forth doing a lot of things and that is the reason why I have these sneakers on. No tie, no suits and no dress shoes, you know.” 

Dear Nicolas - I really like your style, in terms of fashion and in terms of Champagne you craft.