Savart

I have visited Frederic a number of times. He is one of these characters in the Champagne region that you can’t decribe. I am instantly caught up in the infectious excitement and fun of spending time with him. And of course it is made all the better because his wines are awesome!
He works with 4 hectares in Ecueil and Villers aux Noeuds and produces a young fresh style of wine with a richness and level of extraction that few can replicate. Action in the vineyards is similar to many. Not organic but working with nature to reduce human contact. In the winery he works with oak throughout his range.
His range kicks off with L’Ouverture. 100% Pinot Noir made from three years, it represents the youngest blend of his range and is made using up to 20% taille. It is vinified in 500 litre oak barrels and has a lovely smokey nose. It is the leanest of his wines but still has some nice breadth to it and a hint of spice.
L’Accomplie is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from two years using grapes from very old vinyards. He vinifies in 3 different sized barrels; 3, 4, and 500 litres. It is a real step up in structure and texture on the palate. Some beautiful mineral notes play alongside toasty and tropical fruits. Delicious.
Calliope is made from one year and a blend of his two villages. Malolactic fermentation is stopped and for the first time in his range you really feel it. A Chardonnay heavy blend it is all minerality and lemon pithe. Very straight and pure.
Bulle de Rose is a red wine addition rose made from a Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend. Delicate pink and some lovely apple fruit weigh up against a healthy level of salinity and a juicy strawberry finish.
When I first tried La Dame de Coeur I was totally mesmerized. 100% Chardonnay, and very low dosage, from a single vineyard ‘Les Monts des Cretin’ it is a piercing tropical and sweet oak ladened wine. Powerful, rich and intense. An epic experience.
Expression is always made from one single year and is the antithesis of La Dame de Coeur. 100% Pinot Noir and no sugar. Five different parcels vinified in 400ltr barrels. The soil is not worked at all, the grass is cut five times a year. The particular variety planted is sélection massale of pinot fin d’Ecueil. This was cultivated just outside the tasting room and first planted by Frederic’s grandfather Daniel. The wine is surprisingly precise and piercing. A smokey nose of blackcurrant gives way to a delightfully quiet palate that expands delicately. There is a soft saline grip and the minerality grips just at the finish.
So, the Blanc is good. As is happening more and more though, I find myself at awe with the Roses. And Frederic’s Expression Rose is truly showstopping. Aged on cork it undergoes the same processes as the white but seems to have undergone steroids. It is so sweet, complex and with such epic levels of extraction I was, at last tasting (2012 vintage), struggling to find anything out of place. Redcurrants, sherbert dip, loganberry and the lovely bitter warmth and butteryness that sits beautifully alongside the fruit. Simply superb and one of the best wines of 2016 for me.
It is when you taste things like this that you forget, almost, about his Millesime! Made from a blend of the two villages it is a lot stricter in style but with some nice leather and quince notes and that wonderful salinity on the finish.
On my last visit Frederic let slip a few secrets of the future for the brand Savart. They initially had me worried, but you do get a sense that things are looking bright for him…some key relationships with other great growers and some superb single vineyard wines, yet to taste, such as a ‘Le Mont Benoit’ I do sense things are just going to get better and better. I’m in for the ride. A bottle of Expression Rose in each hand!