Fabien Cazé
Humbleness and dedication
So kind and humble, Fabien took over the family vineyard in 2007. Before him, all grapes were sold to the Châtillon-sur-Marne cooperative. Him taking over also led to a paradigm shift in the vines, a change anchored around organic agriculture. Since then, he has taken on a certification process, 2020 being his first certified organic vintage.
Feels cliché to say this but his wines reflect his philosophy: precise, delicate and poised. We could go on and on as to why this is true but we’ll stick to 2 examples. As we just said, he took charge of the vines in 07, but what we didn’t tell you is that he waited 6 years to produce his first bubbles to make sure the vines had enough time to adjust to the new organic way of doing things.
Also, and this is impressive not only because very very few champagne producers do so but simply based on the sheer romanticism of the act, Fabien does not ferment his juices where he presses them. At every harvest, after pressing on his state-of-the-art Coquard press, the racked musts are transferred to a 19th-century chalk cellar (crayère) where the juice will undergo spontaneous fermentation. Still wine tasting at his cellar has quite the spelunking flair, as there is no running water or electricity. You descend underground, in the dark, and find at the end of your light a few barrels just sitting there, filled with absolutely delicious wines waiting to be enjoyed. As enthusiasts, it’s hard not to be moved by the whole experience.
This crayère is not only used for folkloric purposes, it has real winemaking raison d’être too. Being underground allows the ambient temperature to stay at a constant 12°C, without any carbon footprint, ideal for long slow alcoholic fermentation. This partly explains the complexity and finesse of Fabien’s wines. Being underground also means you don’t have to worry about fruit flies. The bats take care of that for free.
Last thing and not the least: the price. We all know, champagne is not inexpensive. When we get to score a producer that works so neatly, on such a small scale (only 20,000 bottles in 2019), with wines of such quality AND that are so affordable, you have hit the jackpot. All factors taken into account, and to our knowledge, we feel Fabien’s wines are some of the best, if not the best, quality to price ratio in Champagne. Yup.
