WJ Drinks: Savart
Savart is one of Wine Journey's earliest agencies and we are proud and amazed to witness Frederic's growth from strength to strength. His wines have featured in top restaurants around the world. From the popular L'Ouverture Premiere Cru, to the 'class of Rose' Champagnes in Bulle de Rose, to the Single Plots of Le Mont Benoit and Le Mont Chrestiens, all the way to the top with "Expression", Savart has clearly scored in the grower Champagne game.
Wiliam Kelley - WineAdvocate.com
Fred Savart's Champagnes from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grown in the villages of Écueil and Villers-aux-Noeuds have rapidly become some of the most sought after—and, thanks to their production, hard to find—wines in the region. Savart abandoned a fledgling career as a professional footballer to return to this four-hectare domaine in 2005, and the vines are now farmed without pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertizilers. His vins clairs ferment in tanks, barrels and demi-muids, spending some ten months sur lies, with or without malolactic fermentation, before triage under natural cork with neither filtration, fining nor sulfites. Dosage is minimal. These are delicate, incisive and quietly intense: contemplative Champagnes that reward attention, though they're dangerously drinkable, too. While it's hardly necessary to fan the flames of already insatiable worldwide demand, all these releases come warmly recommended.
PETER LIEM, THECHAMPAGNEGUIDE.COM
" His wines are contemporary in the best sense of the word, combining a vivid depth of fruit with an intense and finely detailed expression of place. "
NV L'Ouverture
Premier Cru, Brut
Based Vintage - 2016-2018
* Area - Ecueil
* Dosage - 5.5g/l
* Cepages - 100% Pinot Noir
“ ... Offering up a classy bouquet of minty yellow orchard fruit, white flowers, fresh peach and warm pastry, it's medium to full-bodied, fine-boned and elegant, with a pinpoint mousse, ripe but racy acids and a long finish. Pristinely balanced, its understated delicacy is typical both of the site and Savart's style.
WK 93pts (on 2020 released)
NV L'Accomplie
Vieilles Vignes Premier Cru, Extra Brut
* Based Vintage - 2017 & 2018
* Area - Ecueil, Villers-aux-Noeuds
* Dosage - 4.0g/l
* Cepages - 80% Pinot Noir, 20% Chardonnay
" ... Unfurling in the glass with notes of ripe Meyer lemons, red apples, lime zest, acacia honey and toasted almonds, it's medium to full-bodied, racy and incisive, with a nicely concentrated and tight-knit core, terrific cut and a long, mouthwateringly chalky finish. Savart's elegant style—and the partial malolactic that some of the base wines for this cuvée see—has proven the perfect foil for the 2015 vintage base.
WK 94pts (on 2020 released)
NV Bulle de Rosé
Vieilles Vignes Premier Cru, Extra Brut
* Based Vintage - 2017
* Area - Ecueil, Villers-aux-Noeuds
* Dosage - 5g/l
* Cepages - 74% Pinot Noir, 22% Chardonnay and 6% red wine.
" Its notes of raspberry, strawberry and melon are fragrant and ripe, accented by a prominent bitterness that may or may not bother you depending on your sensitivity to it. It’s balanced well, and its flavors are complemented by an elegant texture—pair this with food to tame that bitter character.”
Peter Liem
2017 Le Monts Benoit
Vieilles Vignes Premier Cru, Extra Brut
* Vintage - 2017
* Area - EcueilVillers-Aux-Noeuds
* Dosage - 2g/l
* Cepages - 95% Pinot Noir, 5% Chardonnay
* Production - ~2582 bottles
" The 2015 Extra Brut Premier Cru Le Mont Benoit was—like Savart's Mont de Chrétiens—disgorged with only two grams per liter dosage in lieu of the normal three. It was showing especially well during my spring visit to the domaine, bursting with aromas of orange rind, crisp green apple, white flowers and almond paste, the prelude to a medium to full-bodied, layered and racy palate that's long, penetrating and saline on the finish.
WK 95 pts (on 2015 vintage)
2017 Le Monts de Chretiens
Blanc de Blancs Vieilles Vignes Premier Cru, Extra Brut
* Vintage - 2017
* Area - Ecueil
* Dosage - 2g/l
* Cepages - 100% Chardonnay
* Production - 2074 bottles
" Produced exclusively from Chardonnay in an Ecueil lieu-dit better-known for Pinot Noir is the 2015 Extra-Brut Premier Cru Le Mont des Chrétiens, a small cuvée that's vinified in 500-liter barrels, without malolactic, and it was disgorged a few months ago with only two grams per liter dosage—one gram less than Savart's usual three for this bottling. Unwinding in the glass with aromas of lemon curd, white flowers, fresh melon, pastry cream and mandarin, it's medium to full-bodied, deep and chalky, with a tensile profile despite the warm vintage, concluding with a mineral finish. Note that this bottling used to be named Dame de Coeur.
WK 94pts (on 2015 vintage)
