This Champagne is not for everyone
— and that’s kind of the point.
If you’ve come looking for a crowd-pleaser, Essentielle from Elise Dechannes is decidedly not it. It takes a special kind of Champagne person to enjoy this grippy, tannic, dry and fascinatingly pink-tinged blanc de noirs — one who appreciates a very specific point of view and doesn’t mind sipping their bubbles from a large Burgundy glass.
Meet the press.
In Champagne, pressing is performed in two or more stages. The first pressing is called the “cuvée.” Pressings after that are called the “taille.” Winemakers typically consider the cuvée to result in the highest-quality juice. The taille, with its composite particles of grape skins, stems and sediment, is most often discarded and sold off for use in distilled spirits.
Elise does it differently.
Vigneron Elise Dechannes is so proud of her 100% organic and biodynamic grapes and vineyards, she blends the granular, tannic extraction from the taille with the clear juice of the cuvée to add body, fruitiness and structure to her exquisite vin clair before second fermentation. The faintly pink coloration comes from the particles of red skin from world-class pinot noir grapes that are part of the taille.
Essentielle leaves an impression.
Elise retired from making Champagne in 2025, and the 2022 vintage of Essentielle is her last. We have a small allocation of this polarizing but strikingly beautiful, very dry and earthy expression of 100% pinot noir from Aube. More like a Burgundian wine than a Champagne, it will age for another five years in your cellar — if you can wait that long to drink it.
Of course, Elise goes out with a cuvée like Essentielle. She has always done things her own way — from leaving a career in finance to pursue winemaking, to converting her family’s vineyard to biodynamic, to slashing her yearly production to just 15,000 bottles a year, to shuttering her domaine at the height of her success. And through all the loops and sudden turns, as long as we’ve known Elise, we’ve loved going along on her thrillingly topsy-turvy ride.
If you’re down to try the unique Essentielle, take home a bottle today and be sure to tell us what you think.
