What we ate, drank and learned in Champagne
Join us for a recap of all the best moments from fatcork’s spring work trip to the motherland.
Last month, fatcork founder Bryan Maletis and several members of Team fatcork traveled to Champagne with a packed and thoroughly geeky, seven-day itinerary. We traveled between subregions, meeting with long-time fatcork producers, scouting for new ones, gathering media content and tasting vin clair for Champagne that will be in your hands by 2028! It was long days and continuous grinding, but in Champagne, even the work is fun.
Read on for a superlative summary of factcork’s visit to Champagne.
What we learned
Best cave tour: Vigneron Laureen Baillette of Jean Baillette-Prudhomme took us into the tunnel that her father dug as a newlywed to connect his Champagne cellar to the one that belonged to the family of his wife, Marie-France. Laureen affectionately calls it “the tunnel of love.”
Bryan’s notes: Champagne’s colorful history is full of stories about strategic or arranged marriages between houses to preserve or build a powerful Champagne legacy. Today, these fortuitous unions happen more organically. With so many winemaking families working side by side, it’s not uncommon for both partners to come from storied Champagne traditions. Hyphenated producer names such as Jean Baillette-Prudhomme, Didier-Ducos or Hervieux-Dumez commonly indicate the merging of two winemaking families and their respective vineyards by marriage or partnership.
Most astounding visit: Meeting with winemaker Thomas Henin from Champagne Romain Henin and talking about his new project, Le Bulles Libre. Thomas and his brother, Romain, own 7 hectares of biodynamically-farmed vineyards around Aÿ and Mareuil-le-Port in the Vallée de la Marne. They tend each vine by hand, maneuvering through cover crops and around fruit trees to get the job done.
Bryan’s notes: I’ve never met someone so passionate and exact, both in the vineyards and in the cellar. He’s doing things I’ve never seen in Champagne, and the results are incredible. Thomas and Romain embody organic viticulture but without any of the funk. Their wines are so clean — no chemicals used anywhere, no sulfur, no sugar (dosage), nothing but the best quality Grand Cru grapes from Aÿ. You’ll be able to taste what I mean this fall, when we import his 2023 project to the U.S.!
Best street party: It was 11:30 p.m. when we joined a sea of people filling the narrow streets in celebration of the final day of Les Printemps, a yearly Champagne event for producers and other industry professionals. This was a uniquely Champagne party, the likes of which would never happen in the U.S. Amazing grower Champagne flowed like water, with many hundreds of bottles consumed by the lively crowd, which included some of the very best vignerons in Champagne.
Bryan’s notes: Les Printemps de Champagnes is a week-long event that brings winemakers together with wine professionals — importers, restaurant owners, sommeliers, wine merchants, journalists and bloggers. Held in the Champagne capital of Reims, the festival is designed for vignerons to showcase the quality and diversity of their Champagne while fostering meaningful connections with other wine professionals. On the final night, everyone takes to the streets for a spirited celebration.
Our proudest moment: During the street party, we were talking with producer Laureen Baillette’s husband, Francis, who happened to be wearing the “fatcork Champagne” ball cap that we gifted to him earlier in the week. Another producer — who is not one of ours (yet!) but famous in his own right and slightly drunk — came up to us and exclaimed, “fatcork? You’re fatcork? I love fatcork!” Our producer turned to Bryan, shook his hand and said “I’m proud to be ‘Mr. fatcork’ tonight.”
Bryan’s notes: For almost two decades I’ve been trying to explain the name “fatcork” to producers in France. In those early years, not everyone got it. But one by one, they humored us as they bought into our “quality above everything else” ethos. Over the last 10 years, we worked hard to prove our cheekily named business is worthy to represent the world’s best Champagne right here in the U.S. The fatcork name and our reputation for excellence is spreading in Champagne and, that night, the cap fit just right.
New producer we’re most excited about: Camille Massannot of Champagne Jean-Marie Massonnot. Located in the village of Coulommes-la-Montagne in Montagne de Reims, the nearly 100-year-old estate is known for its pure, mostly meunier, organic fruit and clean, low-dosage Champagne that lingers.
Bryan’s notes: You know that feeling when you meet someone for the first time, and you just know (or hope) that you’ll be friends forever? Well, that’s how it was when I met the Massonnots. They were so warm and welcoming, and their passion for their work was palpable. With the help of her brothers and her husband, fourth-generation winemaker Camille is gradually taking over the estate operations from her parents, Jean-Marie and Christel. The whole family is in it — even Camille's young twin daughters were there to show off their domain and, ultimately, give their mom the thumbs up about these visiting Americans! Experiencing good family vibes is first and foremost when I’m considering bringing a producer into our fatcork family. Every club member will try Champagne Jean-Marie Massonnot this fall, fingers crossed!
What we drank
Most memorable Champagne we tried: We tasted Jean Baillette-Prudhomme Millésime 1989 out of a magnum. The bottle had been sitting in Laureen’s cellar under a metal cap for 36 years, and she disgorged it a week before the dinner.
Bryan’s notes: I’ve tasted my share of old Champagnes from magnums, but nothing has tasted quite as deliciously fresh as this. Laureen’s cellars are extra deep, and as a result, they’re consistently, perfectly cold and humid. Laureen’s father cellared the 1989 magnum in 1990 or 1991, and it hadn’t been touched until Laureen brought it up and disgorged it right before our visit. On top of that, Laureen shared that looking through her father’s records, it’s clear that 1989 is the best Champagne vintage of the 20th century, and after tasting this beauty, I absolutely agree.
Best new cuvée from existing producer: Les bas Soulemont 2020 (100% chardonnay) and Les Champs Saint-Remy 2016 (100% pinot noir) from Mathieu-Gandon.
Bryan’s notes: Mathieu-Gandon has been with us since the beginning of fatcork in 2010! And they, like us, have evolved over the years, every day striving to be better than before. Projects they started 10 years ago will be in your glass this fall. It often takes that long to make truly great Champagne. Severine inherited Grand Cru lieu-dits (plots of historical significance), including Les bas Soulemont and Les Champs Saint-Remy, from her grandmother and then took years to convert them to organic before making some amazing single-vineyard stunners that needed to age in the Gandons’ cellars for five to eight years before release.
What we ate
Best lunch: Vigneron Bénédicte Leroy and her husband, Emmanuel, invited us to have lunch — a rustic and classically French homemade meal — with them and three members of their team at their home in Essoyes. Their home is a log cabin that Manu (short for Emmanuel) made with his own two hands with locally sourced Douglas fir logs.
Bryan’s notes: To find the house was an adventure. Bénédicte and Manu are farmers first, and they live on an amazing farm off a dirt road. Due to their near-celebrity status, they have removed their address from Google Maps, and one must follow GPS coordinates to find them! Upon arrival, we were greeted by sheep, goats, pigs, horses and, of course, cows. The Leroys take a holistic approach to life and winemaking. The animals are part of the farm and part of their vineyards, working the vines and fertilizing them.
Best Michelin-starred dish: Hands-down, it was the juicy, hand-pulled langoustines in a fantastically rich (yet somehow also light), savory seafood broth over fresh and snappy spring peas. This exquisite dish was created by chef Philippe Mille of Arbane, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Reims, and served to us at a dinner hosted by The Fa'bulleuses of Champagne.
Bryan’s notes: The Fa'bulleuses of Champagne is a professional group of seven female winemakers, each from a different village and the head vigneron of her own small, independent estate. Together, the women share resources and a remarkable sense of camaraderie. Our producers Laureen Baillette and Mathilde Devarenne are members, and not only did Laureen introduce us to Mathilde, but when Mathilde ran out of our back labels last spring, Laureen printed them for her, so her Champagne could make the boat to the U.S. in time!
Best croissant: Each of us consumed our fair share of amazing pastries over the seven days, but the best croissant was the last one of the trip — flaky, buttery, soft with just enough crunch. We grabbed them quickly from the Paris hotel buffet and enjoyed them during the Uber ride to Charles de Gaulle Airport. Was it the best because it was the last one of the trip? Probably.
Bryan’s notes: When visiting Champagne, we always fly into CDG. Then, we take the train from Paris to Épernay or Reims and rent a car right at the station. We put together a great guide to visiting Champagne, and you can find it here.
Best restaurant: For us, a great restaurant in Champagne (or anywhere really) begins and ends with the wine list. The food should be amazing, too, but it’s really the wine — and, of course, the person who pours it for us. Sacre Burger in Reims always checks all the boxes!
Bryan’s notes: After a long day of visiting producers, we’re looking for good food that comes out fast and, well, we’ve already established that the wine list is everything. Sacre Burger has it all. Good food? Check! The best Champagne list in the world? No doubt. The best server and most knowledgeable Champagne geek we’ve ever come across? Absolutely! Shout out to Louis! He knows what we like and brings out bottles blind, so our team can have a go at guessing the varietal, region, vintage and dosage, while we wait for our smash burgers and fries. If you go to Sacre Burger, tell Louis you’re a fatcork customer, and he’ll set you up! Blind, if you want.