Etienne Calsac Champagne Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs Les Rocheforts

Regular price $119.98

Quantity

Étienne Calsac’s Les Rocheforts Extra Brut is a more concentrated, site-specific Champagne than L’Échappée Belle. It retains Calsac’s bright Chardonnay character but adds greater depth, texture and savory minerality.

It is a 100% Chardonnay, single-vineyard Premier Cru from the lieu-dit Les Rocheforts in Bisseuil, in the Grande Vallée de la Marne. The east-facing parcel has chalk at or near the surface—the source of the wine’s particularly firm, saline profile.

Expect:

Lemon zest, mandarin and preserved citrus
Yellow and red apple, sometimes with a touch of apricot
White flowers and dried herbs
Crushed chalk, sea salt and wet stone
Almond, toast and discreet barrel spice
Creamy mousse over a firm, linear structure
A long, savory, saline finish

Calsac uses a dedicated perpetual reserve begun in 2012, generally accounting for about 20–30% of the blend. The reserve wine gives the Champagne depth and continuity without obscuring the vineyard. Current production is divided roughly equally between barrel and stainless steel, with spontaneous fermentation and no fining or filtration.

Serve at 10–12°C / 50–54°F in a white-wine glass. It benefits from several minutes of air and should pair beautifully with scallops, sole meunière, lobster, roast turbot, poultry in a cream sauce, mushrooms or aged Comté.

It is enjoyable young for its tension, but three to seven years of additional aging should bring more brioche, hazelnut, dried citrus and integrated chalky complexity. This is the more serious and contemplative of the two Calsac Blanc de Blancs.

Compared with L’Échappée Belle, Les Rocheforts is:

L’Échappée Belle	Les Rocheforts
Multi-terroir blend	Single Bisseuil parcel
Bright, floral and immediately accessible	Deeper, more vinous and mineral
Mostly stainless steel	Greater barrel component
Aperitif-friendly	More strongly suited to food
Citrus and fresh apple	Preserved citrus, apple, chalk and savory spice

Shipping Policy

Open tab

Unless your delivery address is on the West Coast, we strongly discourage you from selecting “Ground Service” as your shipping method. During the winter and summer months, weather conditions (temperature) and longer delivery times can often result in the spoilage of your order. It doesn’t make sense to invest in fine wines and then take the chance of ruining them due environmental factors during transit (faster and safer delivery generally isn’t much more expensive). We don’t make an additional profit on accelerated delivery, but we frequently recommend faster shipping options to our customers outside the West Coast.
You must be 21 years of age to order or receive alcoholic beverages. Any shipments containing alcoholic beverages are sent with an “Adult Signature Required” sticker, and the common carrier that delivers our merchandise is required to ask and check for identification upon delivery. This means that an adult will have to be present at the time of delivery. Please consider shipping to an office address.
During periods of extreme weather, we attempt to ship wines at the beginning of each week in order to get shipments to you before the weekend. This is because we have no control over the temperature conditions at our freight carriers’ warehouses. The result may be that your shipment doesn’t go out the day that you place an order.
We ship by Fedex or Fedex Ground. Our prices include packaging materials. Insurance may be available for an additional charge.
Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. will arrange for shipment on behalf of the buyer, to an address specified by the buyer, provided that Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. in its sole judgment believes that such shipment will not subject Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. to the risk of any sort of legal action or other harm. If a buyer lives in a state where the direct shipment of wine by Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. violates the law, we suggest that the buyer provide an alternative address in another state or have their wine shipped to a third-party storage facility in a direct shipping-friendly state.
Various states impose limitations on the quantity of alcoholic beverages that may be purchased and brought into their jurisdiction by a purchaser from another state without requiring the purchaser, a seller or shipper to possess certain licenses or permits. Vintage Wine Merchants, Inc. does not, as a condition of sale, assume any obligation nor bear any responsibility whatsoever for applying or obtaining any permits or licenses. Therefore, we recommend that you investigate the possibility of such limitations, and determine the manner in which alcoholic beverages shall be brought into your state from California, so as to comply with all of your state’s requirements.
Wine shipping rules in the United States are controlled by the state you live in. We do not ship wine to the following states at this time: