Champagne Carré Frères - Trepail 1er Cru - Les Hauts Bouitais 2023
Champagne Carré Frères Trepail 1er Cru Les Hauts Bouitais 2023 is a unique, rare, and particularly interesting cuvée for lovers of great still white wines from Champagne. Although signed by a Champagne house, this bottle belongs to the Coteaux Champenois blanc appellation, making it a non-sparkling wine. Located in Trépail, in the heart of the Montagne de Reims, the Carré brothers work a vineyard of about twenty-one hectares spread across several Champagne sectors, including Trépail, Verzy, Villers-Marmery, and the Côte des Bar. The estate has distinguished itself by a parcel-based approach, low-intervention vinifications, and a desire to reveal the precise personality of each place. Les Hauts Bouitais 2023 expresses this search for identity, with a Chardonnay from a Premier Cru terroir rarely highlighted in the form of a still wine. The production, limited to 1,905 bottles and 67 magnums, reinforces the confidential character of this cuvée. It is a rare white from Champagne, intended for curious enthusiasts eager to discover another facet of Chardonnay from the Montagne de Reims.
The Les Hauts Bouitais 2023 cuvée is made exclusively from Chardonnay, a grape variety that finds in Trépail a very different expression from that of the Côte des Blancs. On the Montagne de Reims, Chardonnay can gain breadth, chalky energy, and tension while maintaining a beautiful aromatic intensity. The lieu-dit Les Hauts Bouitais here gives birth to a characterful Coteaux Champenois blanc, built more like a great terroir wine than a simple Champagne curiosity. The grapes come from an organically farmed estate, with a biodynamic inspiration that enhances attention to soils and grape maturity. The vinifications are designed to limit interventions and let the vintage's material speak. Barrel aging, mentioned in the available information about this parcel, brings depth, relief, and a discreet patina to the Chardonnay. The 2023 vintage produces a lively, expressive, and gastronomic white wine, in a register of purity, freshness, and precision.
In the glass, Champagne Carré Frères Trépail 1er Cru Les Hauts Bouitais 2023 reveals a tense, bright, and deeply Champenois Chardonnay profile. The nose evokes ripe lemon, fresh apple, pear, white flowers, and a touch of almond, with a chalky nuance recalling the wine's origin. The palate is lively, straight, and expressive, carried by beautiful mineral energy. The body has enough volume to accompany food, but the whole remains precise, salivating, and very digestible. The finish extends the citrus, notes of wet stone, and a slightly saline sensation that gives great length. This Coteaux Champenois blanc can be served around 10 to 12°C in a white wine glass to reveal its depth rather than treat it as a simple absent bubble. It will ideally accompany scallops, a noble fish, langoustines, creamy poultry, mushroom risotto, Chaource cheese, or gastronomic cuisine around seafood products.
Grape variety: 100% Chardonnay
