Emilien Feneuil Les Goulats Rosé de Maceration

(R)Evolution Champenoise is a documentary that pays tribute to the courageous vignerons who are bringing about change in Champagne. A movement in which, as they would describe it, the vineyard is in charge. Since champagne has certainly become home to the most industrialised vineyards in France, for a long time they have been using synthetic chemical products, and the techniques used by past generations have been left aside. Fortunately, however, in the last 10 years, a group of vignerons have dedicated themselves to cultivating their vineyards and developing viticultural practices without using chemicals, and they have demonstrated that quality does matter to the consumer. Emilien Feneuil is a young vigneron who has embraced this new generation movement, and when he took over the family vineyards, he swapped conventional work for new, more respectful ways of guaranteeing the well-being of the vine and the terroir.

This is how he makes Emilien Feneuil Les Goulats Rosé de Maceration, a sparkling Pinot Noir from the “Les Goulats” vineyard in Chamery, in the Reims mountains (Champagne), where the 40-year-old vines are planted on sandy clay soil and limestone rock at a depth of one metre. All cultivation is organic with biodynamic treatments and the grapes are harvested by hand when they reach optimum ripeness. Once in the winery, the destemmed grapes are macerated for 24 hours and fermentation takes place spontaneously with native yeasts. The wine then undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle where it remains for a minimum of 48 months on the lees and finally disgorgement is carried out like it used to be, “a la volé”.

A product of the (R)Evolution Champenoise, Emilien Feneuil has become the new star of the AOC Champagne. With this Emilien Feneuil Les Goulats Rosé de Maceration, he shows us that the new Champagne still has plenty to say.