Zero dosage is one of Champagne's most unforgiving formats — nowhere to hide, no sweetness to soften the edges. In lesser hands it can be austere and joyless. In Éric Rodez's hands, it is something else entirely.
Rodez turns the entire concept on its head, ingeniously blending a tremendous depth of old reserve wines — vinified and aged in barrel — from the wonderfully opulent fruit of Ambonnay, kissed with just the lightest touch of malolactic fermentation. The result is one of Champagne's richest zero-dosage offerings, and one of its most delicately balanced.
Equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the wine is a shining gold in the glass with refined bubbles, complex and perfectly balanced. Citrus, hazelnut, pear, vanilla, honeyed white fruit and minerality — multi-layered, elegant, and almost hiding the fact it carries no dosage at all. Plenty of rich, ripe fruit, with a backbone of acidity that keeps everything fresh and gives a delicious, persistent minerality.
The story behind this wine matters. Éric Rodez was formerly cellar master at Krug, overseeing the non-vintage Grande Cuvée — and that Krug training is audible in every glass: the depth of reserve wines, the commitment to oak, the layered complexity that takes time to unfold. The Rodez family has been growing grapes in Ambonnay since 1757, one of the Montagne de Reims's greatest Grand Cru villages, with the deep, opulent Pinot Noir fruit that made it famous.
This is zero dosage for people who don't usually like zero dosage. Precise, generous, and endlessly interesting.