Les Ursules Blanc de Noirs 2012

When Cédric Bouchard founded Roses de Jeanne in 2000, he became the first grower in the Aube to bottle a single-vineyard, single-vintage Champagne — a Burgundian act of defiance in a region historically treated as a bulk-wine source for the grandes maisons. Les Ursules is the parcel that anchors that philosophy: 0.97 hectares, north-facing, planted in 1974 by Bouchard père on Kimmeridgian clay-limestone soils in Celles-sur-Ource. That same geology underpins Chablis 20 km to the south-west; the north aspect slows ripening and preserves the saline, chalky tension that defines the cuvée's spine.

Vinification is deliberately austere: hand-harvested, foot-trodden, first-pressing juice only (tailles discarded), primary fermentation in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts, full malolactic, no oak at any stage, unfined and unfiltered. Tirage is dosed at ~15 g/l targeting ≈4 bars — against the Champagne norm of 24 g/l and 6 bars — producing a mousse so soft and integrated that Bouchard recommends Burgundy glasses over flutes. Yields are held to an extreme 20–30 hl/ha, less than a third of the regional average, concentrating the fruit into a vinous, almost still-wine density.

The 2012 vintage delivered exceptional structure and natural acidity across Champagne; at this stage of post-disgorgement development, Les Ursules will have shed primary red-fruit immediacy in favour of savoury, oxidative complexity and deepened mineral precision. Drink now through 2028.