Champagne Chavost Eureka Brut Nature

When chef de caves Fabian Daviaux — great-grandson of a founding member — persuaded over 70 co-op families to abandon sulphites entirely in 2019, the Eurêka! was the cuvée that made the argument most forcefully: a 70% Pinot Noir / 15% Chardonnay / 15% Pinot Meunier assemblage that inverts the cooperative Champagne template from the ground up.

The fruit comes from 22 plots across 5–5.5 hectares in Chavot-Courcourt, an unclassified village sitting at the geographic junction of the Côte des Blancs and the Vallée de la Marne. The dual soil mosaic — clay-limestone with chalky-limestone patches, north-facing — delivers tension and mineral grip that makes zero-dosage viable without the lean austerity that sinks lesser Brut Natures.

Only 100% first-press cuvée juice enters the vat; taille is excluded entirely. Spontaneous alcoholic fermentation at 17°C and spontaneous malolactic fermentation at 20°C proceed with indigenous yeasts and bacteria — no enzymes, no chaptalization, no acidification, no added sulphites at any stage (total SO₂ measured at 6–18 mg/L). Second fermentation in bottle adds no liqueur de tirage sugar. The wine rests a minimum of ~20 months on lees before disgorgement, then leaves the cellar unfiltered and unfined.

At roughly 2,000 bottles per release, Eurêka! is the rarest expression in the Chavost range — and the only one where Pinot Noir commands the assemblage, delivering the structural weight that anchors the cooperative's most transgressive winemaking choices.