Champagne Caze-Thibaut Millesime Extra Brut

When Fabien Cazé — tenth generation, admitted to the Terres et Vins de Champagne collective after just his second release — decided to forgo malolactic fermentation entirely, he was working against every commercial instinct of the western Marne Valley. The 2017 Millésime is the result of that conviction applied to a declared vintage year. Six parcels totalling 2.66 ha on the right bank of the Marne River, split between east-facing Châtillon-sur-Marne and south-facing Vandières, sit on clay-limestone topsoil over chalk bedrock that surfaces close to the hillside crest — the same chalk that lines the 19th-century vaulted cellar on rue des Crayères in Venteuil where fermentation runs cold and slow. Native-yeast alcoholic fermentation proceeds in a combination of 228 L, 300 L, 330 L, and 350 L oak barrels; MLF is neither induced nor sought, the cellar's ambient chill preventing it from completing. The wine ages on fine lees en tirage for an extended period before disgorgement at Extra Brut dosage (1.7–2.7 g/L), unfined and unfiltered. What is unusual here: a Millésime from two unclassified Marne villages receiving the same parcel-level rigour — no-MLF, no filtration, native ferment — typically reserved for Côte des Blancs Blanc de Blancs. 2017 in Champagne delivered precise, taut fruit after a frost-reduced crop; expect chalky tension and vinous depth rather than the opulence of 2018 or 2019, with a drinking window extending comfortably through the late 2020s.