Champagne J.M. Goulard Eclatante

When Damien Goulard returned to Prouilly in 2012 and introduced barrel ageing to a house his father Jean-Marie had built from cooperative departure in 1995, he was making a deliberate argument: that the Massif de Saint-Thierry — a plateau northwest of Reims whose viticulture dates to 532 AD — deserved the same parcel-level scrutiny as the Côte des Blancs. The Éclatante 2018 is the vintage expression of that argument. The Massif's sandy-clay soils over chalk at approximately 130 m elevation on south- and southeast-facing slopes produce Pinot Meunier with a leaner, more mineral profile than the variety achieves in the Marne Valley — less plush, more taut. Grapes are hand-harvested and pressed in a traditional 4,000 kg Coquard basket press, cold-settled for 12 hours, then fermented in stainless steel with full malolactic fermentation completed before bottling. Selected parcels receive oak barrel ageing, a technique Damien introduced against the house's stainless-steel heritage. Low dosage (4–7 g/L range) across the Goulard range keeps the Massif's chalky tension unmasked. What sets this expression apart: a vintage-dated Champagne from a terroir almost entirely absent from international grower-Champagne conversation, where Meunier — not Pinot Noir or Chardonnay — carries the structural weight. The 2018 growing season delivered generous ripeness and natural balance; expect the wine to drink well now through 2028.