The colour is medium amber with a very fine, very persistent mousse. On the nose, honey, ripe pear, yellow apple, hazelnut. There is also a distinct toasted and oxidative character from the oak fermentation. On the palate, the wine is fresh and very savoury, with a creamy mousse and a rounded, textured mouthfeel. The finish is marked by freshness and salinity. The aftertaste is rather long.
Naturellement is a Champagne produced by Cazé-Thibaut, a small grower estate based in Châtillon-sur-Marne on the right bank of the Vallée de la Marne. The estate is run by Fabien Cazé, who represents the tenth generation of his family to work these vineyards. He took over the domaine in 2007 and has since developed an approach centred on working the soil, organic viticulture and low-intervention winemaking. The estate farms around 2.6 hectares, with Pinot Meunier playing a particularly important role.
Naturellement is made from 100% Pinot Meunier, a variety particularly well suited to the Vallée de la Marne, where it tends to produce wines with a distinctive savoury character. Cazé-Thibaut treats the variety as a serious terroir grape rather than merely a blending component secondary to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The wine was bottled on 15 July 2022 and disgorged on 15 February 2024, giving it approximately nineteen months between bottling and disgorgement. It is a Brut Nature, with 0 g/l dosage, meaning no sugar was added at disgorgement. This is a particularly transparent style of Champagne: there is no dosage to soften the acidity or round out the wine, so balance depends entirely on the quality and maturity of the base wine.
The vinification is equally hands-off. According to the label, the wine undergoes fermentation in oak barrels, is allowed to undergo natural cold stabilisation, and is bottled without fining or filtration, which is coherent with Cazé-Thibaut’s broader philosophy, which focuses on spontaneous fermentations and extended ageing on fine lees to build texture and complexity while preserving the identity of the wine.
Châtillon-sur-Marne occupies an interesting position on the right bank of the Marne Valley: the combination of relatively warm exposure and the region’s influence from the Marne helps produce ripe fruit while retaining the freshness required for Champagne.
What makes Naturellement particularly interesting is the combination of 100% Pinot Meunier, oak fermentation and zero dosage. None of these choices is intended to make a conventional, easy-drinking Champagne. Instead, they allow the wine to show the variety in a more naked and individual way. The absence of dosage can emphasise the wine’s acidity and savoury character, while the oak can add texture and subtle oxidative complexity without necessarily making the wine taste overtly oaky.
Cazé-Thibaut is part of a generation of grower-producers giving Pinot Meunier a more prominent role in Champagne. Rather than treating it as the fruity third component of a traditional blend, Fabien Cazé demonstrates that Meunier from the right site can produce wines with depth, texture and a strong sense of place.
For this bottle, I paid 39.80 EUR at Les Caves du Forum in Reims.
Country: France
Region: Champagne
Grapes: Pinot Meunier
Type: Sparkling
Vintage: N/A
Producer: Cazé-Thibaut
Price range: Premium (30-50 US$)
Pascal’s Enjoyment Index: 4/5