Agrapart Champagne Grand Cru Experience Brut Nature 2016

Pascal Agrapart is an undisputed champagne genius. He proves this once again with his completely unique Experience. With the launch of this champagne, Pascal has achieved something that has never been seen before in Champagne. He succeeded in producing a champagne without any additives other than grapes.

Logical as that may sound, this is in fact a huge tour de force. It is not for nothing that Pascal experimented for years before he first brought this wine to the market. Normally cultured yeast is usually used to initiate the first fermentation. The still wine is then always bottled with the addition of the so-called liqueur de tirage: a mixture of yeast and sugar that ensures that the second fermentation in the bottle starts, giving the wine its mousse (prise de mousse). Usually, finally, after dégorgement (the process of removing the precipitated yeasts from the bottle), sugar is added back to the champagne (called dosage), which determines how dry or sweet the final champagne will be.

Not so in the case of the Expérience. Pascal wanted to create a champagne that is as natural as possible. A champagne without the addition of yeasts and sugars. To achieve this, Pascal allowed the first fermentation to proceed spontaneously, using the yeasts present on the grape. To get the second fermentation started, he then bottled the still wine with the addition of grape must from the next harvest year, instead of liqueur de tirage. Finally, the champagne is marketed without dosage, i.e. as brut nature.

Because of this special, minimalist production method, you can almost see the Expérience as a cross between champagne and still white wine. This is champagne in its purest, purest and most delicate form. We don't say it often, but less is definitely more in this case. Do you dare to experiment?