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[VINTAGE 2004]
Disgorged in March 2012, Giraud's 2004 Brut Grand Cru Aÿ Argonne is showing superbly, wafting from the glass with scents of yellow orchard fruit, orange oil, mint, blanched almonds, clear honey and toasted bread. Full-bodied, layered and enveloping, it's fleshy and textural, with huge concentration and a vinous, gastronomic profile, concluding with an intensely sapid finish. Seamless and complete, its 100% new oak is beautifully integrated after eight years on cork.
This was a fascinating tasting at Champagne Henri Giraud, a house well known for its barrel-fermented, muscular and vinous wines. Chef de cave Sébastien Le Golvet, a stonemason by training, explained that Girard farms without pesticides or herbicides and produces their own barrels in collaboration with tonnelleries Chassin, Champenoise, Mercurey and Gauthier. Tirage is just before harvest, so the vins clairs see the better part of a year in wood, on their lees—something that surely helps to account for the textural, patinated house style. Powerful and head turning in their youth, the opportunity to revisit several older wines from the house's library also underscored just how gracefully the Giraud Champagnes can age. As the accompanying reviews attest, I found much to admire and all these releases come warmly recommended.
Based in Ay, Henri Giraud produces luxury Champagnes of unique quality and style. The 2004 Argonne Brut is a fascinating Pinot Noir fermented and aged in noble 228-liter barrels of Argonne oak; whereas the famous Fût de Chêne MV07 contains 30% Chardonnay, which seems to add generous fruit and freshness. Both wines are widely rich in flavors and body, but at the same time they are pure, precise and highly elegant—revealing a gorgeous vinous quality. Both are great, unfortunately highly expensive, Champagnes; although, I prefer the mineral purity of the 2004 Argonne to the exuberant richness and sumptuous fruit of the (2007) Fût de Chêne.
[VINTAGE 2013]
The 2013 Brut Grand Cru Aÿ Argonne is the latest in a series of superb releases from Giraud. Unwinding in the glass with notes of buttered toast, crisp yellow orchard fruit, honeycomb, warm spices and ripe stone fruits, it's full-bodied, deep and vinous, with a layered core of concentrated fruit, incisive acids and an elegant pearly mousse. Long and penetrating, it's finer-boned than its richer, more muscular 2012 predecessor; but like that more structured wine, it will reward bottle age.
As I've written before, Champagne Henri Giraud is well known for its barrel-fermented, muscular and vinous wines. Chef de cave Sébastien Le Golvet, a stonemason by training, explains that Girard farms without pesticides or herbicides and produces their own barrels in collaboration with tonnelleries Chassin, Champenoise, Mercurey and Gauthier. Tirage is just before harvest, so the vins clairs see the better part of a year in wood, on their lees—something that surely helps to account for the textural, patinated house style. Powerful and head-turning in their youth, I've been equally impressed with just how gracefully the Giraud Champagnes can age.
[VINTAGE 2002]
The first word that comes to mind in tasting Giraud’s 2002 Brut Argonne – which, as its name suggests, was initially raised in new Argonne oak barrels – is “sumptuous.” I cannot recall having previously tasted such an envelopingly and almost thickly rich Champagne. The selection of Ay Pinot Noir chosen here is more than capable of subsuming any overt influence that new oak might otherwise have bestowed on it. Lightly baked apple, quince, and marzipan inform the nose and silken, expansive, plush palate, accompanied by subtly resinous and smoky black tea. The combination of breadth, textural allure, and fine yet intensely active mousse is spine-tinglingly impressive, striking its balance between vinosity and effervescence at a remarkable high energy level. Hints of salt and iodine add interest, local color, and saliva-inducement to a powerful finishing wave of fruit and nut essences. I suspect one will be rewarded for following this 8-10 years down the pike; though I confess to lack of directly relevant experience.
Claude Giraud – with whom I have corresponded but have yet to meet – farms 22 acres in Ay, supplemented by purchased fruit. He has become a vocal champion of wood from the local forests of the Argonne, although oak of diverse origins fills out his extensive barrel regimen. Rich, at times positively sumptuous; forceful, sometimes downright powerful; Giraud’s Champagnes make a bold statement that won’t resonate with every lover of this appellation’s wines. And given their prices, even if they weren’t scarce, only a small percentage of wine lovers would be able to access them. To me, they are not just impressive – at times exceptionally so – in their own right, but illustrate the glorious stylistic malleability of Champagne’s grapes and terroirs. I’ll look forwarding to visiting Giraud next year and reporting in much more detail on his stylistic vision and projects as well as his individual cuvees. (I did not taste any recent releases from Giraud’s “Esprit de Giraud” series of tank-raised cuvees.)
[VINTAGE 2012]
Revisited after an additional year in bottle, the 2012 Brut Grand Cru Aÿ Argonne continues to show brilliantly, unwinding in the glass with notes of golden orchard fruit, dried citrus peel, tarte tatin, warm spices, walnuts and toasted bread. Full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it's vinous and multidimensional, with superb concentration, racy acids and a delicate pinpoint mousse. Seamless and integrated, it's still an infant and will reward further bottle age.
As I've written before, Champagne Henri Giraud is well known for its barrel-fermented, muscular and vinous wines. Chef de cave Sébastien Le Golvet, a stonemason by training, explains that Girard farms without pesticides or herbicides and produces their own barrels in collaboration with tonnelleries Chassin, Champenoise, Mercurey and Gauthier. Tirage is just before harvest, so the vins clairs see the better part of a year in wood, on their lees—something that surely helps to account for the textural, patinated house style. Powerful and head-turning in their youth, I've been equally impressed with just how gracefully the Giraud Champagnes can age.
This was a fascinating tasting at Champagne Henri Giraud, a house well known for its barrel-fermented, muscular and vinous wines. Chef de cave Sébastien Le Golvet, a stonemason by training, explained that Girard farms without pesticides or herbicides and produces their own barrels in collaboration with tonnelleries Chassin, Champenoise, Mercurey and Gauthier. Tirage is just before harvest, so the vins clairs see the better part of a year in wood, on their lees—something that surely helps to account for the textural, patinated house style. Powerful and head turning in their youth, the opportunity to revisit several older wines from the house's library also underscored just how gracefully the Giraud Champagnes can age. As the accompanying reviews attest, I found much to admire and all these releases come warmly recommended.
The 2016 Brut Grand Cru Aÿ Argonne stands as the pinnacle of superb releases from Champagne Henri Giraud. Evoking aromas of apricot, mirabelle, licorice, anise, ripe orchard fruits and spices, it's full-bodied, rich and vinous, with a deep, concentrated core of fruit and sappy acids, concluding with a long, penetrating, racy finish enhanced by aromas of gentian and sweet spices. A blend of 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay from the grand cru village of Aÿ, vinified and matured in barrels, it was disgorged in February 2023. Kudos!
Since the arrival of Sébastien Le Golvet, the chef de cave and Claude Giraud’s son-in-law, the style of this Aÿ house has considerably evolved toward more fine, elegant and refined Champagnes with barely noticeable oak aromas. The house own nine hectares of vines, mainly in Aÿ, complemented with purchased grapes. Sébastien Le Golvet, like Claude Giraud, is an advocate of barrel fermentation. His work on barrels, containers, fermentation and maturation processes is simply stunning and is always filled with innovation, research and development and questioning the fundamentals. This dynamism allows the Champagnes from this house to be among the finest, most elegant and most precise that I tasted on my last trip.
