May 27, 2024
One of the most electrifying discoveries in Champagne - Roger Coulon.
Grower Champagne: Roger Coulon
Eight generations grower producing incredibly pure champagnes from the Premier Cru village of Vrigny.
Roger Coulon is a hidden gem in Champagne, producing exceptionally pure wines from the Premier Cru village of Vrigny. For eight generations, starting in 1806, the Coulon family has meticulously tended to their vines, combining ancestral craftsmanship with innovative viticulture to craft champagnes of unmatched quality and complexity. Master of wine, Tamlyn Currin of JanncisRobinson.com recently wrote that “one of the most electrifying discoveries for me was Champagne Roger Coulon. The very first taste of the first wine on the table set my spine tingling. These are exhilarating, idiosyncratic wines.”
Today, Eric and Isabelle Coulon, the 8th generation, continue this legacy, drawing attention to their 11 hectares of vineyards scattered across premier cru areas like Vrigny, Coulommes la Montagne, Pargny les Reims, and Villers Allerand. The varied clay and limestone soils aid in growing Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay, allowing Roger Coulon to achieve its hallmark depth and richness.
Roger Coulon is part of the Trait d'Union which is a prestigious alliance that includes renowned Grower Champagne producers such as Jacques Selosse, Egly-Ouriet, Larmandier-Bernier, Agrapart, Prévost, and Jacquesson. These elite houses are celebrated as the pinnacle of the grower champagne movement.
"Readers will find vivid, textured Champagnes that capture the essence of variety, site, and where applicable, vintage. I can’t recommend these Champagnes highly enough” - Antonio Galloni, Vinous
Since 2019, Roger Coulon's estate has been at the forefront of organic viticulture, distinguished by its bold integration of agroforestry—a rarity in viticulture.
In the cellar, Roger Coulon aligns with time-honoured techniques and inspiration from Francis Egly, utilizing oak barrel ageing for certain cuvées and introducing a controlled measure of new oak. This method yields Champagnes with refined effervescence. Eric Coulon steers clear of chaptalization, pursuing a balance that preserves finesse by limiting alcohol levels. Favouring the nuanced carbonation of his grandfather's era over his father's, Eric merges historic and contemporary practices, including moderate dosage and spontaneous fermentation, to enhance the Champagnes' complexity. Opting for lower pressure and late harvesting, Coulon's Champagnes are celebrated for their wine-like quality and texture, underscored by the choice of Meunier grapes from sandy terrains.
Photo: The cellar of Roger Coulon
Today, we have three different cuvees available and we highly recommend them all:
Roger Coulon Blanc de Noirs Millesime 2013
18.5/20 Points | JancisRobinson.com, Tamlyn Currin
Smells like carrot cake with lemon icing! Topped with toasted walnuts. Tinged with bitter marmalade. A wine that licks the top of your spine. Lime pickle, tamarind, mango chutney, toasted cumin, touch of rye, spelt in honey. Complex and powerful and dramatic and absolutely stunning. Long, insistent, holding and holding and holding … A Stradivarius would craft a better tasting note than any words I could cobble together. I'd cross the desert for these Coulon wines …
Roger Coulon Esprit Vrigny Brut NV
18/20 Points | JancisRobinson.com, Tamlyn Currin
Apple skins and membrillo. Rain-bruised orange blossom and iced cardamom. On the palate, it's a dragonfly, like catching light and shadows. A tiny note of something sweet, almost nougat, that disappears without a trace in a second. Lemon-drizzle cake and then the bitter fragrant bite of grapefruit peel. And then, the wake of this constantly moving wine is chalk, soaked in rain and soaked in lemon and packed in white pepper and trace-etched with slightly green tobacco leaves. Like all these Coulon wines, almost impossible to pin down with words. Defiant and glorious.
Roger Coulon Reserve de l'Hommee Premier Cru NV
18/20 Points | JancisRobinson.com, Tamlyn Currin
Another deep, sonorous nose. Edgy, but not for the sake of edgy. The depth to these Coulon wines is remarkable. Yes, it's toast and layers and fruit and spice and minerals in abundance, but the flavours are almost secondary to the anima of the wine. This is a wine that slams into your whole body; one sip; feel the reverberations. These wines are all about the energy, the resonance, the sheer life force of life. Like copper wires pulsing with electricity. Like a cello solo in the Carnegie Hall. You feel it more than you drink it.