Rising Star, Etienne Calsac
— Story —
Etienne Calsac is an up and coming star in the world of grower Champagne. These are not our words, because frankly, we are just getting to know this young’un. Seems to be what’s whispered in the vineyard rows of the grower Champagne movement of late, but outside of the circles immersed in the grower-craze, most people have never heard of him. Our question is why, at such a young age, is Etienne Calsac anointed with this billing…and so early in his career?
Our Champagne “fixer” assured us we needed to meet this up-and-comer, so while traveling there, she placed a call on our behalf, expressing that we wanted to meet the next rock star of Avize. Turns out, flattery will get you everywhere and viola, we had a meeting scheduled the next day.
His address is basically the Beverly Hills of Champagne: Avize. Location, location, location. Our GPS routed us to an industrial warehouse type facility and Etienne greeted us promptly with a warm smile and all the energy of a young vigneron confident that life lay at his feet.
Calsac’s grandparents had long supplied many of the large Champagne houses with quality chardonnay from their 3 hectares of vineyards planted in and around Avize. He is now working with a total of 6 hectares, and while the focus is primarily Chardonnay, he is also experimenting with some of the forgotten varietals of Pinot Blanc, Arbanne and Petit Meslier from some vineyards he planted himself in the Cote de Sezanne. Farming on the original hectares has been organic since 2010, with additional organic certification for the 3 new hectares coming in 2020.
Our tour of the facilities found us surrounded by a modern winemaking press, stainless steel tanks, and clean neatly organized barrel aging. Perfectly functional, although lacking the charm you’d see in century old cellars, or with the biodynamic growers who are going retro by putting tanks on a floor below the wine press to let gravity do the job rather than a pump. Still, convenience is a factor and it’s nice to have everything on the same level.
Etienne Calsac, like many small growers, speaks about the vineyards almost like they are talking about each individual vine. This loving attentiveness is what makes these wines so compelling.
Being such a small estate, all of the vineyards are harvested and vinified separately. Etienne ages only a portion of the cuvees in barrel (25%) with the remainder of the wine aged in stainless steel tanks. There is no malolatic fermentation here which is one of the reasons the wines possess so much energy and freshness. There is a perpetual reserve wine that is kept separate for both the L’echappee Belle and Les Rocheforts which ends up making 20% of the blend. Etienne does not want to be forced into a style, like many of the large Champagne houses, where the reserve wine makes up a larger portion of the blend, therefore creating a consistent style from one vintage to the next. He prefers to allow the vintage to shine through with different elements that each year brings.
