Description

Jean-Marc Sélèque (say-lek) returned to Pierry in 2008 after internships at Chandon’s facilities in Napa Valley and in Australia’s Yarra Valley with a vision of what he wanted to do, and didn’t want to do at Champagne JM Sélèque. The latter was reinforced by his experiences at those two large production operations, where vineyard practices resulted in all manner of corrections having to be made in the cellar. The positive ideas were simple, but labor-intensive: in the vines, shallow plowing of rows by horse or tractor for weed control; reducing yields by careful pruning; organic and biodynamic applications to boost the health of soil and vine.

Solessence is a faithful representation of all the estate’s vineyards, a condensed and balanced expression of the different terroirs and the different grapes. Composed of around 50% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Meunier and 10% Pinot Noir, and aged partly in vats, partly in barrels (around 30%), it offers an expressive, sensual and playful rendition of the diversity of the Côteaux Sud d'Epernay. The Solessence cuvée, a wine for sharing par excellence, is available in an Extra-Brut, Rosé version, and a version with prolonged aging which allows for a Brut Nature.

The grapes for this wine come from the domain’s younger vines, which average 40 years of age—which, it must be said, would be considered "old vine" for most Champagne properties! Half the blend comes from a perpetual reserve; so-named because half of this older wine goes into the blending tank with the new harvest, and then half of that new blend is returned to the 20-hectoliter foudre to replenish the perpetual reserve. The new wine is raised primarily in steel with some in wood, and then time on the lees in bottle depends on the bottle size: three years for 375ml; two years for 750ml; four years for 1.5L; and five years for 3L. The lot number on the back label is the base vintage.