maxime blin

Maxime Blin nos moments “Carte Blanche” Champagne extra brut

Viticulture: Certified Organic
Soil type: a mix of sand and clay-limestone
Elevation: average elevation 120m
Grapes: 80% Pinot Meunier and 20% Pinot Noir
Method of fermentation: Manual harvest, fruit crushed in a Coquard press. Temperature-controlled stainless steel for the first alcoholic fermentation. The wine goes through malolactic fermentation as well. Aged in bottle for three years. Extra Brut (4g/l) at bottling.

In March I left comfortable Paris and drove to cold, sleepy Trigny, northwest of Reims. I wanted to meet Claire and Maxime, a young couple making certified organic wine on the massif de St. Thierry. It’s red wine territory, a terroir that I find captivating. Champagne has so many facets to uncover! The Carte Blanche was created by Maxime’s grandfather at the end of World War II. It is all grown in Trigny. The village has a mix of sand and clay-limestone soils. Seventy percent of the fruit for this wine comes from the 2019 vintage, the rest is older reserve wine. The wine is remarkably full of ripe orchard fruit, apples, pear, even a little peachy.

Maxime Blin “Temporelle n2” Champagne extra brut

Viticulture: Certified Organic
Soil type: sandy plus clay limestone
Elevation: average elevation 120m
Grapes: 60% Pinot Noir, 20% Meunier, 20% Chardonnay
Method of fermentation: Manual harvest. Coquard press, then fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel. Malolactic fermentation. Unfiltered, not cold stabilized, brut nature (zero g/l.) Aged in bottle for 24 months.
Bottles made: 3,613

All the fruit for this wine is from the 2020 vintage. This was the first fully organic blend of the estate. Along with fundamentally sound farming practices and good terroir, it helps that Maxime Blin are totally independent. They have all their own machines to filter, cold stabilize, bottle, etc. They control the whole process, which is by no means a given in Champagne, or elsewhere. All the wines they make taste less dry than they are. The essential ripeness of the fruit comes through in the glass. At zero g/l there is still balance. 

Producer Name “Fanciful Name” Appellation Wine

Viticulture: Certified Organic
Soil type: sandy and clay-limestone
Elevation: 120m on average. South-southeast sun exposure.
Grapes: Pinot Noir
Method of fermentation: Hand harvested. Coquard press. Temperature controlled stainless steel fermentation and malolactic fermentation. Extra Brut (2g/l)
Bottles made: 2,217

Maxime’s grandfather Robert was winemaker at the local co-op. Maxime started working at his family farm in 2004, and by 2006 was doing pretty much everything.The winery’s 14 hectares of vines have been certified organic since 2021. All 40 parcels that they farm (including 25 lieu dits) are in Trigny. This wine is a bargain. It has amazing freshness for 13-year-old Champagne. A faint torrefaction aroma betrays its maturity, otherwise its fully open texture and orchard fruit profile made it my favorite of a substantial cluster of bottles tasted at the cellar.