Cuvée 'R' de Veuve Fourny Extra Brut
This was a real standout at Tyson Stelzer’s ‘Taste Champagne’ event we attended a couple of weeks ago, for its finesse and complexity in a room of epic legends (Dom, Krug, Bolli, Ruinart, Pol… this list goes on). But it was the lesser-known 'grower' champagnes that stood out, with impressive value for money and true character. And with an array of high points from Australia’s most acclaimed critics, we know better than to argue with the best.
Profile
OK, here we go: like pure bottled poetry, this has inspired our most influential vinophiles, from Halliday to Stelzer, to describe it as “an explosion of purity and definition”, that “defines the great vineyards of the north of Vertus, right alongside the hallowed turf of Les Mesnil sur Oger itself.”
Wow.
Marry a Premier Cru Champagne with flawless fruit and fifth-generation wine growing siblings (the Fourny brothers), and you can expect nothing less than pure magic. While it was difficult to get our hands on 40 cases, it was even more difficult to keep staff hands off the balance. We’ve said they can only buy it for the same price when it goes live. So get in before they do, and celebrate a new discovery in the finest way possible.
Reviews
James Halliday
“This is the same price as Fourny’s 2006 Blanc de Blancs. It is a 90/10% blend of chardonnay and pinot noir, 100% barrel fermented in used barrels; it spends four years on tirage (lees), and only has 3g/l dosage when disgorged. It is fine and elegant, its white flesh stone fruit and minerally acidity running through a palate of extreme length and cleansing finish.”
It’s cool, we get it, you want to know absolutely everything about this wine. Well here you go, go nuts.
Specs
- Region
- Champagne
- Vintage
- NV
- Cellaring
- 2024
- Preservatives
- 220
- Alcohol by Vol.
- 12.0%
- Closure
- Cork
- Bottle Vol
- 750mL
- Blend Info
- 90% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Noir
- Serving Temp.
- 8.0°C
Producer
Veuve Fourny & Fils
With five generations of family winemaking and 158 years of Champagne production in their historr, Veuve Fourny & Fils is truly a superior French producer. A Premier Cru winery celebrated for their expressive and elegant Champagnes, Veuve Fourny & Fils is currently in the hands of brothers, Charles and Emmanuel Fourny who took over the family house in 1993. The passionate siblings are focused on quality - crafting pure, expressive and complex "tailor made" cuvées that showcase the magnificence of their Vertus terroir. Utilising vineyards which were grafted by their grandfather Albert in 1930 via massale selection, this Champagne house has a powerful advantage that ensures their wines are marked with complexity and regularity, which no doubt will be appreciated and treasured for many, many more years to come.
Region
Champagne
Champagne is not generic sparkling wine, it's a region. There I said it. Get it right people. The reason the French get their lingerie in a twizzle when we call Trilogy 'Champoyne' is the history, the money and the angst that have all gone into making Champagne what it is today: a bureaucratic, strictly controlled, marketing-driven behemoth, that still manages to pump out some of the world's finest and most consistent wines. Adding bubbles to wine was a masterstroke of genius, and makes wine from marginal regions not only palatable, but unique and eminently desirable. But it's the way the grapes are grown, the land they're grown in, and the way the bubbles are generated that makes traditional method sparkling (which all Champagne is) special. There will always be alternatives, but none have the history and marketing power of the luxury Champagne powerhouses. You're not buying wine; you're buying a brand name. And that's ok.
The rules are there ain’t no rules, but here are some foods we think will work pretty well with this wine...
Goes with
Oysters with Japanese sauce
Ingredients
- 3 tsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup (60ml) seasoned rice vinegar*
- 1/2 tsp finely grated ginger
- 16 freshly shucked Pacific oysters
- 1 Lebanese cucumber, cut into julienne
- 50g flying fish (tobikko) or salmon roe
Directions
- Mix the soy sauce, vinegar and ginger in a small bowl then refrigerate until ready to use.
- Just before serving, place oysters on a bed of crushed ice or rock salt for presentation. Spoon the dressing over, then top with cucumber and roe. Serve.