Caze Thibaut Le Chemin de Plants 2020

CRITICAL ACCLAIM:

“The 2020 Extra Brut Chemin des Plants, 100% Chardonnay, is all class. Citrus, slate, white flowers, chalk and sage all race out of the glass. This sculpted, vibrant Champagne sizzles with tension. It’s a gorgeous wine in every way, and another compelling 2020 from Cazé-Thibaut. Dosage is 2.2 grams per liter. Disgorged: February 2025; multiple disgorgements throughout the year.” - 95 PTS, ANTONIO GALLONI (11/2025)

IMPORTER NOTES:

OVERVIEW: “Made from a single vintage of 100% Chardonnay grown on the right bank of the Vallee de la Marne. Naturally farmed and produced.”

VINEYARD: Vandieres, Right bank Vallee de la Marne
SOIL: Sandy clay topsoil, chalk
VITICULTURE: Parcels are worked without the use of any herbicides or pesticides. Fabien "scratches" or hoes the soils preferring to minimally disrupt the soil structure and plant life. From pruning to harvesting all vineyard work is done by hand and each parcel is harvested separately. Harvesting occurs when the grapes are at optimal ripeness.
VINIFICATION: Aging in barrels of 3 to 6 wines. Malolactic fermentation
AGING: 54 months on yeast; Dosage 2.2 g/L; Disgorgement Jan/Feb/March2025
PRODUCTION: 164 12-packs

D&M NOTES: 

The man of the moment at the estate is Fabien Cazé. The family has been in the Champagne region for 10 generations. Most of those generations worked for others until Roger Cazé struck out and began to sell Champagne under his own name in 1953. A handful of generations later and Fabien is ready and willing to take on the leadership and direction of the estate. Before coming back to the family holdings Fabien worked with Alexandre Chartogne, and has adopted the new French wave of winemaking as his own. He is also a part of the up and coming grower society Terre et Vins de Champagne, being welcomed into the select few after only a handful of compelling vintages. He and the family holdings are in the Chatillon Sur Marne with some plantings in the neighboring village of Vandieres. Like Alexandre at Chartogne-Taillet, Fabien’s aim as he grows as a winemaker is to focus on and promote the terroir of his single plots as distinctive wines. Most growers that we bring to you are small: Fabien is positively tiny. He has six parcels total to draw from that only cover 5.5 acres. In the vineyard they promote ground cover with some tilling and hoeing to promote vine growth. Fabien does not use herbicides or insecticides on any of his plots.