Thiénot Champagne Immersion 2015

This week’s Weekend Wine takes us off piste once again, as I leave the Loire Valley and Bordeaux behind and look to Champagne instead.

Thiénot is one of the youngest Champagne houses in existence, having been founded by Alain Thiénot as recently as 1985. Alain also has a long-standing presence in Bordeaux; just one year after founding his eponymous Champagne house he snapped up Château Rahoul, a leading estate in the Graves region. The property was on a roll under the direction of a winemaking supergroup including Len Evans, Peter Vinding-Diers and Brian Croser, but the death of their backer Peter Fox resulted in the property going back onto the market. It has been a Thiénot possession ever since.

Business must have been good, because Alain went on to acquire controlling shares in a number of other Bordeaux and Champagne businesses, including Joseph Perrier and Canard-Duchêne, and in 2007 he took a whopping 80% share in CVBG Dourthe Kressmann, a long established Bordeaux business acting as producer – at properties such as Château Belgrave and Château Le Boscq – but also as négociant and trader. The running of Château Rahoul was at this time also turned over to the Vignobles Dourthe team.

Today Champagne Thiénot is largely under the control of the next generation, Garance and Stanislas, and you can read my prior report on their current portfolio of wines here. Here, however, I feature a new addition to the range; to celebrate the forty years that have passed since the founding of the house by their father, the Thiénot family have released a new collection of Champagnes under the name Immersion.

The Immersion Collection comprises a trilogy of Champagnes from the 2015, 2016 and 2017 vintages, in each case a blanc de blancs blend sourced exclusively from Cramant and Oger, two villages long regarded as among the very best in the region. Cramant sits just south of Epernay, on the edge of the Fôret d’Oger, a commune of a modest size which also happens to be home to Moët et Chandon’s magnificent Château de Saran. Oger is a smaller hamlet, again set against the Fôret d’Oger, south of Cramant (only the village of Avize separates them). The fame of both Cramant and Oger rests on Chardonnay; both villages have 100% grand cru status, and both are planted exclusively to this variety.

Why three wines though, rather than one iconic celebratory cuvée? I suspect this is a nod to the recently opened Thiénot wine tourism hotspot in Reims, which just happens to go by the name Le 3.

The wine featured here is the Champagne Thiénot Immersion from the 2015 vintage, the warmer of the three vintages. Although the year began with mildew there followed a hot and dry summer, the vines eventually revived by August rainfall, before an early harvest beginning the same month. After the second fermentation early in 2016 the wine rested sur lattes for approximately nine years, with a disgorgement in April 2025. In the glass it displays a pale straw hue, very fresh and youthful, with a plentiful yet fine bead. The aromatics immediately draw me in, suggesting a degree of density and character not noted in my prior review of Thiénot wines, the nose filled with notes of dried citrus, cashew nut and brioche, warm and welcoming yet swirled with threads of crushed flint and a minerally reduction which keeps it fresh. This combination is matched by a characterful palate, with plenty of bitter pith and drive to it, with a citrus twist and a thread of crushed stone through the middle, leading to a long, peppery, acid-framed finish. A confident presence here; and surely the best I have tasted from this house. Drink now or hold a decade. One of only 1,000 magnums released (I suspect the 2015 is available only in this format), the alcohol on the label is 12.5%, and the dosage is a modest 6 g/l. 92/100 (16/3/26)

Read more in:

• My prior review of the wines of Champagne Thiénot

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