Spotlight on... Oudiette X Filles
We're always on the lookout for producers who bring something new and exciting from the Champagne region. One of our big finds late in 2020 was Maxime Oudiette of Champagne Oudiette and the incredible Les Gras d'Huile. Fast forward a year and we found ourselves in a lovely little B&B in Epernay sat opposite Maxime's cousin, Margot Laurent, one half of the team at Oudiette X Filles.
About the Maison...
The family work in the same area as Maxime – the village of Beaunay, in the Petit Morin. Essentially a southerly extension of the Côte des Blancs, it's an area of Champagne that's growing in prominence thanks to a handful of big name growers working in this region.
Like Maxime, Margot and her sister, Charlotte, are the first generation in the family to create a cuvée from the grapes they grow, rather than selling them to the Grand Maisons. They began vinifiying their first bottles in 2017 and four years later, their first cuvée was born.
They work a number of plots over 2.5ha in Beaunay and Celle les Condes, but their first and only wine, Uni Terre, comes primarily from one plot of old vine Chardonnay (39 yrs) – a terroir of lower/middle slopes comprised of silt, clay, limestone and chalk soil, with southwest exposition. Their ethos is low intervention and they adapt their vinification each year, depending on the conditions, to get the best natural expression of the terroir.
The Champagne...
Uni Terre, is 100% Chardonnay, 2g/ltr, 50% Oak vinified and disgorged in March 2021.
Here's what you can look forward to according to Peter...
"Surprisingly fruity and forward nose with a generous amount of fleshy exotic notes, banana peel and butter. The palate hits like a fresh bomb with a crisp saline element to it. On return there is a nice yeasty element to this that links to the fruit on the mid to create a very moreish, but fresh, palate. There is a touch of bread which creates a nice texture and dimension to the front end and really good delivery, with a nice autolytic play. The acidity is racy but I like the delivery, texture and fruit and it shows a yummy autolytic front end which is nice for such a young wine. On the finish there is papaya, loads of white pepper and this little sweet lemon lift. Complex and impressive."