Les Pierrières is a 1.3-hectare parcel west of Congy in the Coteaux du Morin, near the southern tip of the Côte des Blancs. Only 15 miles from Épernay, the soils of Congy most closely resemble the southernmost outpost of the Côtes des Blancs, where black flint (onyx) can be found in the chalk. To get specific, Les Pierrières is an east-sloping site with chalky soil laced with large chunks of this jet-black flint or silex, which is very rare in Champagne. This soil might be responsible for the smoky hint in the wine’s profile. There is only 10 to 40 centimetres of topsoil before the vines embed the soft chalk and silex of the bedrock. The vines are now 40 years old. This is one of this producer’s historic wines, first produced in 2004.
The current release is based on 2019, with 60% reserve wine from 2018 (from the same vineyard). Naturally fermented in neutral oak casks, the wine was put to bottle after 11 months and then disgorged in February 2024 after 48 months on lees (with only 1.7 g/L dosage). Neither fined nor filtered, the wine undergoes partial malolactic fermentation.
Regarding the style, Les Pierrières produces Collin’s most chiselled, penetrating Blanc de Blancs, a powerful, succulent but tightly coiled wine with electric energy and an intensely flinty, chalky mineral quality that builds in prominence towards a vivid, expansive finish. It’s one of Champagne’s most memorable single-vineyard wines, and this release is as fine as we’ve seen.