In a new departure, the major champagne house has unveiled a wine that’s been in development for 16 years. Giles Fallowfield reports
Champagne Drappier recently launched a prestige cuvée called Éclose, made from the top-rated 2012 harvest and aged for three years in egg-shaped, 25hl oak barrels before bottling. It’s a wine that has been 16 years in development with the grapes sourced from Drappier’s top Grande Sendrée vineyard in Urville in the southern Côte des Bar region, where the 8ha, south-facing vineyard site is equally planted with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
While Grande Sendrée, named after the cinders deposited there when a fire destroyed a forest on the site in 1836, is usually a roughly 55/45 Pinot/ Chardonnay blend, all aged in small oak casks, the new wine is 60/40 Pinot to Chardonnay and the oak regime is radically different.
As Michel Drappier explains at the official launch in the spring: “We looked at various large egg-shaped casks made from different materials – clay amphora, concrete, stainless steel – but, while the shape was interesting, each had some negative issues. We think oak is the perfect material for this purpose.”
Initially the experiment began in 2010 when Drappier purchased its first egg-shaped Taransaud Ovum from the tonnellerie (cooperage) located in Bordeaux, and with the Sendrée vineyard base wines from this harvest it made the first (alcoholic) fermentation inside the egg.
Drappier passed on the next, less-impressive, frost-affected 2011 harvest, but with the excellent 2012 vintage decided it would be more interesting to use the egg after the alcoholic fermentation was completed, transferring the wine to the ovum with a portion of fine lees, helping to restrict oxidation.
“The concept is to move the wine to the ovum to undergo malolactic fermentation there and not to touch it at all for three years,” explains Michel Drappier. “Here, because of the shape, there is a certain natural movement and flow which keeps the lees in suspension in a beneficial way that’s similar to the effect of ‘battonage’.”
Second fermentation
After three years, the base wine is ready for its second fermentation, which takes place in bottle under cork, sealed with an agrafe, a method several other top champagne producers are returning to instead of crown caps for their cuvées designed for longer ageing, partly because cork is a more efficient barrier to oxidation.
The original 25hl Taransaud Ovum was made in a fairly traditional way with the curved staves held in place by external metal hoops. Drappier bought another that went back to the tonnellerie because it developed some problems. But it purchased a third, more revolutionary version, with an entirely smooth exterior where the staves are held together by internal wires that can be adjusted to achieve the appropriate tension needed to hold the valuable liquid inside.
These two egg-shaped barrels both hold 2,500 litres, which equates to around 3,000 bottles of champagne from each (they lose about 1% each year to the ‘angels’ share’) and the plan is to make this wine every three years so there will only be around 1,000 bottles of Éclose available for all Drappier’s markets in any given year.
The first disgorgement of this wine sold out in May just weeks after its launch.
Éclose was also made in 2015, 2018 and 2022, while a small percentage (around 15%) of the unreleased 2010 version ended up in the 2010 blend of Grande Sendrée.
The 2019 was lost when the egg exploded in the cellar. After its three years in oak, Drappier was not sure how long to age the 2012 before disgorgement.
Michel Drappier first tasted it in 2020 with his son Hugo, who is now in charge of winemaking, and his father André, who died last year aged 99. “But it still wasn’t ready,” says Michel.
“We tried several different liquors for the dosage before selecting a 25-year-old Chardonnay-based wine, the effect of which was not that noticeable. You can’t make a great champagne with a great liquor, but you can spoil it. A Pinot Noir-based liquor we tried was too heavy. The wine was finally disgorged in April 2025, so when we first tasted it had very nearly 12 months on the final cork.”
Having tasted the wine with Michel Drappier, it’s as impressively complex as the process used to produce it. Its multi-layered intensity opens up in the egg-shaped glass, which was specially designed for this wine. Attention to such small but important details is an important part of the Drappier success story.
Over the three decades I’ve worked in champagne, Drappier has been one of the most exciting and innovative producers I have been in regular contact with. One of the first to champion very drinkable zero-dosage styles of champagne, and to cultivate the ancient varieties like Arbane and Petit Meslier that were in danger of disappearing altogether from the regions’ vineyards. It is also a specialist in extra-large formats such as Primat (27 litres) and Melchizedek (30 litres, equivalent to 40 x 75cl bottles), a size so large two people can barely carry it, let alone pour from. For this Michel designed a pouring cradle from which single glasses may be easily dispensed.
A specialist too in liqueur d’expedition mostly used for the dosage. An astonishing selection, much of which is stored in large glass demi-johns, the oldest dating back to 1947 and with sugar concentrations as high as 700gm per litre. (Éclose uses a 25-year-old liqueur that’s aged in oak for its 4gm/l dosage.)
