2018 Domaine Vincey 'Chemin de Chalons' Grand Cru

The 2018 Domaine Vincey 'Chemin de Chalons' Grand Cru is a still Chardonnay from the Chemin de Châlons parcel in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, one of Champagne's most revered Grand Cru villages. This is not sparkling wine — it's fermented and aged twelve months in oak barrel with indigenous yeasts, bottled without filtration or fining, and sits closer to white Burgundy in structure and intent. The deep chalk subsoils of Le Mesnil give the wine its taut, saline backbone, and the extended thirty-six months of lees aging before bottage adds texture and complexity that most bubbles never see. Domaine Vincey is run by Quentin and Marine Vincey, who farm eight hectares across Oger, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, and Vertus with certified organic and Demeter biodynamic practices as of 2023. Quentin returned to his family domaine in 2014; Marine, who worked in communications at several Champagne houses, joined in 2018. The heart of the estate is old selection massale parcels in Oger, and the couple makes their biodynamic preparations at Château de Renneville, a seventeenth-century property in Villeneuve-Renneville that also serves as a meeting place for other biodynamic producers in the region, including the De Sousa family in Avize. The 2018 underwent malolactic fermentation and the winemaking is minimal-intervention throughout — the oak lends breadth rather than sweetness, letting the chalk speak. This Chardonnay shows the mineral tension Le Mesnil is known for — oyster shell, white flowers, citrus peel, with a saline edge that comes straight from the chalk. The oak aging adds weight without masking the fruit, and the lees contact gives the wine a creamy midpalate that balances the taut acidity. Serve it cool but not cold; the wine opens and gains texture as it warms in the glass. It's a natural partner for roasted chicken, gruyère, or a plate of charcuterie, and it has the structure to age another five years if you're patient. In stock at Off Premise in Lincoln Park.