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Nowack Champagnes

Nowack Champagnes

"In the village of Vandières, near the middle of the Marne Valley and on its northern side (Rive Droîte), lives a Champagne vigneron whose ever-evolving work rotates around a number of fascinating details: sable and marl soils, good old vines of Meunier, native ferments and extended élevage for vin clairs, low or no sulfur additions for the same, long aging on lees before release, tirage done with a succeeding year’s juice. There’s so much to say about Flavien Nowack and his drive for excellence. He is smart as can be, kind, and of superior ability with these process-intensive but terroir-driven wines. His bottlings deserve aging, for what it’s worth: Flavien himself says his ideal length of time is something between five to seven years post-disgorgement (and that’s after his ideal five years on the lees in bottle, at least). Nowack is only ten or so years in, and after several years of being fortunate enough to work with these wines, we think we know what the next ten years will bring. We’re really pleased to offer out our small piece of Nowack’s work for this year."

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Not gonna be shy about it, we get the sickest small production Champagnes through the door here all year long.  From Vilmart to Brochet, Pierre Peters to Ulysse Collin, Agrapart to Vouette.  But recently, Flaviar Nowackis the new kids on the block that are getting our chalky, mineral, champagne blood flowing.  Our pathetically small allocations have just arrived. We dove deep into these last year, and they're electrifying, chiseled, pure expression of their terroir.

Nowack is a tiny little Champagne house in the Vallee de la Marne--they've been farming in champagne for generations.  Not long ago, son Flavien took the helm, and under the tutelage of his mentor Emmanual Brochet, has been crafting some of the most amazing, under the radar Champagnes that we have seen.  With a focus on turning his family's estate into biodynamic viticulture, he has succeeded, while capturing he terroir of his vines like no other.  There is no chaptalization, no malolactic fermentation, natural yeast selection and only his own unfermented grape juice for secondary fermentation in bottle. This process allows for a softer, more delicate, lower carbonation Champagne, allowing more of the vinous quality to shine through-which is right up our alley. His vines are planted to 65% Pinot Meunier, 25% Chardonnay, and 10% Pinot Noir and he bottles these as single plot and single vintage bottlings. We recently opened one and it was jaw droppingly delicious.  We are excited to have another complete selection of Nowack wines spanning many different plots across multiple vintages, including his newest release of "Cru d'Origine" from the single 1er cru village of Oeuilly.

 An absolutely stellar, rare array of wines, in depressingly small quantities of 3-6 bottles of each. 

Please see below for further info on each wine.

Wines will arrive this week.

Store pickup and shipping are available, as always. We will hold wines for optimal shipping temperatures at your request.

All wines have been heavily discounted off their retail price and include case discount!



1) Nowack "Sans Annee" Champagne Extra Brut NV 750ml
6 Bottles Available
Organic. 50% Meunier, 50% Chardonnay. ‘S.A.’ stands for ‘Sans Année,’ or non-vintage. Base 2021, with 10% reserve wines blended in (vintages 2012 to 2020). The vineyards are selected to be a reflection of Flavien’s home village. Vinification is with both spontaneous yeasts as well as selected strains from the estate; all aging is done in oak barrels and vats. Dosage 1g/l. Medium weight, with lots of yellow fruit and a salty finish. Typically this cuvée is built closer to 75% Meunier, 25% Chardonnay, but 2021 was a very difficult Champagne vintage; in Flavien’s home vineyards of Bauchets and Tuileries there was a fair amount of loss from fungus pressure.

2) Nowack 'La Tuilerie' Champagne Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut 2019 750ml
6 Bottles Available
Biodynamic. 100% Chardonnay. Sourced entirely from a 1.20 ha plot called La Tuilerie located in the middle altitude slopes of Vandieres (Mi-Coteau). The vines average 25 years in age – the soils is white sand & limestone with marine subsoil (about 1.5-2 meters under the surface) and the land is directly facing south at 100-120 meters above sea level. Spontaneous fermentation in a combination of small oak barrels and stainless steel. Ageing in small oak barrels for the vin clair. The vin clair is not chaptalized, fined, filtered, or cold stabilized and naturally goes through malo on its own in the Spring. Vintage: 2019. Ageing on the cork for secondary fermentation using MCR for 42 months. Dosage: .8 g/l. Bottles Produced: 2000

3) Nowack 'La Fontinette' Champagne Blanc de Meunier Extra Brut 2020 750ml
6 Bottles Available
Organic. 100% Meunier. The first of the single-vineyard Pinot Meunier bottlings that are flagships of the Nowack estate holdings; ‘La Fontinette’ is a mid-slope vineyard on clay-limestone soils, along with sand and marne; two meters beneath the surface the bedrock is pure ‘marne blanche.’ Vines were planted from 1960-1965, 1ha total. All fruit is from harvest 2020; no dosage. RS 2 g/L. Vinification is with fully spontaneous/natural yeasts; the base wine is unfined and unfiltered. Aging is done in small oak barrels. Disgorged Jan ’24. Notes of violet, honey, chalk on nose, with salt and dried caramel on the palate. A deeply powerful wine, but very fine as well. Bottles Produced: 2000

4) Nowack "Le Bauchets" Blanc des Pinot Noir Champagne Extra Brut 2019 750ml
6 Bottles Available
Organic. 100% Pinot Noir. The only sparkling fully from Pinot Noir produced at Nowack that is from an estate single-vineyard. ‘Les Bauchets’ is on very pure white marne soils; Flavien mentions it’s visible right at the surface of the soils. The Pinot Noir at Bauchets was planted in 1980. Fruit is from harvest 2019; no dosage; 2 g/L RS. Vinification is with fully spontaneous/natural yeasts; the base wine is unfined and unfiltered. Aging is done in small oak barrels. Pink and purple florals are palpable on the nose; round and robust sensation on the palate, with a touch of richness in this vintage. bottles produced1000

5) Nowack "Les Arpents Rouges" Blanc de Noirs Champagne Extra Brut 2019 750ml
6 Bottles Available

Organic. 60% Meunier, 40% Chardonnay. The single-vineyard cuvée ‘Arpents Rouges’ is one of Nowack’s more progressive cuvées, where pushes the boundaries of his own winemaking; vinification is done entirely in small barrels with a combination of spontaneous yeasts and selected yeasts from a friend or two in the Jura (transported in lees like a mother). The vineyard site is planted at the bottom of the Vandières slope, hence the bolded ‘Bas-côteau’ on the label. Vines are between 70-80 years of age. Soils are heavier clay on top of grès, a specific sort of limestone you’ll see in the Jura and Alsace. Nowack takes a particular interest in this site, as he mentions it’s very difficult for the vines to grow here with all the stones; berries on the vines are always tiny. Historically the vineyard was used to produce still red wine, hence Les Arpents Rouge. In this release, all fruit is from harvest 2020; RS 7 g/L. The base wine is unfined, unfiltered, and unsulfured; secondary fermentation is triggered with natural grape must. Aging is done in small oak barrels. An extraordinary wine, uncommon in Champagne: nose and palate with red and golden fruit tones, lots of power, and enduring salinity. Echoes of red wine here are amply clear. Bottles produced: 1077

6) Nowack "Cru d'Origine 'Les Cayons - Oeuilly" 1er Cru  Blanc de Meunier Extra Brut 2017 750ml
3 Bottles Available
Organic. 100% Chardonnay. This new bottling from the single parcel Les Cayons in the village of Oeuilly represents Nowack’s curiosity about other terroirs outside of his particular home of Vandières. It’s the first vintage in the site and therefore the first-ever release of this wine. Fruit is all from harvest 2017; the parcel is on friable chalk, much closer to what exists in the Côte des Blancs (it turns out some of this exact same famous chalk exists in the eastern mouth of the Marne valley, not only in the special stretch we all know). Base wine is unfined and unfiltered; secondary fermentation is triggered with natural grape must. Aging is done in small oak barrels. Disgorged Mar ’23, so almost the full five years on lees in bottle after tirage that Flavien hopes for with all his wines.

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