100% Grand Cru from Bouzy, made by hand, aged long, and priced like nobody told them. Decanter 96 on the Grand Rosé.

A Personal Note

Dear Artisans,

If you love Krug, you already know what you want from Champagne: richness, power, a creamy texture, and the feeling of a wine that has been given time.

Now think of that style across the board, in four bottles from one family in Bouzy. Wine Spectator on the Paul Bara Brut Réserve: “A creamy Champagne, offering concentrated flavors of mandarin orange preserves, dried white cherry and grated ginger, underscored by a streak of salty mineral.”

Krug Grande Cuvée is $259.99 on our shelf, and worth it. That Bara is $59.99. For the Thanksgiving table, it may be the most sublime pairing we have.

Bouzy And Bara

The village of Bouzy and Champagne Paul Bara are practically synonymous. The Baras make their wines by hand, with low-yielding vines, and good maturity is ensured by prolonged bottle aging. Their vineyards are all rated 100% Grand Cru, 11 hectares of them, because they own no other parcels.

The style is rich, powerful and balanced, centered on Pinot Noir from Bouzy’s warm, south-facing slopes. Only free-run and first-press juice goes in, and the wines rest in cold, extremely deep cellars until they are ready. Andrew Jefford calls them “essential references for anyone who wants to enjoy and understand the ripe, dry richness of Bouzy.”

Why Growers Are The Greatest Steals

Growers hold close to 90 percent of the vineyard land in Champagne. The great houses own only about a tenth of it and buy most of their grapes from those growers. Most growers sell their fruit upstream, where it goes into famous blends.

A few keep it and bottle it under their own names. Same Grand Cru dirt, a different name on the label. The houses spend on the brand and the global distribution that built their reputations. Growers do not, and you can taste where that money stays.

Prices That Barely Move

Paul Bara’s prices have hardly shifted in decades, while the quality has only continued to rise. Here is the receipt from our own files: in December 2022, I sold you the Rosé Special Club at $159.99. Today’s 2019 is $159.97. Four years, and the price is two cents lower.

The Grower’s Prestige Tier

In 1971, a dozen growers created their own answer to the houses’ têtes de cuvée: Club Trésors de Champagne. A Special Club is made only in exceptional years, and an expert panel of oenologists and growers has to approve it twice, first as still wine and again as finished Champagne.

Bara’s two Special Clubs are the top of this email, and starting with the 2004 vintage, Bara made the first rosé in the history of the Club.

A Sublime Thanksgiving Pairing

Pour the Brut Réserve when the first guest walks in, with scallops or shrimp. The Grand Rosé carries Bouzy Rouge and creamy raspberry, so it goes straight to the turkey and cranberry, then on to the tarte tatin. The winery’s own pairing for the Special Club Brut is duck with cranberry sauce. And the Special Club Rosé, with its fruitcake, pound cake and cardamom, is a pie-table Champagne if there ever was one.

Cheers,

James Tran

Artisan Wine & Spirits

Why This Matters

The Eight Bottles At A Glance

The four Paul Bara Champagnes, then four more Kermit Lynch bubbles. Every score, every price.

Paul Bara

Four Bottles, One Family In Bouzy

From the Brut Réserve to the Special Club Rosé.

Brut Réserve. The Creamy One.

Wine & Spirits, 94: “Full-on delicious.”

W&S 94100% Grand Cru80% Pinot Noir

Paul Bara Brut Réserve Grand Cru NV

Bouzy Grand Cru · Champagne · 750 mL

This is where to start if you love Krug: Pinot-led, long on the lees, and “lush and fully developed.” Pour it when the first guest walks in, or with scallops and shrimp.

Elsewhere: $74.00

Grand Rosé. Decanter 96.

Decanter: “Enticing creamy raspberry and ground almond notes.”

Decanter 96Stelzer 9412% Bouzy Rouge

Paul Bara Grand Rosé Brut Grand Cru NV

Bouzy Grand Cru · Champagne · 750 mL

Bouzy is famous for its still red wine, and a dose of it gives this rosé its color and its strawberry and cranberry fruit. That is the turkey and cranberry course, and the winery also pairs it with tarte tatin.

Elsewhere: $166.00

2018 Special Club Brut. The Pinnacle.

Kermit Lynch: “It simply has it all.”

Special Club70% Pinot NoirVinous 94 On 2015

Paul Bara Brut Grand Cru “Special Club” 2018

Bouzy Grand Cru · Champagne · 750 mL

Vines averaging 35 years, free-run and first-press juice only, made only in exceptional years and approved twice by an expert panel. The 2018 has no critic scores yet, so here is the 2015 for reference. The winery’s pairing: duck with cranberry sauce.

Elsewhere: $143.00

2019 Special Club Rosé. The Club’s First Rosé.

James Suckling, 93: “very toasty and spicy.”

Suckling 93Special ClubFirst Club Rosé

Paul Bara Rosé Brut Grand Cru “Special Club” 2019

Bouzy Grand Cru · Champagne · 750 mL

Bara’s rosé was the first in the history of the Club Trésors. 70% Pinot Noir including 12% Bouzy Rouge, 30% Chardonnay, 7 g/L. Fruitcake, pound cake and cardamom make it a Champagne for the pie table.

Elsewhere: $176.00

More Kermit Lynch Bubbles

Other Amazing Bottles From The Same Importer

Three more Champagnes, and a sparkler from the Savoie.

Veuve Fourny Rosé. “Sublime.”

Antonio Galloni, 94: “In a word: sublime.”

Vinous 94Decanter 93Stelzer 93

Veuve Fourny Rosé Brut Premier Cru NV

Vertus · Champagne · 750 mL

Old-fashioned know-how: manual grape-stomping and long maceration on the Pinot, 40-year-old vines, 30% reserve wines, unfiltered, aged in 19th-century cellars. Decanter calls it “a rosé for the table.”

Elsewhere: $80.00

J. Lassalle Rosé. Real Substance.

Antonio Galloni, 92: “a Champagne of real substance and textural depth.”

Vinous 92Burghound 92W&S 92

J. Lassalle Rosé Brut Premier Cru NV

Chigny-Les-Roses · Champagne · 750 mL

Another grower: Maison J. Lassalle owns all of its vineyards, and ages each cuvée for at least five years. Wine & Spirits says to pour it with a salad of duck confit, which tells you how it will handle the holiday table.

Elsewhere: $88.00

J. Lassalle Cachet d’Or. For The Whole Family.

Wine Spectator, 92: “gingersnap biscuit and verbena flavors.”

WS 92Burghound 91Premier Cru

J. Lassalle “Cachet d’Or” Premier Cru Brut NV

Chigny-Les-Roses · Champagne · 750 mL

11 hectares, all of them Premier Cru. Fresh, fruity, creamy and toasty, and at $38.99 the bottle to buy in quantity when the whole family is coming.

Elsewhere: $53.00

2021 Royal Seyssel. The Sleeper.

Kermit Lynch: “I wanted the experience to never end.”

Kermit LynchMéthode TraditionnelleMolette & Altesse

Les Caves de Seyssel “Royal Seyssel” 2021

Seyssel · Savoie · France · 750 mL

Not Champagne, but made the same way, from 70% Molette and 30% Altesse. The label launched in 1901, and the bottles rest three to four years on the lattes where the legal minimum is nine months. Queen Victoria is said to have enjoyed the region’s sparkling wines. At $32.97, it is the easiest yes in this email.

Elsewhere: $37.00

The Bottom Line

The Krug style, at grower prices.

Paul Bara makes 100% Grand Cru Champagne by hand in Bouzy, and the prices barely move. The Brut Réserve at $59.99 and the Decanter 96 Grand Rosé at $66.99 are the two to open at Thanksgiving.

The Special Clubs at $134.99 and $159.97 are for the moment you want the prestige tier without the prestige price. Add a Kermit Lynch bottle or two from further down, and the holidays are handled.

Cheers,

James Tran

Artisan Wine & Spirits

Artisan Wine & Spirits · 2495 Old Middlefield Way, Mountain View, CA 94043
Questions? Chat Live · sales@artisan.wine · 650-917-8080