Champagne Flavien Nowack

Flavien Nowack is the eighth generation of his family to work vines at Vandières, in the Vallée de la Marne. He took his first hectares over from his father in 2011 and began bottling single parcels and single vintages. 10 hectares across 35 plots, built above all on Meunier, the grape the rest of Champagne still treats as a supporting act.

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Eight generations at Vandières, and a grape nobody took seriously

The Nowack family has grown vines at Vandières since 1795. Flavien's great-grandfather Ferdinand began making Champagne under the family name in 1915. Flavien Nowack counts himself the eighth to work this ground, and describes his job as watching it rather than designing it.

He came back at twenty-two, having trained with Emmanuel Brochet and spent a year at Coche-Dury in Meursault, and from 2011 began taking hectares over from his father Frederic. His wife Coralie works alongside him.

The estate runs to 10 hectares across 35 parcels around Vandières and neighbouring Châtillon-sur-Marne, between 100 and 180 metres. Vandières is not a famous name, and that is part of the story: the Vallée de la Marne was for a long time where the big houses bought cheap Meunier for volume.

Three soils run through the holding. Clay and limestone with sandy patches on the middle of the slope, a white fossil-bearing limestone the family call Terres Bleues along the ridge, and heavy clay over sandstone at the foot. Farming has been chemical-free since 2016, and since 2018 trees have been planted between the parcels. He keeps no sheep, deliberately, because fencing them in would block the movement of everything else.

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S.A. Sans Annee, and the single parcels behind it

S.A. Sans Annee is the wine we have in and the entry to the estate. It is led by Meunier with Chardonnay alongside, built on reserve wines reaching back to 2012. For a wine positioned as the house bottle it carries a lot of history in it.

The single parcel wines are where the estate makes its argument. La Fontinette is Meunier from the middle of the slope, from vines his grandfather planted in the 1960s. Les Terres Bleues is Meunier off the fossil limestone on the ridge. Les Arpents Rouges is Meunier with a little Chardonnay from vines of seventy to eighty years on clay over sandstone.

La Tuilerie is pure Chardonnay off white sand on a south-facing mid-slope, and there is a rare late-disgorged version, La Tuilerie L.V., held nearly ten years on its lees. Les Bauchets is the only single parcel planted entirely to Pinot Noir, on white chalk.

Beyond those: Autre Cru, pure Meunier from other Marne sites, the Cru d'Origine wines from Oeuilly and Mancy, a Les Riceys Pinot Noir from the Côte des Bar with sixty months on lees, and a Meunier ratafia called Au Gré des Aléas. Total production is around 40,000 bottles.

Five years under cork, and two ways to start the bubbles

Pressing is done slowly on a Coquard press. Ferments run on native yeast, with a house strain Flavien cultivates himself used on the S.A. and Autre Cru. Nothing is chaptalised. Fermentation happens in wooden vessels of 225 to 500 litres, and since 2017 every single parcel wine has been fermented and aged in small oak.

The bottles then sit about five years on their lees under cork rather than crown cap, which is slower, more expensive and more awkward, and which he considers worth it.

There are two ways he starts the second fermentation, and he picks between them deliberately. Fresh grape must gives more texture and makes a wine approachable earlier; cane sugar gives more precision and lets the site speak. Only minimal sulphites are added, low enough that in some years malolactic fermentation happens by itself.

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A selection of grower Champagne bottles including Fleury, Petit Clergeot, Clément Perseval, Pierre Deville, Mouzon Leroux, Rémi Georgeton, Domaine Nowack and Antoine Chevalier

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Champagne is the coldest of the classic French wine regions, about 150 kilometres east of Paris, on chalk deep enough that the cellars are cut straight into it. The grapes are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Meunier, with a handful of growers keeping Arbane, Petit Meslier, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris alive. What matters for natural wine is the split between the big houses, who buy most of their fruit, and the grower Champagnes who farm their own and bottle it themselves. The growers are where the low dosage and low sulphur bottles come from, and where a single village actually tastes like itself. Producers include Mouzon Leroux Champagne, Champagne Piollot and Moussé Fils.

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FAQ about Champagne Flavien Nowack

Who is Flavien Nowack?

A grower at Vandières in the Vallée de la Marne, the eighth generation of his family on the land. The family has grown vines there since 1795 and his great-grandfather Ferdinand began making Champagne in 1915. Flavien started taking the vines over from his father in 2011.

What is Champagne Nowack known for?

Meunier. The Vallée de la Marne was long treated as a source of cheap blending fruit, and Nowack is one of the growers who made the case that Meunier can carry a serious single vineyard wine on its own. Most of his parcel wines are pure Meunier.

Where is Nowack based?

Vandières, with parcels there and at neighbouring Châtillon-sur-Marne. The estate is 10 hectares split across 35 parcels, between 100 and 180 metres, on clay and limestone, a fossil-bearing limestone the family call Terres Bleues, and heavy clay over sandstone.

What is S.A. Sans Annee?

The house cuvée and the wine we stock. It is led by Meunier with Chardonnay alongside, and built on reserve wines going back to 2012. Sans Annee simply means it carries no vintage on the label.

How long does Nowack age his Champagne?

Around five years on the lees, and sealed under cork rather than crown cap for that time. The La Tuilerie L.V. bottling is held close to ten years before release.

Does Nowack use added sulphur?

Only minimal amounts. The level is low enough that in some vintages malolactic fermentation starts on its own, which it would not if the wine were more heavily protected.

How much Nowack Champagne is made?

Around 40,000 bottles a year across the whole range, split between the S.A., the Cru d'Origine wines and a set of single parcel bottlings that are each made in very small quantity.