Pierre Deville - Cuvée Primitif 2022 is a natural wine crafted by Pierre Deville, in the Champagne region in France. This sparkling wine is made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes.
Pierre Deville comes from a small family estate in Verzy, one of the villages on the Montagne de Reims classified 100% Grand Cru. The family has grown grapes here for four generations, and in 1963 Pierre Deville decided to stop handing all the fruit to the big houses and instead start bottling Champagne under his own name. Today the estate is run by his great-grandson Alban Corbeaux, who came back to take it over in 2016.
It is a small domaine of around 5 hectares, 4 of them in Verzy and 1 in Essoyes in the Aube. Alban sums up his approach as careful work in the vineyard and as little as possible in the cellar. He has been moving the farming towards holisitic practices since 2017.
Verzy is an interesting village for Pinot Noir. A lot of its slopes are cool and north-facing, so the grapes ripen slowly and the wines come out with high acidity, a firm structure and a mineral, chalky side that tends to dominate over big round fruit. That is exactly the kind of Champagne Alban is going for.
Primitif is 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay from brown chalky limestone over chalk, on mostly east and north-facing slopes. It spent 18 months on the lees, a third of it in used oak and the rest in steel, and was finished Extra Brut at just 5 grams per litre, so very little sugar was added after disgorgement and the chalk and acidity do the talking. It was disgorged in February 2025.
Cuvee Primitif is 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Chardonnay from brown chalky limestone over chalk, on mostly east and north-facing slopes. It spends 18 months on the lees, a third of it in used oak and the rest in steel, and is finished extra brut at 5 grams. Disgorged February 2025, 12.5% alcohol.
We think this is very, very good. Precise, elegant and semi-rounded but with enough freshness to stay gastronomic. Clear and direct, with citrus, red apple and crisp pear, chalky minerality, white flowers and a little hazelnut. Lively and taut, with a long saline finish. WE ADORE IT!