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Olivier Horiot
Olivier Horiot's Rosé des Riceys.
Denyse Louis and Olivier Horiot in the En Barmont vineyard. Photo by John Kafarski.
Profile
In the southern-most part of the Champagne region, the Côte des Bar in the Aube department, there
is the town of Les Riceys, where the slopes are blessed with the portlandian formation of
Kimmeridgian chalk, that same great stuff that is the foundation of the finest Chablis and Sancerre.
Except here the idea was to plant Pinot Noir on these chalky slopes, do a long maceration, often
using whole bunches, and then age it a few years (at least 3) before release -- not exactly your
average deck wine.
Olivier Horiot is a young man that has taken over the estate of his father Serge in 1999. He
immediately started using organic and some biodynamic practices and reoriented the winemaking to
being more terroir-focused. In order to make the Rosé des Riceys, Olivier does a very strict selection
of grapes from two separate sights - en Valingrain and en Barmont - vinifying them separately. The
wines start with about 10% of the grapes that are foot-trodden at the bottom of the cuve, then whole
bunches are added. Macerations usually last 5-6 days with pumping over twice a day. After the wine
is racked into older barrels, it remains there for a few years before being bottled without fining or
filtration.
Though he prefers making still wines, Olivier also produces 4 Champagnes: a Blanc de Noir from the
en Barmont site named Sève, two blends of multiple parcels, 5 Sens and Métisse, as well as a quirky,
unexpected Champagne produced with the Arbane grape, aptly named Arbane. They all have very
low dosages, never above 2 g.
Interview
This interview with Olivier Horiot took place at L'Herbe Rouge in February, 2013.
Tell us about the Domaine Olivier Horiot.
Vines have been in the Horiot family since the 1600's. I come from the side of the family that were
inn-keepers, but my grandfather replanted vines post-phyloxerra, so you could say I am the third
generation to subsist from viticulture. My father and grandfather always worked with the cave
coopérative, and we still sell a part of our production to them. I decided I wanted to independently
vinify my own wines upon joining my father in 1999.
We produced the first estate wine in 2000. We own 7h, and I vinify the equivalent of 2h. The rest is
sold to the cave coopérative and to négociants. We jokingly call it the "Champagne Equilibrium", and
don't plan on entirely modifying this system, at least for now. This balance gives us the opportunity
to have more fun with the stuff we vinify independently, to craft them more to our taste.
What inspired you to started making your own wines?
An anecdote that has always stuck with me was during my time in US, vinifying in the state of
Washington. Where I worked, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Riesling and Chardonnay were all
planted together in the same vineyard! It struck me as odd that they thought they could produce
quality wine this way, but I later realized that they were simply trying to figure out what grape was
best suited for this terroir.
When I came home, I had a revelation. My family's land already had established grapes grown on
established terroir. I also realized that with just one grape (Pinot Noir), you could produce many
different styles of wine and still have them be reflective of a place. I hadn't originally planned to
come back or even to vinify my family's vines, but from that moment on I knew I wanted to make
Rosé des Riceys and Coteaux Champenois.
Everyone makes Champagne, but we are only 15 who continue to make Rosé des Riceys. It felt like a
worthwhile tradition to continue. And that was the idea from the beginning. In fact, the first four
years I only made rosé and Coteaux Champenois. Our first sparkling was produced in 2004.
Most regions of France don't have this versatility. The magic of Les Riceys is that with Pinot Noir,
you can make quality rosé, red, white, white Champagne and rosé Champagne. This makes it a truly
unique place.
Can you elaborate on Les Riceys and its history?
You should probably get some historians on the case, but I'll tell you what I know! Historically, still
red wine was produced in Champagne well before bubbles. The region of Champagne used to be
extremely densely planted; vines were 40 centimeters from each other. There was no way to get a
horse in there, and all the work had to be done by hand. These reputably were amongst the best red
wines of France in medieval times.
The Riceys AOC was created in 1945. But prior to this, an insatiable group of growers had always
produced rosé because it was THE local wine. Today, we are between 15 and 20 for a total
production of 70 000 bottles a year. It's tiny! And in years like 2001 or 2007, no one made any
because the quality wasn't there. So instead, everyone made bubbles. We are definitely lucky to have
the luxury of this option!
Is there a big difference between making bubbles instead of still?
Making bubbles is easier. Your grapes don't need as much maturity, so it's a lot less risky as far as
potential rot. You can also work with higher yielding vines than if you were to produce a quality still
wine.
A great rosé is complicated to make, and requires low yielding, older vines. You are working on a 4,
5 day maceration, sometimes filling the tank in the middle of the night and watching over them in a
way I've never seen anywhere else. Even if we don't all work the same way in the vines, there is true
passion behind everyone's desire to make this wine.
What's the work like in the vines?
We work biodynamically (not certified), and are the only ones in our region to do so. Prior to my
taking over in 2000, by father still used herbicides. I progressively started working the soils to
eliminate this practice, starting with the vines that I wanted to vinify myself. Then we slowly started
doing the same for the négoce vines. After that, we realized it was stupid to only do part of the
estate this way, and converted everything.
So the Rosé de Riceys vines have been worked biodynamically since 2002, with the others following
in 2004, 2005 and 2006. And yes, that means that what I deliver to the cave is grown biodynamically.
They do not pay me more for this, and that's fine since I do this for peace of mind and not profit.
But I'm optimistic that we can change ideas in the long term, and hopefully get the ball rolling. We
don't want to be the people yelling: "We work in biodynamics, you guys are evil and doing it wrong!".
Instead, we'd rather lead by example, and valorize quality. A lot of growers who work really well sell
to the coop, and the wines don't necessarily reflect the quality of the grapes.
And in the cellar?
We want to valorize wines of terroir, so the first step was really focusing on the vines. The cellar was
a logical extension: first we decided to vinify parcels separately, then we decided to ferment the
wines off of their native yeasts.
For only 2 hectares, you produce a lot of different cuvées. Could you describe them to us?
If someone analyzed this purely from a commercial standpoint, they'd probably say: "You guys are
crazy!" But those who overanalyze never end up taking action, and we decided to do this off of
feeling. In 2000, we produced Rosé de Riceys and Coteaux Champenois from the En Valingrain site,
because we knew that quality wines had historically been produced here. As far as the En Barmont
site, no one was producing still wines from here, but I had a good feeling that these clay soils would
produce something of quality. Still wine hadn't been produced from this site in over a 100 years.
Originally -like any good Champenois- we were planning on blending both sites together. But they
both ended up being so good and different that we bottled them separately. It was the beginning of
our "complications"! If we had had just one rosé, it would have been a lot easier to sell. But this
instinctive decision led us to realize that En Barmont was more suited for reds and Valingrain's marl
lends itself better to rosé or whites.
We then took took this approach to the bubbles. We release 4 sparkling cuvées, but in the cellar
vinify our 8 terroirs separately before blending. Métisse and 5 Sens are blends, but Sève Blanc is all
from En Barmont. It's a learning process: by doing this we also realized what we did and didn't want
to sell to the négoce.
As far as the Coteaux Champenois Blanc, we have Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc in the rosé hills.
Initially, we'd go harvest these later to produce bubbles, but we soon realized that it was a shame
just blending it into a Champagne. So there's only 500 bottles of it, but it's still worthwhile for us to
do.
How do you choose what will go to the cave, the négoce and your own wines?
Some terroirs, for example En Barmont, are always going to be used to make rosé and the Sève
Blanc. Some terroirs are simply a question of vintage. In a hot year, we will keep the grapes from
cooler, higher points of the hill. Vines go from 160 to 320 meters here, so it gives you a lot of wiggle
room; between a side area facing East and a hill facing full South, the maturities and freshness vary
greatly. So in a year like 2009, we were still able to produce something fresh making these type of
decisions.
You have a majority of Pinot Noir, but you grow a lot of other grapes...
We have the typical Champagne grapes here, but we also have varieties that are typical of the Aube.
Arbane has been here for a long time, and is believed to be Gewürztraminer and Savagnin's distant
cousin. Pinot Blanc is also an Aube grape, and was also planted in Chablis before phylloxera. We
recently planted some Petit Mellier and Pinot Gris, and though they are still very young, I hope to
produce something interesting with these.
How do you feel about the Riceys AOC?
We are very lucky in Champagne because of the flexibility we are accorded. We'd probably get in
trouble if we made PET NAT, but otherwise we're in the clear.
How do you feel about the term "natural wine"?
I never claim to make biodynamic wine, nor have I ever claimed to make natural wine. This was
something I never really thought about until realizing that all my importers (US, Sweden, Denmark,
Germany, Italy) specialize in this style of wine, and that a lot of the shows I go to have people who
claim to be natural winemakers. So I guess that lumps me in. I do in fact work without chemicals in
the vines, use native yeasts and very little sulfur. But for me this is just making wine.
But I'm not blind to what is happening either. I know that certain people will seek my wines out
because they deem them "natural", whether I claimed it or not. We have customers who want to
drink our wines because they come from biodynamic vineyards. But it's our house philosophy to
never bring this up unless asked: we want people to come to the wines because they are good. If
they stay because the wines are biodynamic or natural, then great.
I will also point out that while natural wines are very popular right now, in the long term I hope this
will change people's perception of wine. Winemakers and consumers now have the opportunity to
think twice about cultured yeasts, chaptalisation (we're very bad with this in Champagne!) and the
process that goes into making a wine.
What do you like to drink?
Everything! I could go for a Loirette right now!
Visits
This visit with Olivier Horiot took place in
July 2013.
Words by Jules Dressner, photos by John Kafarski and Jules
Dressner.
Though we've been working with Olivier Horiot for a few years now, it wasn't until our fairly recent
interview at L'Herbe Rouge last February (see above) that we began to truly realize how funny,
clever and talented the guy is. Watch this video to understand his epicness:
I laugh out loud every time I watch this. The contrast between epic war movie music and Olivier's
mellow demeanor undoubtedly makes it a postmodern work of juxtapositional art. Historians will
look back upon this fondly!
We began the visit by driving to Les Escharere and Valigrain, two neighboring parcels.
As you can hear from the audio, it was a very windy day. Escharere is the first parcel you see,
followed by Valigrain.
Upon arrival, Olivier started chatting up his neighbors about everyone's big worry in 2013: hail. His
colleagues were checking for any damage from a recent storm, and had luckily been spared. It's
hailed 3 times on this grouping of parcels this year. Due to late flowering, the damage hasn't been
too bad.
"It sounds strange, but we're getting used to bad weather."
Here are some pics of recent hail damage from Escharere's Chardonnay.
Escharere consists of Pinot Noir and a bit of Chardonnay on marl.
"The marl gives a roundness to the juice you don't get in other areas."
The best grapes from this parcel are blended into Métisse, and the rest are sold to a VERY FAMOUS
house that will remain anonymous.
Just below, the 30 year old Valigrain vines feature a more Southern exposition and a steeper coteau.
"The soils here are always drained due to good exposition, so the vines are always balanced."
This is especially important since Les Riceys is one of the rare parts of Champagne with a
continental climate, leading to very cold winters and scorchingly hot summers.
Along with Pinot Noir, a small amount of Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc is co-planted in these soils.
During harvest, Olivier's team perform 2 to 3 passes: one for the Valigrain Champagne, one for Rosé
de Riceys and a last one for the Coteaux Champenois Blanc.
Olivier works all his soils with a tractor, letting grass grow every other row. His soil is fluffy and soft,
while most of his neighbors' are rock hard. He's also very vigilant in keeping yields low, keeping only
6 to 8 bunches per cane.
"50 hl yields are the maximum if you want to produce a quality rosé. The soil is very fertile here, so
it's easy to have really high yields."
We then set off to Olivier's second major site, En Barmont.
A little bit of hail here, but no damage.
"It still really stresses the vines."
While admiring the view, Olivier filled us in on some of his region's particularities. With 866 h
planted in vines, Les Riceys is not only the the biggest viticultural village in Champagne, but in all of
France! It's also the southernmost appellation of Champagne, smack dab on the border of Burgundy.
In fact, the border actually splits the village of Les Riceys in half!
Olivier lives in the Champagne part.
After hanging in En Barmont, we drove to a new parcel on a 45% incline.
Les Riceys has a large amount of the style of stone house pictured below.
These are very typical in the South of France (especially the Rhône) and all but absent in other
viticultural regions of France. No one really knows why they are so prevalent here.
The final parcel we visited is called Les Prémalins.
This is where Olivier has planted the ancient grapes of Champagne: Arbane, Pinot Meunier, Petit
Meulier, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. He's also experimenting with all types of training systems to see
what happens.
After a much appreciated tour of the vines, we visited the Horiot's recently renovated cellar. The
ground floor serves as a pressing room.
The gravity press is a new addition, as well as the concrete tanks, which permits Olivier to not use
temperature control.
While we were checking the ground floor out, Olivier's son popped in and showed us his bad-ass
Horiot T-shirt!
I also spotted this inspiring manuscript.
Titled Harvest 2012, Advice for Vinification, it contained many nuggets of wisdom: which yeasts to
use, how much sulfur to add (and when!), what to do if you have rotten grapes in the mix... It was all
in there!
While the ground level already existed, the Horiot's dug out a completely new underground cellar.
We tried a few things from barrel, including still Chardonnay from Escharere destined to make
Champagne, as well as Pinot Blanc and Arbane from En Barmont. Olivier only has 303 plants of
Arbane, which tends to produce only one barrel a year. We also got to try the Pinot Blanc and
Chardonnay from Valigrain that make the Coteaux Champenois Blanc and some rosé still in its
carbonic state. Olivier used to conferment his wines, but now vinifies everything separately.
After visiting the cellar, we set off to the local hang run by Olivier's sister.
We got to taste another shade of Champagne's bubbly side: Belgian beer!
We also ate lunch and talked about all types of interesting things. Did you know that Les Riceys is
the only region in the world where you can make 5 radically different wines from the same parcel
and have all of them pass as AOC? Count em': Rosé des Riceys, Blanc de Noir Champagne,
Champagne Rosé, Coteaux Champenois, Coteaux Champenois Blanc. BooM!
Did you also know that you are legally allowed to use Arbane, Petit Meulier, Pinot Blanc and Pinot
Gris to make AOC Champagne? And that out of today's 15 000 active Champagne producers, only 18
use grapes other than Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier?
Or that only 17 producers still make Rosé des Riceys?
Or that the Horiots have 100 h of fields in their family's property, and are in the process of getting
cows for milk, meat, fertilizers and biodynamic preparations?
So many factoids!
We ended our visit with great conversation about carbonic maceration. It boiled down to carbonic
maceration potentially hiding or "killing" terroir when a wine is young, but that it shows itself if you
let it age. The Rosé des Riceys is the perfect example:
"The thing with these sans souffre carbonic wines is that people are bottling them very young, at
their most unstable state. You need to age these. Our rosé barely has any sulfur, and the more they
age, the less they need it."
Wines
A.O.C Rosé des Riceys "En Valingrain"and "En Barmont"
Soil: Kimmeridgian chalk
Grape: Pinot Noir
Vinification: strict selection of grapes from two separate sights - en Valingrain and en Barmont vinifying them separately. The wines start with about 10% of the grapes that are foot-trodden at the
bottom of the cuve, then whole bunches are added. Macerations usually last 5-6 days with pumping
over twice a day. after the wine is racked into older barrels and remains there for a few years. it is
bottled without fining or filtration.
Aged in barrel on the lees.
Champagne "En Barmont" Sève
Soil: Kimmeridgian chalk
Grape: Pinot Noir
Vines: "Barmont" parcel
Vinification: fermented and aged in barrel.
Coteaux Champenois Blanc " En Valingrain"