95 pts Vinous

The 2014 Extra-Brut Millsime is fabulous. Rich, deep and expansive, the Millsime soars out of the glass, showing magnificent concentration and layers of flavor that build into the nuanced, palate staining finish. For readers who have not discovered these wines yet, the 2014 is a great place to start. The 2014 is a blend of 70% Meunier and 30% Pinot Noir. Bottled with no dosage. Disgorged: March, 2021.
– ByAntonio GallonionNovember 2022

Champagne Dehours is located in Valle de la Marne. Located in Cerseuil, this 16-hectare Domaine’s holdings, divided among over 40 parcels, are situated on the left bank of the Marne, on one of its tributaries, encompassing a wide variety of expositions. Rich in clay and subject to landslides, these steep slopes are founded on limestone, not chalk, with a band of sand at around 120 meters in altitude, making for similarly diverse geology. Meunier is king in this sector, and the village is a popular source for Maison Krug. It’s in this context that Jrme Dehours crafts his complex, flavorsome, vinous Champagnes.

“The 2014 Extra-Brut Millsime is fabulous. ” 95 pts Vinous Media

“His latest releases are all well worth following” . . . “everything reviewed here comes warmly recommended. William Kelley, Wine Advocate

Champagne Dehours Millesime Brut 2014 VM95
Vallee de la Marne, Champagne

Cpage: 70% Meunier, 30% Pinot Noir
Village/Vineyard: Port Bison; Les Grves (Meunier), Maisoncelle (Pinot Noir)
Malo:Yes
Fermentation & levage:Meunier in fuder, Pinot Noir in stainless steel
Sur Latte: 70 Months
Dosage: 0 g/l

From Wine Advocate
Located in Cerseuil, this 16-hectare domaine’s holdings, divided among over 40 parcels, are situated on the left bank of the Marne, on one of its tributaries, encompassing a wide variety of expositions. Rich in clay and subject to landslides, these steep slopes are founded on limestone, not chalk, with a band of sand at around 120 meters in altitude, making for similarly diverse geology. Meunier is king in this sector, and the village is a popular source for Maison Krug. It’s in this context that Jrme Dehours crafts his complex, flavorsome, vinous Champagnes.

In 1999, after studies in Beaune, Dehours introduced the Domaines first oak barrels and began isolating single vineyards. Today, he cultivates under the vine mechanically (with one complete cultivation per year); picks late with lots of sorting when it’s required; and increasingly ferments in larger 500-liter barrels rather than their smaller counterparts, retaining lots of solids to nourish the vins clairs during their levage.

After pushing his wines in a rather more patinated, oxidative direction in the last few years, he’s reining things in: subtly increasing the use of sulfites and refreshing his solera of reserve wines to avoid falling into extremes.His latest releases are all well worth following, and the quality he achieved in the 2017 vintage, especially challenging for Meunier, is testament to the seriousness that readers can expect at this address. I’ll be hoping to catch up with his latest lieu-dit bottlings in the near future, but for now, everything reviewed here comes warmly recommended. William Kelley

About Champagne Dehours

Region: Valle de la Marne
Premier Cru Sites: Mareuil-le-Port, Oeuilly, Cerseuil and Troissy
Total Vineyard Holdings: 14.5 hectares
Annual Production: 7,500 cases
Vines: 70% Meunier, 20% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Noir
Dehours (Mareuil-le-Port)

Jrme Dehours farms 42 different vineyards in three distinct villages on the southern side of the Marne River. Jrmes 14.5 hectares are split between the villages of Mareuil-le-Port, Oeuilly, Cerseuil and Troissy, in this quiet corner of the Marne. This area is just south of the Marne river at Chtillon-sur-Marne and Cuisles, where Cdric Mouss produces his exquisite wines. This area, the Valle de Flagot, is named for the small river which has carved out a winding valley called Le Flagot, to meet the Marne River. Geologically, the soils are quite different than the Grand Valle around A, the Montagne de Reims and the Cte des Blancs. Here you find different strata of clays over Marne deposit, which is limestone, and not the belemnite chalk youre likely to find in the northern Cte des Blancs, for example. Limestone is a sedimentary rock made up of two major types of minerals calcite and aragonite, which when combined form calcium carbonate. Chalk is a form of limestone that includes a higher proportion of calcite. Both are formed from the skeletal deposits of marine organisms; chalk is made up microorganisms and limestone is generally from larger organisms.

Dehours was founded by Jrmes grandfather Ludovic in 1930. It was Jrmes father Robert who developed the estate and began a new activity of trading in grapes. Jrme knew that he wanted to be a grower, studying first in Beaune and then at the viticultural school in Avize. Tragically, his father Robert passed away suddenly at the age of 50, in 1987. Jrme was just 21 years old and was not ready to take on the responsibility of the Domaine. It was necessary to find partners, so the family decided to join a financial group. This association was dictating how the land was farmed and was not in the way that I wanted. I had to figure out how to free myself from these shackles and take back my land. But there was a contract. It was not until 1996 that Jrme was able to extricate himself from this contract. It took five years of selling fruit, keeping small amounts for himself to make wines, to invest, buy equipment, and slowly expand the holdings. In 2007, Jrme was still selling half of his production to the ngociants. Today, he sells 1/3rdof his production.

Jrme uses three Coquard presses at the Domaine, giving him flexibility at harvest, pressing parcels separately and allowing very strict control at pressing. Non-vintage wines are vinified in tank, while the single-vineyard expressions are produced in barrel. For many years malolactic was blocked here, but ten years ago he started to think about malolactic and the addition of SO2 that it required.