Champagne Alain Couvreur Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut NV

Blanc de Noirs is Champagne made entirely from Pinot Noir and Meunier, pressed so gently that no color transfers from skin to juice. What you get is a white Champagne with the body and depth that black grapes produce — and none of the pink. Couvreur’s seventh-generation family has been farming these steep hillsides west of Reims since before the appellation existed.

Quick Facts

• Region: Massif de Saint-Thierry, Champagne, France
• Variety: Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir dominant (confirm percentages from tech sheet)
• Style: Blanc de Noirs, Extra Brut — bone dry, all structure from black grapes
• Best For: Champagne exploration, richer first courses, food-forward entertaining, wine education pours
• ABV: [Confirm from label]
• Farming: Hand-harvested, sustainable; steep hillside vineyards across four communes

Blanc de Noirs is the magic trick of Champagne: white wine pressed from Pinot Noir and Meunier with such speed that the juice never picks up any color from the skins. The grape character transfers fully. The result is a Champagne with more body, more fruit depth, and more structural weight than pure Chardonnay produces. Alain Couvreur’s version comes from the Massif de Saint-Thierry, a cluster of hillsides west of Reims on clay, limestone, and chalk, aged a minimum of 48 months on lees before release — nearly double the legal requirement for NV Champagne.

Why We Love It

This is the clearest way to understand what the Pinot Noir grape does in Champagne without the color and tannin of a red wine. Tasted after the Gonet Blanc de Blancs, the contrast is immediate: fuller, fruitier, rounder, with a weight that Chardonnay alone can’t build. David and Rémi Couvreur are seventh-generation farmers on the Massif de Saint-Thierry, and 48-month lees aging on an $57 Extra Brut reflects a level of care that is uncommon at this price.

Tasting Profile

Fuller and fruitier than a Blanc de Blancs, with ripe orchard fruit and a creamy finish that comes from nearly four years on lees.

• Aroma: Ripe pear, yellow apple, white peach, brioche, light warm spice
• Palate (Flavor): Generous pear and golden apple, lightly toasty, biscuity from extended lees aging, fully dry
• Structure & Finish (Mouthfeel): Medium-full body, high acid balanced by Pinot Noir richness, fine creamy mousse, clean refreshing finish with a mineral thread

Winemaking

Whole-cluster pressing with minimal skin contact to preserve the pale color. Base wines partially fermented in oak barrels, adding texture without oak flavor. Full malolactic fermentation for a rounded palate. Minimum 48 months aging on lees before disgorgement — the extended contact produces the brioche and cream character. Extra Brut dosage.

Serving & Pairing

Serve at 46 to 50°F — slightly warmer than a Blanc de Blancs allows the richness to open.

Best with seared scallops, grilled lobster, mushroom risotto, or aged Comté. The fruit weight and fine acid pair well with richer first courses that would overwhelm a leaner Extra Brut.

Perfect For: dinner parties, richer first courses, date nights, food-forward entertaining, celebration dinners, holiday gatherings, host gifts, wine education evenings

Estate Overview

The Couvreur family has farmed and made barrels on the Massif de Saint-Thierry and in the Vesle Valley for five generations before Alain Couvreur established the Champagne house in 1961. Today David and Rémi Couvreur, the seventh generation, manage vineyards across four communes — Prouilly, Pévy, and Branscourt for the Pinot varieties, and Unchair for Chardonnay — on steep hillsides that are difficult to work and consistent in their return. Bacco Selections brings Couvreur to the US market with a focus on small producers rarely seen on American shelves. This is the kind of discovery that a sourcing-first program finds.

Terroir (Place)

The Massif de Saint-Thierry is a rounded plateau northwest of Reims with south and southeast-facing slopes on soils that shift between clay-limestone and chalk with depth. Pinot Noir grown here develops a rounded, accessible character from the clay component, with a mineral backbone from the chalk subsoil. The hillsides are steep enough to require hand farming, which limits yields and concentrates the fruit character that the long lees aging then builds into the wine.